Dallas Cowboys vs. New York Giants: 3 Bold predictions for Week 17

The Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants wrap up their respective regular seasons Week 17 with very little to play for, but we have bold predictions still.

When the schedule-makers slated the Dallas Cowboys to play the New York Giants in the 2018 regular season finale, they likely thought that there would be some sort of playoff implications hanging in the balance. Instead, there are absolutely none as these two NFC East rivals are set to square off in Week 17.

For the Cowboys, they are locked into the No. 4 seed in the NFC, having won the division, but trailing all other division winners by at least two games coming into the final week. Meanwhile, the Giants have been out of the postseason mix for a few weeks now and, in truth, only have their draft positioning to play for.

That certainly takes some of the luster out of this Week 17 matchup, but there is always some intrigue when it comes to the Cowboys and Giants playing, so we have three bold predictions for this matchup.

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3. Eli Manning sacked five-plus times

Despite making moves to improve their offensive line this past offseason, the Giants line has been a little bit lackluster this season, allowing El Manning to be sacked the eighth most in the NFL this year (46). Considering how potent the Cowboys defense has been this season, this doesn’t bode well for what Manning will be up against on Sunday.

Despite Dallas coming into this game willingly short-handed to prepare for the playoffs, their pass rush will be intact and has the ability to beat up on even the best offensive lines, much less the Giants. As such, Eli’s potentially last game as the starter for Big Blue is going to be one where he spends plenty of time with his helmet buried in the turf at MetLife Stadium.

2. Rod Smith fails to reach 50 yards rushing

Ezekiel Elliott is going to rest in Week 17 for the Cowboys, which obviously means that Rod Smith is going to be getting a heavy workload in the season finale. Given how heavily Elliott is featured in the Cowboys offense and the fact that the Giants run defense has struggled since the departure of Damon Harrison via trade, you might think that Smith should be in line for a big day.

While Smith may get a high volume of carries in this game, there’s good reason to doubt his effectiveness. Not only are Tyron Smith and Zack Martin also out in Week 17, but there’s also the fact that Smith has averaged a meager 2.9 yards per carry this season. He may do slightly better than that, but he won’t have a good overall day at the office.

1. Amari Cooper gets back on track

After his monstrous performance against the Eagles that ultimately won the Cowboys the game, Amari Cooper has been exceedingly quiet over the past two weeks. The wideout has just four catches in each of his last two games. Even worse, though, Cooper has totaled just 52 yards over his last two games.

With the way that the Giants secondary is playing and with Zeke out for this game, I expect Cooper to play a big role in the offense to try and get the passing game sparked a bit heading into the playoffs. He may not play the whole game, but he’ll have an impact, something around the tune of five catches for 75+ yards and perhaps a trip to the end zone.