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Week 5 is here, and with it comes an NFC East matchup: Giants versus Cowboys. This is only the second time all year that two teams from the division are meeting.
The first matchup was in Week 1 when the Washington Football Team surprised the Philadelphia Eagles in an amazing comeback victory. Now the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants are facing off to get their division schedules underway.
Looking at the Giants, you might think this game is going to be a blowout. They have looked completely lost all year, to the tune of an 0-4 record.
However, Dallas has not been much better. The Cowboys are 1-3 and seem to struggle for large portions of their contests as well.
While they are certainly still going into this game as favorites, there is a chance the Giants could surprise the Cowboys.
With that in mind, who could step up for the Cowboys? Will anyone falter under the pressure of a division matchup? Could the Cowboys lose? Or will they find a way to blow out New York?
There are a lot of questions to be answered. With that in mind, let's take a look at the matchup and make four bold predictions for the Cowboys in their Week 5 game against the Giants.
Ezekiel Elliott Hits 100-plus Rushing Yards
Ezekiel Elliott is one of the best running backs in the NFL. He is certainly part of the “elite” tier.
That being said, 2020 has not been all that kind to him or the Cowboys. Elliott is averaging just 3.9 yards per carry through four games. If that keeps up it would be the lowest of his career.
He has also fumbled three times already for the Cowboys. Elliott has had some fumbling issues in the past so this is not all that surprising. He will likely even out in that category sooner rather than later.
What is surprising are the rushing totals. The running back has just 273 yards through four games. Not a terrible number, but not great either. It puts him on pace for just over 1,000 yards. That's still good. It's not Elliott's standard for the Cowboys, however.
He has yet to even have a 100-yard rushing game for the Cowboys. That's going to change this week.
Elliott should be able to take advantage of a dreadful New York defense. The Giants could be begging for mercy against the Cowboys' running back by the third quarter.
Elliott could see massive numbers for the Cowboys in Week 5 – and that includes going over 100 rushing yards for the first time in 2020.
Dak Prescott Continues Touchdown Streak
What streak exactly am I talking about? He has thrown a touchdown pass in five straight games for the Cowboys (dating back to last season). Yet, not what we're talking about here.
Prescott has thrown at least three touchdown passes in each of his last two games for the Cowboys. He's going to make it three straight.
Impressively, he has also thrown for over 450 yards in three straight games. That streak will be broken.
Prescott and the Cowboys' offense will eat in Week 5. It will lead to Prescott putting up some massive numbers and throwing at least three touchdowns.
He will not throw for over 450 yards though. The reason for that is simple, the New York defense is bad. The team will put up a fight, but it wouldn't be surprising to see the Cowboys find themselves with a big lead.
Once that big lead happens, it will be time for the Cowboys to feed Elliott (helping him get to over 100 rushing yards in the game). That means Prescott won't get a chance to sling it down the field more.
His touchdown totals won't suffer much, but the yards will.
Still, three touchdown passes in a game should be more than enough.
Dallas Forces Turnovers
The Cowboys have had a turnover issue this year. It's honestly getting out of hand at this point.
The offense has coughed the ball up nine times (leads the NFL), while the defense has only forced two turnovers themselves.
Now they are going up against the Giants though. A team that eight turnovers to their own credit.
The Cowboys should be able to get to Daniel Jones. Jones had turnover problems in his rookie season but the hope was that he would clean them up in year two. So far, he has not really proven that he can do that.
Dallas needs to smell blood in the water.
The defense needs a big game to get on track. They need to be able to lift themselves up and turn things around this season. Sadly for the Giants it will come at their expense.
New York has a ton of issues at the moment. Dallas can pounce on that and get a couple of turnovers in this game.
That can start to balance out that terrible turnover plus-minus that has plagued them so far this year. In fact, that plus-minus (-7) has been one of the main factors that people have pointed to where discussing their 1-3 record.
They can put a dent in that in Week 5 and start to flip the narrative.
Blowout Win
Okay honesty time. Early I mentioned that this could surprise people and be a very close game. Keyword there though is “could”. It certainly can happen.
The Giants have been miserable but let's not pretend like the Cowboys have looked much better. Meanwhile, a division game is always a little harder to guess.
The teams know each other so well and as much as some people don't want to admit it, playing against a rival always ramps up the energy.
It's not happening here though. Both teams are sort of desperate for a win. There is much more urgency with the Cowboys however.
If the Giants have a bad season, no one would bat an eye. Not many expected them to compete this year and it only got worse for them when superstar running back Saquon Barkley went down with an injury.
The Cowboys were supposed to be legitimate contenders though. Super Bowl contenders even.
Mike McCarthy came in as the new head coach and things were supposed to click. At 1-3 he's probably not on the hot seat yet. But a miserable year could change that quickly. A loss to the Giants would certainly not help.
With that in mind, Dallas will want to send a message. They'll do just that by not only beating the Giants, but by winning in big fashion.
Sadly for New York, they will simply be in the Cowboys way in Week 5. They might put up a fight for a bit, but it's not hard to envision Dallas winning in a blowout.
