Game Preview: Giants face Cowboys on Thanksgiving

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Brian Daboll began his NFL coaching career with the New England Patriots in 2000, the year he participated in his first Thanksgiving Day game. The Patriots lost in Detroit, 30-9.

New England returned to Michigan on the holiday two years later and defeated the Lions, 20-12. Daboll has since coached in five more Turkey Day games with the Jets, Miami, Buffalo and the Giants, who lost in Dallas in his 2022 debut season as the team’s head coach, 28-20. His teams are 3-4 on the fourth Thursday in November.

On Thursday, the Giants will play the 17^th Thanksgiving Day game in their history and their fifth in the Super Bowl era when they again face the Cowboys in AT&T Stadium.

“It’s a privilege to play on Thanksgiving,” Daboll said Tuesday. “I remember sitting there with my grandfather and watching the games on Thanksgiving when there’s only a couple of them. But I’ve participated in this game on Thanksgiving in my career quite a bit. It’s always a privilege.”

The Giants hope to break several streaks when they tangle with their NFC East rivals. They have lost their last six games, their last seven to the Cowboys, and their last seven in Arlington, Texas. The Giants are also seeking their first Thanksgiving victory since 1982 when Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor returned an interception 97 yards for the only touchdown in a 13-6 victory in Detroit. The Giants have lost their last four Turkey Day games, in 1992, 2009, 2017 and 2022.

Their most recent game was a 30-7 loss last Sunday to Tampa Bay in MetLife Stadium. Since then, they’ve limited their physical activity while ramping up their mental preparation, followed by a long flight to Dallas.

“Yeah, well, it’s the schedule,” Daboll said. “So go ahead and do everything we can do to be as prepared as we can be. … It’s always a little bit of a different schedule on short weeks. We’ll do what we think is best. We’ve had a lot of walk-throughs. We’ve had a lot of meeting time. That’s really all you can do to get yourself mentally prepared and physically you’re not going to do a whole bunch just having played a game on Sunday.”

Dallas won the first meeting of the season on Sept. 26 – also a Thursday – 20-15. Greg Joseph kicked five field goals for all the Giants’ points. Neither quarterback who started that game will play in the rematch. The Giants benched and then – at his request – released Daniel Jones last week, while Dallas’ Dak Prescott is out for the season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn hamstring.

The Giants promoted Tommy DeVito but his first game action of the season left him exceptionally sore, particularly in his right (throwing) forearm. If he can’t play, Drew Lock will make his 2024 starting debut.

Cooper Rush has started the last three games for the Cowboys. He was Dallas’ starter in Daboll’s first defeat as the Giants’ coach, 23-16 on Sept. 26, 2022. That was the middle game in a streak in which Rush became the 14^th quarterback in NFL history to win his first five starts.

“He’s doing a good job of getting the ball out quick,” defensive coordinator Shane Bowen said. “They have some quick game in there that helps them. I’m sure they’ll have some play action if they can get the run game going, which I fully expect them to try to do. He’s good on his progressions. He’s been able to find the open guys quickly and he’s not holding onto it. It’s a big challenge for us.”

Dallas wideout CeeDee Lamb leads the NFL with 77 receptions and is second with 841 yards. Lamb has caught four or more passes in a league-record 44 consecutive games. He has 34 more catches than his nearest teammate, tight end Jay Ferguson, who has not practiced this week due to a concussion.

The Giants are the only NFL team that has not allowed an opposing 100-yard receiver this season. Despite his prolific numbers, Lamb has exceeded 100 yards just once; he gained 146 yards on 13 catches in a loss in San Francisco.

“He’s a big-time playmaker for them, so they’re going to find ways to get the ball in his hands,” Bowen said, “whether it’s in the passing game, whether it’s in the backfield and they toss it to him and let him run or release him from the backfield on a jet sweep. We are going to have to do a good job locating him, knowing where he’s at, because it’s going to be in different spots throughout the game and the different ways they utilize him.”

Linebacker Bobby Okereke said Dallas’ offense has stayed largely the same, despite the quarterback change.

“They both like to get the ball out quick,” Okereke said. “Maybe they’re a little bit more run heavy with Cooper than they were with Dak. Maybe a couple of different wrinkles here and there, but they’re both trying to get the ball out quick. They’re both trying to get the ball to CeeDee. They have a good run game, they run jet sweeps, so I think they call it decently similar. When Dak’s in there, he’s got more freedom to take shots down the field. I think Cooper’s running that offense efficiently.”

The Cowboys are an interesting team. They won in Washington on Sunday, 34-26, to end a five-game losing streak and improve to 4-7. But they’ve had an extraordinary and miserable turnaround at home since the Giants visited AT&T last Nov. 12. A December victory against Detroit stretched their home winning streak to 16 games. In the 2023 regular season, the Cowboys were 8-0 at home. Since then, Dallas has lost six consecutive home games, including one in the playoffs, by an average of 22.3 points. Their point differential at home this year is a franchise-record minus-118, the third worst in history through a team’s first five games. The Cowboys have trailed by 20+ points in each of those games.

At 2-9, the Giants can’t worry about anyone else’s problems. They’re trying to right their own ship.

“Nobody’s happy with where we’re at,” Daboll said. “But look, we’ve got a positive mindset. We’ve got to get ready. You control the things you can control, which is this week. But I’ve said this before, I got a good appreciation for the people in the building.”

He’ll have much more if they can produce a Thanksgiving Day victory.