Giants vs. Cowboys Week 5 preview: Everything you need to know for gameday
Giants defensive end Leonard Williams against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sept. 14. Credit: AP/Evan Pinkus
GIANTS (0-4) at COWBOYS (1-3), AT&T Stadium, 4:25 p.m.
VITALS
Line: Cowboys by 8 1/2
TV: Ch. 2 (Jim Nantz, Tony Romo)
Radio: WFAN-660 AM (Bob Papa, Carl Banks, Howard Cross); Sirius 1331; XM 383
KEY INJURIES
Giants: LB Oshane Ximines (shoulder/IR), out; S Jabrill Peppers (ankle), S Adrian Colbert (neck), LB Kyler Fackrell (neck), questionable.
Cowboys: T Tyron Smith (neck), C Joe Looney (knee), out.
FEATURED MATCHUP
Last year, Giants DL Leonard Williams said the Cowboys’ offensive line was the toughest he faced all season. This year? "They still have some good guys up front but I think there have been some moving parts," Williams said. "They’re definitely a little bit different." Williams hopes to take advantage of that, um, difference, after playing what might have been his best month of football since his Pro Bowl season in 2016. He has two sacks and four QB hits. "In these first few games, I’ve just been able to make that sack count instead of the quarterback hits," Williams said. "My game hasn’t changed too much. Every once in a while, that one second goes in your favor instead of the opposite favor . . . . Know who you are and be confident and just go out there with a mean mindset."
QUOTABLE
"They score 10 billion points a game, I think, or something like that, and about 30 billion yards a game."
– Giants defensive coordinator Patrick Graham on the Dallas offense
INTANGIBLES
Why is the NFC East off to such a slow start, with no team tallying more than one win through the first four weeks of the season? "I think, obviously, three of the four teams all went through changes," Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said. He, Joe Judge and Ron Rivera in Washington are all new coaches in the division. "There’s always a transition period," McCarthy said, "and frankly, we’re still going through our own transition to get to where we want to get to as fast as we can."
NUMBER, PLEASE
108 Consecutive passes for Daniel Jones without a TD, the longest drought of his career.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
