Giants must find a way to stop Cowboys' three receivers in Week 17
Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb and wide receiver Amari Cooper, rear, celebrate a touchdown catch by Lamb as Eagles cornerback Grayland Arnold walks away in the second half of an NFL game in Arlington, Texas, ob Sunday. Credit: AP/Michael Ainsworth
Because it was the only way they could remain in contention for the NFC East title heading into Week 17, the Giants spent Sunday evening cheering on the Cowboys’ passing attack to beat the Eagles.
Now they have to figure out how to stop it.
"When you look at these three receivers, you see they’re a problem," defensive backs coach Jerome Henderson said on Tuesday of Michael Gallup, Amari Cooper and CeeDee Lamb who combined for 326 offensive yards and four touchdowns in the 37-17 victory. "This will definitely be a massive challenge for us as a secondary."
That recent output wasn’t an anomaly, either. The Cowboys have scored at least 30 points in each of their last three games, coinciding with the return to form of Andy Dalton at quarterback. He was the backup when Dak Prescott was knocked out of the game the last time the Giants faced Dallas in Week 5. Now he is their starter trying to drive them to the playoffs.
"The quarterback has settled in and feels comfortable," Henderson said.
Unlike the past four Giants opponents — or Prescott for that matter — Dalton isn’t the type of quarterback who will run circles around a defense. He’s certainly not cement-footed, having rushed 21 times for 66 yards this season, but in the past four Giants games Russell Wilson, Kyler Murray, Baker Mayfield and Lamar Jackson have run for 183 combined yards on 37 carries.
"It definitely makes it a little easier gameplan-wise," linebacker Blake Martinez grinned.
Not, however, execution-wise. Last Sunday’s performance that helped the Giants illustrated that.
"You can see they’re starting to gain confidence and kind of gre0w toward the end of the season," Henderson said. "They have a chance, as do we, to potentially have a chance after this game to continue playing."
They both have the Dallas offense to thank for that.
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.
