Archived Thread

Beating Dallas - is 4th Quarter our biggest advantage?

Dan in the Springs : 9/8/2017 10:44 am

Last year's games with Dallas were close. The powerful Dallas run and pass games really shut down.

Game 1: 6-15 passing for 66 yards, 3 runs for 6 yards.

Game 2: 3-10 passing for 30 yards, 5 runs for 3 yards.

In the first game, Dallas had a chance to run out the clock with the lead and their running game couldn't get it done. The final drive gave them 45 of their 66 yards passing, as the Giants gave up yards in the middle of the field. These completions were NOT out of bounds but tackled in bounds, forcing spiked balls (which I didn't count as attempts).

In the second game the Cowboys were behind the entire quarter and managed nothing.

Did the Giants win these games because of superior conditioning on defense? Will that happen again on Sunday night? What do you think...

if the Giants are leading I think so

giants#1 : 9/8/2017 11:03 am : link

but with the D starters limited in preseason (rightly so) and the Dallas ball control offense, I worry our D could get a little worn out in the 2nd half. Hopefully the offense can sustain some drives and make that a moot point.

I think it was part Dak being green

JonC : 9/8/2017 11:09 am : link

and part Giants just wanting it a bit more, especially the defense which was phenomenal in the matchup at home.

Cowboys teams are often frontrunners, Giants finished close games.

Both games were incredibly tight and could have gone either way

Jimmy Googs : 9/8/2017 11:11 am : link

Game 1 - if the game goes another 10 seconds Dan Bailey would lining up for the game winning kick

Game 2 - iirc, Bailey hit the cross bar on a deep kick to end the first half

Lots of things Giants did well against them but its not like the Cowboys didn't beat us in areas as well...

My only real,concern with the D

j_rud : 9/8/2017 11:28 am : link

is the possibility of them getting worn out if the offense can't sustain some drives and Dallas controls the clock. It's the first game and nothing can really prepare you to play 4 quarters of football other than playing 4 quarters of football. I'm not saying I don't like our chances in a close game, but if they're going into the 4th qtr and Dallas has held the ball for 28 or 29 minutes I'll be squirming in my chair.

they key is to get

BlackburnBalledOut : 9/8/2017 11:46 am : link

ahead of dallas so they have to become a pass first offense. Prescott had good numbers and all last year but i from what i saw, he sucks. hes a short passing qb who struggles to make basic throws when the run game and subsequently play action isnt firing on all cylinders. i really expect a fall off from dallas. maybe 9 wins

if they have the lead theyre just going to grind out yards and chew up clock

WideRight : 9/8/2017 12:05 pm : link

We do not have a running game and will not be able to control the ball as well as Dallas as the game winds down.

Its one of our more glaring disadvantages. Hopefully the D can stuff them for the whole game.

Try thinking about the fourth quarter in last year's games...

Dan in the Springs : 9/8/2017 12:37 pm : link

I know these teams are closely matched. The difference in that first game wasn't just that they ran out of clock. It's that in the fourth quarter, when Dallas had a lead, they could only run three times for a total of 6 yards, and were unable to sustain a drive and eat clock.

On defense they were suddenly unable to keep up with our athletes and gave up a TD drive.

In the second game, the vaunted O-line managed a mere 0.6 YPC against us on 5 attempts, and Dak only managed 3 completions on 10 attempts.

Parcells said it best

joeinpa : 9/8/2017 1:22 pm : link

If the Giants offense doesn't move the ball, score point, use up some time, this defense will not be able to sustain.

With all the optimism going into this season. If the offensive line is no better, the Giants are once again going to be a one dimensional team.

Last year in the 4 th quarter, with seconds remaining, if the Dallas receiver runs out of bounds, they get a long kick to win the game. I think that kicker makes that kick. If so would we still be talking about the fourth quarter being a Giants advantage.

The advantage we had last year

WideRight : 9/9/2017 12:39 pm : link

was all McAdoo game calling ability.

The guy before him was notoriously bad at it, so it was a significant improvement.