Giants embracing chance to make Cowboys statement in lopsided rivalry: New day
Welcome, Giants, to this week’s episode of “Did you save your NFL season?”Behind one of these three doors, you will find a victory Thursday against the Cowboys that doubles the momentum gained Sunday by defeating the Browns, evens your record at 2-2, rejuvenates your starving fans, halts talk of a lopsided rivalry and charts a path to a respectable season.Be careful, though.Behind a different door you will find a dose of humiliation similar to that ingested during last season’s 40-0 prime-time home loss against the Cowboys and only validates skeptics’ belief that the complementary combination of four 20-plus-yard gains, eight sacks and smart coaching used to beat the Browns was an aberration.And, of course, behind the final door is the ho-hum possibility of a non-win, non-blowout loss that suggests another long (but potentially not disastrous) season lies ahead.“To play meaningful football in December, you have to win the division games,” left tackle Andrew Thomas said.
“You try not to look too far forward or too far behind in the past.We get a win, then things look different.”So, which of these three doors is it going to be? Can the suddenly upstart Giants really clean the slate by beating the spiraling Cowboys for the just second time in the last 15 meetings?“It’s a new day,” safety Jason Pinnock said.
“With that, my analogy goes toward my big brother: We joke about this all the time.Yeah, he probably beat on me for 12 years, but that 13th I’m going to bust your a–.”Just eight days ago, the Giants widely were left for dead after opening the season with back-to-back losses in tight-spread games against the Vikings — who knew after Week 1 that they would be 3-0 with wins against the high-expectation 49ers and Texans? — and Commanders.It felt like an impossibility then that the trajectory of their season could quickly change.
But that turnaround is exactly what could happen if the Giants are able to win on a Thursday for the fir...