Cowboys Film Room: How can Dak Prescott beat New York Giants

Other than drops or failed receptions, what else contributed to Prescott’s poor performances against the Giants? The biggest was that the offense consistently found themselves in long third downs that they weren’t able to convert. In the first game, the Cowboys had four drives stall after trying to convert 3rd and 11 or longer. And for a rookie quarterback playing one of the best front fours in the NFL, that’s just asking for trouble.

However, converting long third downs isn’t impossible. There just has to be a higher level of execution that takes place on typically “safer” throws. That’s why a lot of teams will use screens to try to get their weapons in space. Twice, the Cowboys tried to use screens on third down and neither times were they ever to complete the pass. Not only were they not completed, they were not even close to being successful. Take a look at those two screens:

No.1:

No.2:

Both of these screens should have worked if Prescott could have completed the pass. There’s really no excuse for the league’s best offensive line to be such a miserable screen team. Unfortunately for Dallas, teams know that they can’t run a traditional screen very well (outside of the one play against Pittsburgh) so that tends to lead to team’s blitzing Prescott.

The Giants don’t have to blitz to get the quarterback, but that doesn’t mean they won’t, especially on earlier downs. In both games, the Giants got to Prescott and hit him. In the first game, the Giants didn’t sack him but knocked him down multiple times. In the second game, they had him flustered and that resulted in him taking three sacks that he typically doesn’t take. The play before is a perfect example of this.

If the Cowboys can keep Prescott upright on Sunday night, he should be able to find success against the Giants. Whenever he feels comfortable in the pocket, he’s one of the best quarterbacks in the league because of his decision-making and accuracy. But if he’s hit a lot earlier in the game, the Cowboys could be in trouble.

Don’t expect the Giants to blitz much in the first half, however. They’ll likely test La’el Collins and whoever starts at left guard with their front four. If they can’t get to Prescott, expect defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo to crank up the blitzes in the second half.

The encouraging part of this film study is that Prescott certainly has the chance to improve on these two performances. I don’t believe the Giants “have his number” after just one season and I suspect that Prescott and the Cowboys’ coaching staff got together this offseason to find out ways to put up more than 26 points in two games against the Giants.

Prescott is an elite quarterback and the Giants have one of the best defenses in the NFL combined with one of the best defensive coordinators. It’s never going to be easy for the Cowboys to move the ball against their division rival, but the hope is that Prescott can continue to learn and find ways to expose his opponents. Sometimes that takes skill and sometimes it takes just avoiding the unlucky plays.