The Dallas Cowboys will welcome the New York Giants this evening to open the season. What is a reasonable final score prediction for this Week 1 game?
Jerry Jones and the Cowboys went through a rough offseason and ended up losing superstar running back DeMarco Murray. He ended up signing with their arch rival Philadelphia Eagles in free agency. Replacing him is going to be nearly impossible with the group of backs that Dallas currently has on their depth chart.
New York also went through a rough offseason and may not have star pass rusher Jason Pierre-Paul due to a July 4th fireworks accident. They still are expected to be a much better football team than they were last season, but are being counted out of tonight's game by many. Dallas is a quality football team, but the Giants are very dangerous and have quite a few weapons that could hurt the Cowboys.
Dez Bryant is going to be the biggest player for the Dallas offense and Tony Romo will be looking to him early and often throughout the game. The Giants don't have any defensive back who will be able to guard him and Bryant should come through with a monstrous game. Jason Garrett also has Terrance Williams, Cole Beasley and Jason Witten who are more than capable of making plays for the aerial attack as well.
Odell Beckham Jr. is a very similar player to Bryant and he is expected to carve up the Dallas secondary this evening as well. Eli Manning is going to see a lot of pressure, but if he can hang in the pocket and work with Beckham, the Giants' offense is going to see quite a few big plays throughout the course of the game.
Looking at the Dallas backfield, they will need one or a combination of Joseph Randle, Darren McFadden and Christine Michael to step up in a big way. Simply picking up a combination of 100 yards on the ground from all of them would be huge for the Cowboys' offense.
Rashad Jennings is expected to have a big game on the ground for the Giants and is one of the most underrated running backs in the league. He is more than capable of picking up big chunks of yardage and grinding out short yardage situations.
It's always difficult to predict a rivalry game, although many believe that the Cowboys will end up pulling out a win. That is very possible, but we're going to go a different way and predict that the Giants come away with a huge season opening victory on the road.
New York doesn't have to go through the massive change of losing a star running back and the Cowboys simply don't have anyone to take pressure off of Romo and the passing game. Bryant will have a big game through the air and the Cowboys will put up points, but the combination of no running game and a poor defense will do Dallas in when everything is said and done.
Dallas vs. New York Week 1 Prediction: Giants 31, Cowboys 24
