Cowboys @ Giants Expert Picks: Tight Game Predicted In New York

The Cowboys are slight underdogs heading into the Sunday afternoon game against the Giants. The oddsmakers have the Cowboys as 2.5-point underdogs in New York, which isn't really that much.

Last year, the Cowboys were 3.5-point underdogs when they faced what at the time were the Defending Super Bowl Champion New York Football Giants - my, how time flies - in the season opener in New York. The Cowboys won that game 24-17. Can the Cowboys pull off another road win in New York?

The majority of the experts we poll below don't think so, but they do predict a tight game: of the 11 expert opinions polled, eight expect the game to be decided by four points or less.

Name (Cowboys accuracy)	Pick	Score	Comment
Michael Smith, Pro Football Talk (8-2)		20-17	Can a team that starts the season 0-6 win its division? Maybe, if that division is the terrible NFC East. The Giants can improve to 5-6 and join the Cowboys at just one game behind the Eagles with a win, and I think that’s exactly what will happen.
Peter Schrager, Foxsports (8-2)		33-24	Looking for a Comeback Player of the Year? How about Jon Beason? Traded for next to nothing from the Panthers to the Giants in September, Beason's been the veteran Big Blue's D was so desperately missing. The Giants haven't looked great, but four wins in a row is what it is. Without Sean Lee on the field for Dallas, look for four wins in a row to go to five.
Don Banks, SI.com (8-2)		31-27	This is the type of game Dallas typically finds a way to lose, so it's up to Tony Romo to stop the bleeding and get the desperate Cowboys a win. If he's the quarterback his defenders maintain he is, he'll answer the challenge in the Meadowlands. But why do I feel like I know how this movie will end?
Mike Florio, Pro Football Talk (8-2)		28-27	Jason Pierre-Paul says that a certain red liquid will be spilled during this one. If the Giants catch the Cowboys at 5-6, Jason Garrett moves a big step closer to receiving a certain pink slip.
Sam Farmer, L.A. Times (7-3)		23-21	The Giants have faced a string of lesser quarterbacks during their four-game winning streak but now go up against Tony Romo. He has intermittently burned them in the past, but a reborn Giants defense is ready.
Todd Archer, ESPN Dallas (7-3)		33-30	I've predicted a few high-scoring games for the Cowboys this season and have been wrong, so I'm not feeling too great about this pick. But I just don't see a way the Cowboys defense can contain the Giants enough, and that will put too much pressure on Romo to get it done by himself. The freefall continues, but they can still make a postseason run.
The Other ESPN Guy (Graziano) (7-3)		28-24	I fully acknowledge that the Giants look much better over the past month and very well might be. They are, indeed, playing better right now than the Cowboys are, but they haven't been tested by an offense the way the Cowboys are capable of testing them. And their own offense still doesn't look like it's in good enough shape to take advantage of the problems Dallas is having on defense.
Pete Prisco, CBS Sports (7-3)		34-28	This is a huge game in the NFC East. The Giants have won four straight, while the Cowboys are coming off a bye with a 5-5 record. The Cowboys went into the bye struggling on defense. That shows up here again. Eli Manning will finally have his big day throwing it. Giants take it.
Elliot Harrison, NFL.com (7-3)		30-29	What it comes down to: Flip a coin. Seriously. Anybody have one of those 20-sided dice from Dungeons & Dragons? Sure, the Giants have won four in a row. They also struggled some against former practice-squad quarterback Scott Tolzien and the Packers on Sunday. The Cowboys? Well, they make up for it by having the worst defense in the NFL. Literally.
Vinny Iyer, Sporting News (7-3)		34-27	The Cowboys’ defense is giving up yardage at an alarming rate, and without Sean Lee, aren’t in position to get the takeaways to make up for it. When they beat the Giants 36-31 in Week 1, that was the case. Now the Giants have cleaned up their mistakes and have found their running game with Andre Brown, and sense a chance to steal the NFC East. They must win to stay in the division race, and that means they need Eli Manning to bust out. The Cowboys will try to take a shootout with Tony Romo, but an improved Big Blue D makes the small difference.
Greg Cote, Miami Herald (6-4)		30-27	'Boys beat Biggies in Week 1 and Dallas hasn't swept season series since 2007. An upset here would not surprise even a little. NYG's four straight wins have come against all backup QBs and Tony Romo brings a far greater challenge. Still, Dallas is 1-4 on the road, and oh that awful defense! Cows' pass-D already has allowed four 400-yard games, and Eli Manning could well be No. 5. Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/11/22/3770152_p3/greg-cotes-week-12-nfl-picks.html#storylink=cpy

Hooray for Dan Graziano!

Looking through the table above, you'd think the Giants are big favorites, but a look at a couple of pick' em panels below paints a slightly different picture. In fact, this is the first time this season that these panels have been "all over the place". Panels like ESPN and CBS strongly favor the Giants, other panels like Yahoo, the Dallas Morning News, and Foxsports are split evenly, others yet again strongly favor the Cowboys.

So there you have it, folks. Public opinion is all over the place on this game. The average suggests the Giants are the favorites here, but you know how it is with averages:

Three statisticians went out hunting, and came across a large deer. The first statistician fired, but missed by a foot to the left. The second statistician fired, but also missed, this time by a foot to the right. The third statistician didn't even bother firing his rifle, instead shouting excitedly, "On average we got it!"

Do you think the Cowboys can pull off another road win win New York?

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