Cowboys Game Plan Week Twelve: The Giants Offense

The Giants have lost five straight games and instead of improving, the offensive coordinator himself has said that the "offense has taken a step back." The key problem is the offensive line. They have had no consistency and thus the protection schemes have not been good which in turn has lead to a quarterback that is not comfortable in the pocket.

Couple the above with the fact that Eli Manning has a mindset that he never wants to take a sack. The previous offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride has just recently talked about his uncommon aversion to taking a sack. In this very informative article by Ed Valentine over at Big Blue View we find out that instead of realizing that the play just will not work, Manning will try to make it work and much of the time it just makes the play worse.

"You've gotta recognize that you're about to get hit, there is no way in heck you're gonna complete the pass all you're gonna do is invite disaster if you push it down the field, and sometimes that's what happens," Gilbride said.

"If you give him good protection he's always gonna know where to throw the ball, he's an accurate passer, he's always well-prepared. You don't give him good protection he is not built to avoid the protection problems with his feet.

"He's gotta learn to throw it away or accept the sack, which he has a very difficult time doing."

Week Twelve:

The Giants offense is in flux. When at the goal line this past week, even though the offensive coordinator said that he called two consecutive run plays, Eli Manning must have called an audible on each of them because they ran three straight fades.

Then with everyone covered on fourth down, Manning tried to force the ball into coverage and it was tipped and intercepted for the fifth time.

What the Giants do have is a budding super-star in Odell Beckham Jr, and they will try to do everything they can to get him the ball. They will put him in the slot, they will put him in the backfield, they will hand it to him on an end-around. If the Cowboys double-cover Beckham, then Rueben Randle will have a nice day against you.

It is very important that the Cowboys come out and score early and often to make the Giants try to beat you with the pass. Then bring some creative blitzes which really rattles Manning and brings out the "Bad-Eli" instead of the "Good-Eli" as is talked about in another good article by Ed Valentine.

"For Manning, there is always that internal competition between good and evil. The 'Good Eli' has been winning this year, but we know that the 'Bad Eli' still exists and he proved last week that he can be an incredibly angry evil twin when he doesn't get to come out and play very often.

There is no quarterback in the league, or in recent memory, quite like Manning. When the 'Good Eli' shows up he is still as good, and as dangerous to the opposition, as any quarterback in the business. When the 'Bad Eli' shows up Manning is still dangerous -- only to his own team.

Can Manning take the 'Bad Eli' and shove him back into the closet, deep into the closet, Sunday and for the rest of the season? The Giants have no chance if he can't."

As pointed out in the "Giants Defense" article this season seems to be full of upsets, but if you like to read about odds and other great stats put together for those that like to make wagers, over at Yardbarker are great stats, including this:

"Dallas Cowboys (7-3) at New York Giants (3-7) One of the more powerful trends says that road favorites of 3 or more are incredibly dominant off of a bye, going 40-12 ATS since 2002, including 21-4 ATS in divisional matchups, like this one here. It makes sense. The Cowboys are a significantly better team than the Giants and should be very well prepared for this game with 2 weeks off..."

No matter how many times I read that glowing report, I am always worried because...."on any given Sunday"....

What do you guys and gals think? Easy win or is there no such thing?