Cowboys vs. Giants: Week 12 matchups to watch for the Dallas Cowboys

With a Thanksgiving victory the Dallas Cowboys can sweep the New York Giants this season after already defeating them earlier this year in Week 3. But in order to do that, they will have to take advantage of a few key matchups this week.

Today, we will identify and discuss a few of the matchups you may want to keep a close eye on. Each one of the matchups mentioned below could help sway the game to the Giants if not handled properly by the Dallas Cowboys.

Tony Pollard vs. Giants’ defense

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Tony Pollard has turned himself into a difference-making offensive weapon for the Dallas Cowboys this season and already had a big game against the Giants earlier this year, rushing for 105 yards on just 13 carries in Week 3.

Kellen Moore has done an excellent job getting him more involved as both a runner and receiver recently and that should continue against the Giants in Week 12. His dual-threat ability as a RB/WR should create a mismatch problem Thanksgiving afternoon and it’s one the Cowboys will likely take full advantage of to help sweep the Giants this season.

Dak Prescott vs. Giants’ pass defense

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In the previous meeting with the Giants, Cooper Rush was able to get the best of them throwing for 215 yards and one touchdown, ending the outing with a QBR 104.7. There’s no reason to believe Dak Prescott shouldn’t surpass those numbers in this Week 12 matchup.

New York is currently having to deal with some unfortunate injuries to their secondary and that’s something No. 4 and the Cowboys receivers should be able to take advantage of on Thanksgiving day. Because of that, it wouldn’t be all that surprising if Prescott has yet another near-perfect performance like he did last week against Minnesota.

Micah Parsons and Company vs. QB Daniel Jones

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The Dallas Cowboys did a good job containing Saquon Barkley for the most part in Week 3, holding him to only 81 yards on the ground and 45 through the air, and should be able to do the same in this Thanksgiving matchup. What the Cowboys need to do a better job of though is not allowing QB Daniel Jones to use his mobility to extend plays on the ground. That was somewhat a problem in the previous matchup when he rushed/scrambled for 79 yards. Because of that, Micah Parsons and company will need to be much more disciplined this go around to get the ball back in the hands of their offense.