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Cowboys, Giants clash in New York Sunday
By: Staff Writer - StatFox
Published: 10/22/2015  at  4:55:00 PM
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DALLAS COWBOYS (2-3)
at NEW YORK GIANTS (3-3)

Kickoff: Sunday, 4:25 p.m. ET
Line: New York -3.5, Total: 45

Two long-time rivals will try and seize control of an NFC East division struggling as a whole when the Cowboys and Giants square off at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. The match-up will be the 108th all-time between the two foes.

Here is the BetDSI Sportsbook betting preview for this matchup:

The Cowboys (2-3 SU, 1-4 ATS) enter the game looking for any way to end the three-game losing skid that has erased any momentum from their 2-0 start. Matt Cassel was announced as the team’s starting quarterback during their bye week, replacing the struggling Brandon Weeden, who, in his three starts replacing the injured Tony Romo, threw only 1 touchdown and 3 INT, averaging 200 YPG. The Giants (3-3 SU and ATS) lost some of the momentum they had garnered during their three-game winning streak with an embarrassing 27-7 loss to the Eagles on Monday night, setting season lows for rushing yards (81) and passing yards (166). Dallas, which lost to the unbeaten Patriots at home 30-6 two weeks ago, has rebounded nicely from losses over the years. The team is 32-16 ATS after a loss of at least 14 points since 1992, and over that same time span, the club is 11-2 ATS in road games following a loss of at least 21 points. Bettors can also feel confident going with either Tom Coughlin or Jason Garrett. As Giants’ head coach, Coughlin is 29-15 ATS in October. As for the Cowboys’ Garrett, he’s had remarkable success when the Cowboys are the underdog, posting a 22-11 ATS mark, including 16-7 as a road underdog. He’s also 11-3 when Dallas is an underdog within the range of 3.5 to 9.5 points. Both teams have a handful of injuries to contend with on Sunday, as the Cowboys have three players with a questionable status in WR Brice Butler (hamstring), TE James Hanna (ankle) and DE Randy Gregory (ankle). For the Giants, WR Victor Cruz (calf) is questionable and OT Will Beatty (pectoral) is doubtful. On defense, starting CB Prince Amukamara (pectoral) is out 2-to-4 weeks, and DE Robert Ayers and LB Devon Kennard are both questionable with bad hamstrings.

Which NFC East rival will prevail on Sunday? For the answer, connect to NFL Best Bets for all the StatFox Experts picks throughout the 2015 regular season and playoffs. This season, the experts have a collective 60% ATS record (52-35-2) in NFL Best Bets, including an 86% ATS success rate (12-2-1) in Week 6. StatFox Dave is leading the charge at 71% ATS (17-7) this season, while StatFox Brian is 59% ATS (13-9-1) and StatFox Gary is 55% ATS (11-9-1). StatFox Scott continues to thrive in NFL Totals this season at 65% (13-7).

New York got off to a hot start last week, scoring on its first drive of the game, and with QB Eli Manning completing his first 10 passes. But Big Blue struggled mightily after that, mustering just 167 total yards with Manning completing 50% of his passes and throwing two interceptions, one of which was returned for an Eagles’ touchdown. But he has always played well in this rivalry game with 253 passing YPG, 46 TD and 23 INT in 23 starts. The Giants’ defense has been a mess they’ve been trying to sort out all season long. On paper, their 6th-ranked rushing defense (93 YPG allowed) looks promising, but it’s how they’ve wound up there that should have fans and bettors worried, as they’ve allowed 139.5 YPG in the past two weeks, after just 69.8 YPG over the first four games of the season. In addition to the drop-off in regards to stopping the run, the Giants’ pass defense has been poor all season long, allowing 298.5 YPG, which is 3rd-worst in the league.

The silver lining for the Giants on Sunday is that they’ll be facing a quarterback in Matt Cassel who has not taken a meaningful snap in more than a month, leading a Cowboys’ passing attack that has had five straight games of decreasing passing yards since a 356-yard performance in Week 1 from Tony Romo. Dallas fell all the way to 164 passing yards against New England two weeks ago. Despite this and a running game that has 114 YPG on a subpar 3.7 YPC, the Cowboys do have a quality defense. Their run-stop unit is allowing 95.2 YPG (10th in the league), and should be good enough to neutralize the Giants’ atrocious ground game with 89.5 YPG (28th in NFL) on 3.6 YPC (T-29th in league). But it will be the Dallas passing defense (254 YPG, 17th in the league) that will need to set the tone early: The Cowboys are 2-0 this year when allowing fewer than 220 passing yards, and 0-3 when allowing more than 220 through the air. Another big issue is turnovers, as Dallas has zero takeaways during its three-game losing skid.


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