Giants at Cowboys 2014: Big Blue View Staff Picks

Can the New York Giants rebound from last Sunday's devastating 27-0 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles with an improbable victory this Sunday in Arlington, Texas over the Dallas Cowboys. Here are your Big Blue View staff predictions for today's game.

Valentine's View

There certainly aren't any logical reasons for picking the Giants to win this week against the Cowboys.

The Giants are coming off an epic beat-down by the Philadelphia Eagles, lost Victor Cruz to a season-ending injury and can't seem to shake hearing his screams on the sideline, and have sounded demoralized this week.

The Cowboys have won five straight, including going into Seattle and beating the defending champion Seahawks in the stadium that might be the most difficult in the NFL for opposing teams to play in.

The Giants haven't beaten a good team at full strength (meaning with their No. 1 quarterback healthy) since a Week 12 victory over the Green Bay Packers during the 2012 season. Like it or not, the Cowboys are a good team. And Tony Romo is playing. So are DeMarco Murray and Dez Bryant.

Yet ... yet ... yet SOMEBODY has to pick the Giants to win in a game they really have to have if they are realistically going to contend for a playoff spot in the NFC. I guess that somebody will be me. Not that I am issuing any guarantees here. I know I'm out on a limb.

Maybe the Giants aren't as good as they looked during their three-game winning streak. There is no, way, however, they are as bad as they looked against the Eagles. I can't believe, either, that the Cowboys are as good as they have looked. Flying high after beating the Seahawks on the road and carrying a league-best five-game winning streak, the Giants might be able to catch the Cowboys feeling just a little too good about themselves. And they are 4-1 in the Jerry Dome.

Pick: Giants 30, Cowboys 27

Dennis Esser

The Cowboys are heavy favorites against the Giants in their first meeting of the year. They just won a huge game on the road against last year's Super Bowl Champions, the Seattle Seahawks, in tremendous fashion. They bullied the Seahawks all game long, both on offense and on defense. DeMarco Murray topped 100 yards for the sixth straight time and left tackle Tyron Smith was named offensive player of the week.

The Giants won't be facing the same team on Sunday in Dallas. Right Tackle Doug Free is out with an injury and Tyron Smith is nursing a sprained ankle. DeMarco Murray missed practice on Wednesday with an illness and may not see the holes he's used to on Sunday if Smith isn't able to play. The Seahawks also face the dreaded let down game as they come off of such a huge win.

The Giants, on the other hand, are heading to a place where they have had a lot of success putting up points. The new stadium in Dallas doesn't hold much of a home field advantage for the Cowboys as visiting teams easily buy up the over priced tickets. The Cowboys have even had to take timeouts on offensive drives as visiting fans have been loud enough to put them off of their game. If the Giants can get in a rhythm on offense they have a good shot of upsetting the Cowboys. The only thing holding me up from really liking them is the injury to DRC. If he can't play the Giants are unbelievably thin at the cornerback position.

The losses of Rashad Jennings, Victor Cruz, and DRC might be too much to overcome against a good Dallas team, even if Dallas struggles a little bit.

Pick: Dallas 27, Giants 17

Jesse Bartolis

(From Jesse's Week 7 Picks Against The Spread)

Dallas is home this week and the Cowboys are playing very well. The Giants are coming off a bad loss in which they lost their best receiver, their starting slot cornerback (second one of the year), and Justin Pugh's dignity. The Cowboys are rolling off a big win against the defending Superbowl champions in Seattle, but they lost their starting OL Doug Free, and Tyron Smith needed a MRI yesterday after practice. Last week the Giants lost the game, but maybe we should have seen it coming, with someone in the comments section pointed out that historically teams who had cover the spread by scoring 30 plus points in three weeks in a row only covered the next game about 12 percent of the time. I dont' think the Giants are as bad as they looked last week, I think that Ben McAdoo got his first coaching lesson as an offensive coordinator and I expect there to be a lot of work on getting the blitz picked up this week. I'm not confident the Giants win, but I'm confident they don't lose by a touchdown.

Pick: The 'Homer of the Week' special. Giants win outright (taking off my homer hat Giants cover, Cowboys win).

'Invictus'

Everything points towards this being a blowout loss for the Giants. The Cowboys just went into the den of the beast in Seattle and came out with a win. The Giants are, of course, coming off a 27-0 beatdown by the Eagles. The Cowboys are attacking opposing OLs and DLs, while the Giants are struggling on both fronts.

This is a divisional game. That means anything goes. It very well could be a blowout, but I doubt it will be. Tom Coughlin is too good of a coach to let that happen. The Giants will be desperate and the Cowboys may even (I doubt it, but we can always hope) see this as a trap game. I think the Giants can win. I think the OL had a really, really bad day against the Eagles and I don't think it'll happen again. That being said, there's no way in good faith that I can pick the Giants to win this game. I can see it happening, but until they prove it, I've got to go ahead and make myself nauseous by picking the Cowboys.

Pick: Cowboys 35, Giants 24

'Raptor'

I really don't know how to pick this game.

Mostly because after last week, I really don't know which Giants team is going to show up. If somebody could promise me that the Giants team that played against Houston, Washington, and Atlanta (or even the first three quarters against Arizona), I'd probably pick the Giants, even seeing Dallas beat Seattle.

If I knew the team that played last week were to show up again, I'd be sick about it, but I'd have to pick Dallas.

The sudden weakness in the defensive secondary scares me, and I really don't know how the Giants will respond to the loss of Victor Cruz on offense.

I think I think the offense will be OK. I don't think you can replace Victor Cruz, but I do think they can move on from this. We've already seen the Giants' offense improve by leaps and bounds in a single week. I think they can do it again. I think they can churn out 1st downs, extend drives, and flip the script on Dallas.

I'm going to pick the Giants here, but I'd be lying if I said I really felt good about it. I'm going to bank on the Giants -- despite the foul taste they left us with last week -- playing much more good, sound, efficient football this year than bad.

I'd feel much better about the pick if there was some sort of track record going into this game.

Pick: Giants

The Picks

Ed: Giants
Dennis: Cowboys
Jesse: Cowboys
'Invictus:' Cowboys
'Raptor:' GIants