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5 Giants players to watch Week 2 in Dallas

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The Giants will look to pick up their first win of the season this weekend when they travel to Dallas for a divisional matchup against the Cowboys.

Sunday's game will be the second leg of a back-to-back games against divisional opponents for both teams. The Giants fell to the Commanders on the road in Week 1, while the Cowboys dropped their season opener on the road against the Eagles.

Here are five players to watch in the Week 2 NFC East matchup.

WR Malik Nabers

The second-year wideout registered five receptions for 71 yards on a team-high 12 targets in the 2025 opener. Nabers was matched up with corner Marshon Lattimore for a good portion of Week 1, with the veteran showing he still has plenty of gas left in the tank. While Nabers' final stats looked fine on paper, the wideout said he was disappointed with his play against the Commanders.

"I would look at it a little bit, get frustrated again, turn it off, sick to my stomach," Nabers told the media about watching the tape from last week. "Just overall, not even saying the whole team, just my gameplay. I'm going to start with mine first because I believe I'm a key part of this offense. So, when I don't play right, the energy is not right. But like I said, I got sick to my stomach and turned it off. ... Just 12 targets and five catches, just not how I want to end the day off."

Nabers has a good opportunity to bounce back in Dallas. In the two games against the Cowboys last year, he recorded 20 receptions for 184 yards. More importantly, Dallas could be down one of its key players this weekend. Cornerback DaRon Bland, who allowed just two receptions for 11 yards while playing every defensive snap against the Eagles last week, suffered a foot injury, putting his status for Week 2 in doubt.

See the top photos from practice as the Giants prepare for their Week 2 matchup against the Cowboys.

RB Tyrone Tracy Jr.

Giants running backs struggled to get going in the season opener. Tyrone Tracy Jr., Devin Singletary and Cam Skattebo combined for just 30 yards on 15 carries, with Tracy accounting for 24 of those yards. The second-year running back also caught two passes for 11 yards while seeing five targets in the passing game, the third-most on the team. Russell Wilson ended up leading the team with 44 yards on eight carries in Washington.

"I'd say it was a collective effort," Daboll said Monday about the struggles in the run game. "Again, we just we never got into a rhythm in the early part of the downs, which affected it. The line of scrimmage, there was a play here, a play there, a block here, a read there, that we just kept getting behind the sticks and could never get into a good enough rhythm."

"We missed on a few things, whether it was a block here or a read key here," assistant head coach/offensive coordinator Mike Kafka added on Thursday. "Certain times of calling it. So really everybody just kind of getting back on the same page. And that's what we focused on this week in our run game meetings, our game pods, just working through those details and making sure we're all straight on the execution."

Dallas had mixed results with the run defense in Week 1. The Eagles finished with 158 rushing yards on 38 attempts, good for an average of 4.2 yards per carry, with three touchdowns. However, quarterback Jalen Hurts finished with 62 yards and two of the touchdowns. Saquon Barkley, Will Shipley and AJ Dillon combined for 96 yards and one touchdown on 24 carries.

In his one start against the Cowboys last year, Tracy ran the ball nine times for 32 yards and a touchdown while adding two receptions for an additional 33 yards.

OLB Brian Burns

In the debut of the Giants' new-look pass rush, Brian Burns put together his first multi-sack game as a member of the Giants. Burns took down Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels twice, which is no easy feat, and finished with six total tackles (two solo). The Giants finished with three sacks as a team, with the final one being split between Kayvon Thibodeaux and Abdul Carter. The three edge rushers were rotated onto the field throughout the game, which led to a combined nine quarterback pressures to go with the three sacks.

"We want to keep those guys as fresh as we can," Daboll told reporters Monday. "I think they did a pretty good job relative to the roles. A couple things we can improve on in that area, but those three guys are going to play a lot. Try to balance out the numbers the best job you can so they can be as fresh as they can be."

The pass rush is faced with another tough test this week. Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott does a great job of processing and getting the ball out of his hands quicky. The Eagles were unable to register a sack of Prescott last week, and for his career, the veteran quarterback has been sacked just 15 times in 15 games against the Giants.

"He's an elite quarterback," defensive coordinator Shane Bowen said about Prescott. "When he's in rhythm and he can get the ball out of his hands in a hurry, he's accurate. So we're going to have to do a good job trying to affect him as best we can. But again, he's got a ton of weapons. You talk about obviously CeeDee (Lamb), you've got (George) Pickens, you've got (Jake) Ferguson. (KaVontae) Turpin's getting a little bit more tick for him now. It's going to be a big challenge for us. Hopefully we do a really good job finding ways to affect them."

ILB Bobby Okereke

Bobby Okereke was a tackling machine in Week 1 as he led the team with 16 total tackles, eight more than anyone else on the defense. However, the veteran linebacker struggled a bit in coverage with four receptions allowed (on four targets) for 46 yards. Following the injury to Micah McFadden, which Daboll said on Wednesday will sideline the fourth-year linebacker for Sunday's game, the Giants are going to need Okereke and Darius Muasau to step up in the middle of the defense.

The Cowboys ran the ball 22 times against the Eagles, compared to 34 pass attempts. Running back Javonte Williams gained 54 yards on 15 carries (3.6 avg.) but was able to find the end zone twice. Perhaps more importantly for the two Giants linebackers is the matchup against Jake Ferguson. The veteran tight end has developed into one of Prescott's favorite targets, evidenced by his six targets last week (second-most on the team). Ferguson turned that into five receptions for 23 yards, but the tight end figures to play a big role in Dallas' game plan this week.

CB Paulson Adebo

Paulson Adebo was one of the Giants' big offseason acquisitions, and in his first game with the team, the veteran did exactly what they brought him in to do. Adebo traveled with Commanders top wide receiver Terry McLaurin on 23 of his 29 routes, including 21 of 22 on the perimeter. McLaurin finished the game with just two receptions for 27 yards, while Adebo was credited with a passer rating against of just 50.4, according to Pro Football Focus.

"I thought he played well," Daboll said about Adebo's Giants debut. "Terry's a really good player, explosive offense, but you know that's something we've been working on as well. Thought he did a nice job throughout the entire game."

Things won't get any easier for the veteran cornerback this week with a matchup against Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb on the horizon. Lamb was targeted 13 times against the Eagles, more than double the amount of targets of any other pass-catcher, which led to seven receptions for 110 yards. The Cowboys also upgraded their No. 2 wide receiver spot with the acquisition of George Pickens. Regardless of who he covers on Sunday, Adebo knows slowing down the Dallas aerial attack will be a tall task.

"He's a good receiver," the veteran said Monday about Lamb. "Great, pretty much an elite receiver. Does everything well, runs well, catches the ball well. So somebody you've got to prepare for it. Obviously, they have a couple of other guys as well, Pickens, they have some other guys. So, it's definitely going to be a full team effort to stop all of the guys that they have."

View rare photos from the historic rivalry between the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys.

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