Tonight’s “Thursday Night Football” showdown is a meeting between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants. For this nationally televised game against their NFC East division rival, the Cowboys are wearing special uniforms. Let’s break down Dallas’ alternate look.
Examining the Cowboys’ Alternate Uniforms
The Cowboys are wearing their All-White Arctic uniforms for tonight’s game against the Giants.
These uniforms feature a white jersey (with navy accents), white pants, and a Double Star Matte White helmet to complete the All-White Arctic look. Meanwhile, the Giants will be wearing their traditional uniforms.
fashion week in NYC 👔 #DALvsNYG | @AveryDennison pic.twitter.com/Gg1DYUqHjt
— Dallas Cowboys (@dallascowboys) September 25, 2024
The Cowboys introduced these alternate uniforms back in 2022, when the NFL first allowed teams to wear alternate helmets. Previously, teams could wear alternate jerseys and pants, but the helmets had the remain the same.
Once the NFL changed this rule, it allowed teams to get creative and bring back a ton of fun throwback uniforms and innovative alternate designs.
The Cowboys like wearing these uniforms in prime-time games, as they are also scheduled to don them in Week 14 when they face the Cincinnati Bengals on “Monday Night Football.”
Cowboys vs. Giants Preview and Prediction
- Spread
Cowboys -5.5 - Moneyline
Cowboys (-245); Giants (+200) - Over/Under
45.5 total points - Game Time
8:15 p.m. ET - Location
MetLife Stadium
After three weeks, the Cowboys now have the lowest target concentration in the NFL, meaning they distribute the ball most evenly to their weapons on offense. Normally, you would assume this is a negative thing for the Cowboys because they have an alpha wide receiver in CeeDee Lamb that they should be feeding the ball.
Per Tru Media, of 143 players with over 50 routes run this year, Lamb ranks 119th in EPA on his targets. He is still an incredible wideout, ranking 32nd in yards per route run but this just shows that teams are scheming up ways to allow Lamb to eat but still limiting the Cowboys’ offense as a whole.
The Giants’ defense ranks 13th against the pass and 21st against the run in EPA, but this comes with a caveat of facing the Cleveland Browns’ offense. When looking at how their defense performed against the Minnesota Vikings and Washington Commanders, they ranked 28th against the pass and 26th against the run.
One thing the Giants’ defense does well is get pressure, ranking seventh in the league in pressure generated per dropback. Dak Prescott has been as good as he typically is against pressure this season, ranking seventh among 31 quarterbacks with over 50 attempts.
The key to beating the Cowboys this season has been running the ball. The Cowboys are ranked dead last in defensive rush EPA, with over double the amount lost in EPA (5.77) compared to the next lowest (the Los Angeles Rams, 2.25 lost).
The offenses that did this to the Cowboys just so happened to be the No. 1 rushing offense (Baltimore Ravens) and the No. 6 unit (New Orleans Saints). The Giants do not have this capability, as they rank 26th in rushing EPA and aren’t particularly explosive or consistent while ranking 24th in runs of 10+ yards and 16th in rushing success rate.
The Cowboys should win this game because their weaknesses can’t be exploited by this Giants’ offense. With odds of -245, DraftKings has the Cowboys’ implied probability of winning at 71.01% and their projected advantage at 5.5 points.
Neither of these are enticing and provide any value to me, as both teams look sloppy and it’s hard to tell what will happen. With that being said, I still think the Cowboys will win.