We have been here before and it has usually gone exceedingly bad for the Giants.
Call it what you will — litmus test, measuring stick, proving ground — but when the Giants are feeling good about themselves and want to see where they stack up with the Cowboys, the answer is often — as in almost always — unsettling.
Here we are again.
The Giants were 0-2 before they quieted, at least temporarily, a sky-is-falling outcry by gaining their first victory of the season last week in Cleveland.
Just like that, the Cowboys turn up on the schedule, looking extremely vulnerable, having lost two straight home games, with all sorts of hot-take and hot-seat analysis emanating from Arlington, Texas.
This makes Thursday night’s encounter at MetLife Stadium the latest prime-time test for the Giants, administered by the team that specializes in delivering harsh lessons to them.
The Giants carry on their backs a six-game losing streak to the Cowboys and have lost 13 of their last 14 games in this wholly one-sided NFC East rivalry.
The last time the Giants walked off their own turf they were booed out of the building after a season-opening 28-6 no-show loss to the Vikings.
“Truthfully, it’s more about showing ourselves,’’ safety Jason Pinnock said. “It may be a corny response, but it’s just how we feel in this building. Not really trying to prove people, like the non-believers, trying to prove them wrong. We’re just trying to prove to ourselves in this building and our loved ones who believe in us that we’re right.’’
There is not much that goes right for the Giants in situations like this.
They have lost five consecutive games and nine of their last 10 to the Cowboys in prime time. Most of the games have not been close.
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It has been so bad that Daniel Jones during the week was actually asked if he had ever beaten the Cowboys.
“Yeah, I think we beat them a few years ago,’’ he said, correctly.
The Giants and Cowboys had both won one playoff game after the 2022 regular season when they met in a 2023 opener that was supposed to show that the home team was on the rise.
It was a down-in-the-dumps letdown, though, as the Giants were pummeled, 40-0. It went from worse to worser when the Cowboys won the rematch, 49-17, for a 72-point margin of victory in the two games that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones called “unfathomable.’’
Have the Giants narrowed the gap in any tangible way?
They have a star in the making in rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers and the makings of a forceful pass rush.
It remains to be seen if the Giants can take advantage of what the Cowboys through three games have shown as a glaring weakness.
The run defense thus far is bad — historically so, and that is not hyperbole.
The Cowboys are coming off a game in which they allowed 274 yards and three rushing touchdowns on the ground, with Derrick Henry (151 yards) and Lamar Jackson shredding the Dallas defense.
The week prior, it was 190 rushing yards coughed up to the Saints. The 557 rushing yards allowed is the most by the Dallas franchise in the first three games of a season since 1963.
The 5.4-yard per attempt average is the worst through three games since 1974 and the eight rushing touchdowns scored on them in the first three games is the most allowed by the Cowboys, ever.
It has been so easy to move the ball on the ground on the Cowboys that in the past two weeks, Derek Carr of the Saints had to throw it only 16 times and Jackson saw the need to take to the air only 15 times.
It was so bad that Cowboys defensive tackle Linval Joseph, a former Giants player, called it “Little League football.’’
Devin Singletary, signed as a replacement for Saquon Barkley, is averaging a robust 4.7 yards per rushing attempt, running behind an upgraded — but hardly dominant — offensive line.
It remains to be seen if the Giants can shred the Cowboys on the ground or if Jones is going to have to throw his team to victory against an opponent that has dominated them.
“Obviously, didn’t go great last time, but we’re confident, it’s a new team,’’ Jones said. “We’re a new team, they’re a new team, and we’re excited for the opportunity.’’
