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The New York Giants are looking to start the John Harbaugh era off with a bang, and come away from their season-opening Sunday Night Football game with a win over the Dallas Cowboys. NY Giants-Cowboys matchup: New York to unveil new-look, physical offense Can the Giants put up points on Dallas’ reworked defense? The matchup between the Giants’ offense and Cowboys’ defense is one of the most intriguing of the weekend. The Giants’ offense will look significantly different from a year ago, with Jaxson Dart at quarterback, Darnell Mooney, Odell Beckham Jr., and Malachi Fields at receiver, Isaiah Likely at tight end, Patrick Ricard at fullback, and a new coaching staff. The Cowboys, meanwhile have a reshuffled roster of their own and a completely new scheme under Christian Parker. As things stand now, we simply don’t quite know what either unit will look like or how they’ll play. So what can we expect when Jaxson Dart and the Giants’ offense takes the field against the Cowboys’ defense? Let’s start with what we do know and then make some educated guesses. What will the Giants’ offense look like? This has been, perhaps, the most beguiling question hanging over the Giants’ offseason — at least for me. The Giants having four former offensive coordinators on their staff (OC Matt Nagy, QB coach/passing game coordinator Brian Callahan, senior assistant Greg Roman, and tight ends coach Tim Kelly) may not be unprecedented, but it is unorthodox. We won’t really know how it will work until the game is well under way. However my personal speculation has been that Nagy will serve as the master distiller who blends various aspects of Roman, Callahan, and Kelly’s philosophies into a single product. It could blow up in the Giants’ faces, or the various twists on existing schemes could present defenses with unexpected looks or combinations of concepts. That said, we might be able to use context clues to define the negative space and get a rough outline of what the Giants want to do on offense. Power running game - This one became blatantly obvious when the Giants hired John Harbaugh and painfully obvious when they hired Greg Roman as “Senior Offensive Assistant”. Harbaugh has always favored a run-heavy offense, while Roman loves a down-hill rushing attack and is among the best in the NFL at scheming one up. The Giants will likely attempt to displace the defense vertically and force them to crowd the box. We’ll also likely see Jaxson Dart used as a runner more than those fearing the Blue Tent would likely prefer. After all, John Harbaugh was once called the “Prince Of Analytics” by ESPN, and forcing defenses to play true 11-on-11 football is typically confers an analytic advantage for the offense. Heavy sets - Again, this one is pretty obvious based on John Harbaugh’s past preferences. It was only reinfoced when the Giants released Darius Slayton and left themselves with just four receivers. That doesn’t mean the Giants will forego the passing attack, but rather they’ll be getting their tight ends and backs heavily involved as pass catchers. Isaiah Likely was Jaxson Dart’s most common target in training camp, while Theo Johnson flashed brilliance (in addition to frustrating drops) in his second season. Likewise, each of the Giants’ four running backs are dangerous pass catchers. Former receiver Tyrone Tracy is the obvious standout, however Cam Skattebo, Najee Harris, and Devin Singletary all have upside as pass catchers. Precision passing game - Teams often like contrast between their running and passing game. So if the Giants want a downhill rushing attack, we could see that paired with a passing attack that uses precise route running to set receivers up for yards after the catch. This is where Brian Callahan’s influence (may) come in. Where Matt Nagy is a traditional West Coast Offense guy, having learned under Andy Reid, Callahan comes from the “New West Coast” tree. In other words, we could see influences from the “Kubiak-Shanahan-McVay” school of offense. In that vein, it’s notable that the Giants’ four remaining receivers are all talented route runners. Even 6-foot-4, 220-pound rookie Malachi Fields is far more nimble than his frame would suggest. The release of Slayton may also suggest that Malik Nabers is trending toward being ready to play Week 1. There will certainly be a vertical aspect to the offense, Lamar Jackson was tied for the fourth-highest intended air yardage in the NFL last year (9.1 yards downfield), while Matt Stafford was third with 9.2 intended air yards. So while much of the passing attack may be to set Malik Nabers and Darnell Mooney up with YAC opportunities, we should also expect to see the Giants attempt to generate chunk plays. Condensed sets - Modern NFL offenses like to weaponize every aspect of play design, including formation width. While spread formations can be conducive to running the ball (by forcing defenses to spread out an lighten the box), condensed sets are coming into vogue. The Giants featuring tight ends and a fullback suggests that they’ll go with that trend, though perhaps not for the reason fans expect. Condensed sets certainly make it easier to insert receivers or detached tight ends into gaps as blockers for inside runs. But they also allow offenses to create traffic for their passing concepts. That, in turn, makes play-action passes to the intermediate area even more effective and can force teams to pay for playing a base defense. The Fangio factor In addition to not knowing quite what to expect from the Giants’ offensive scheme to start the season, we also don’t know quite what to expect from the Dallas defense either. The Cowboys fired their previous defensive coordinator after fielding a historically bad defense for much of the 2025 season, and hired former Philadelphia Eagles Passing Game Coordinator and defensive backs coach Christian Parker. Parker spent 2024 and 2025 with the Cowboys after spending 2022 and 2023 as the Denver Broncos’ defensive backs coach. Parker is considered one of the bright young minds on the defensive side of the ball and is a disciple of Eagles’ DC Vic Fangio. In other words, we should expect the new-look Cowboys’ defense to be similar in structure to what the Eagles run. The Fangio scheme is based on quarters coverages, man-match coverage rules, nickel sets, and post-snap rotations. Coverage rotations are a signature aspect of Fangio’s scheme, usually starting out in quarters coverages and rotating to a Cover 3 look, or to Cover 6 and Cover 8 looks. Cover 6 and Cover 8 are hybrid coverages that mix Cover 2 and Cover 4 principles. The primary difference is that Cover 6 plays the “quarters” side to the passing strength, while Cover 8 plays the “quarters” away from the passing strength. The purpose of the rotations is to disguise rotations, help simulate pressure, and allow nickel sets to play heavier than they appear on paper. Speaking of nickel sets, while the “Fangio” defense is based in the 3-4, his primary alignments are 4-2-5 Nickel and 3-3-5 Penny sets. In either case, STAR Caleb Downs will be a key piece for the Dallas defense as the third DB. He’ll be playing a similar role as Cooper DeJean does in Philly, and be Dallas’ primary “Pivot” player who changes the look between Quarters, Cover 6, and Cover 8, as well as changing how Dallas defends gaps up front. The Giants will likely want to go back and study last year’s Week 8 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in preparation for this game. The Giants trounced the Eagles just two weeks prior, however that game featured Fangio abandoning his usual tendencies to attack the rookie QB with blitzes. Jaxson Dart comported himself well in that game, but struggled once Fangio returned to his usual defense in Week 8. Dart will need to prove that he can decipher the Ultimately, there are two big questions with respect to the Cowboys’ defense: First, whether they have the personnel to properly run a Fangio-adjacent defense. It’s one of the most popular schemes in the NFL for a reason, but is not easy to implement. Second, can Parker recognize the weaknesses in the defense well enough to account for them? Perhaps Fangio’s greatest strength is that he understands how to attack his own defense and anticipates how opposing offenses will do so. Does Parker have enough experience to do the same? Matchups to watch The Giants iOL vs. the Cowboys iDL This might be the matchup that determines the course of the game. If I had to point to the strength of the Dallas’ personnel, it would be DTs Quinnen Williams and Kenny Clark. Both Williams and Clark outclass any of the Giants’ interior linemen. As a practical matter, the Giants’ success in the middle will likely to whether they’re able to manipulate the math up front. The Giants’ blockers don’t need to dominate the match-up if they can account for Williams and Clark with their scheme without weakening their blocking elsewhere. Patrick Ricard, Isaiah Likely, and Theo Johnson vs. the Dallas linebackers (and Caleb Downs) This is, of course, downstream of the previous matchup. While Dallas’ defensive tackles are formidable, their second level players are all on the light side. LB DeMarvion Overshown is listed at 6-foot-3, 230 pounds, LB Dee Winters is listed at 5-foot-11, 227 pounds, and STAR Caleb Downs is listed at 6-foot, 206 pounds. Both Overshown and Winters are athletic (though neither is quite as athletic as Tremaine Edmunds and Arvell Reese), while Downs is a fast processor. The question in the run game is whether they can insert themselves into gaps before the Giants’ secondary blockers (Ricard, Likely, and Johnson) can get there. The Giants will almost certainly use their big skill position players as lead or insert blockers to account for Dallas’ second level players trying to gap out the Giants’ offense. In the passing game, is their athleticism enough to compensate for Likely and Johnson’s size advantage? As mentioned up top, the Giants will likely be relying on their tight ends and backs as pass catchers out of heavy personnel in condensed sets. Can the Giants use their size to their advantage in the middle of the field? Malik Hooker, Jalen Thompson, and Caleb Downs vs. Jaxson Dart No, the Giants’ offensive coordinator won’t be on the field. However, as we talked about earlier, Christian Parker is expected to employ a “Fangio Adjacent” scheme, which will likely live in a 3-safety nickel set. They want to use their safeties as adjustment players to rotate between coverage looks, disguise (or simulate) pressure, and muddy the offensive reads. It’ll be up to Jaxson Dart to quickly and accurately diagnose the Cowboys’ defense. The Fangio defense is based out of quarters coverage, but likes to employ rotations to Cover 3, as well as Cover 6 and Cover 8. Each of those coverages has weaknesses that can be exploited, but the next step for Dart will be deciphering them and making the correct decision. While Clark and Willimas are the Cowboys’ best defenders, cracking their safeties will likely be the key to the defense.