A blueprint to beat the Giants

The Dallas Cowboys showed the world how to beat the New York Giants in their 33-20 upset win on Sunday: If you can keep your quarterback upright and forget about short routes, the Giants' secondary can be exploited on deep routes for big plays.

The Giants entered Sunday's game with the top pass defense in football according to Football Outsiders' rankings, and even after the Cowboys loss they rank second behind Green Bay. That's a little surprising for a team that surrenders 6.8 yards per pass attempt (13th in the league), but the Giants make up for it by allowing opponents to complete only 55 percent of their passes (fourth). And that's assuming the ball ever leaves the quarterback's hands. The Giants have sacked the quarterback on 8.4 percent of opposing pass plays, which is a higher rate than any team except San Diego and Oakland.

To read more about the blueprint the Dallas Cowboys provided for how to beat the New York Giants, you must be an ESPN Insider.

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Email
• Subscribe