The New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys have an extra day to prepare for each other leading up their Monday Night Football matchup at MetLife Stadium.
The Giants are 2-0 for the first time since 2016, the year they swept the season series with the Cowboys and bookended an 11-game winning streak by Dallas in the process. This year, the Cowboys are 1-1 coming off a victory over the Cincinnati Bengals with backup quarterback Cooper Rush, who is filling in for the injured Dak Prescott.
Coach Brian Daboll met with the media before Wednesday's practice at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center. Here is everything you need to know:
🔹 The Giants' plan is to practice Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. They will hold a walk-through and meetings on Friday.
🔹 Daboll said playing on Monday night is "always special" but stressed what wins games on Sundays at 1 p.m. is the same for primetime games. "I think that's where our focus needs to be is there's plenty of things that we needed to correct from Week 2, from Week 1."
🔹 Daboll praised the decision-making of Daniel Jones, who has neither lost nor thrown an interception in his past four starts at home. "It starts with decision-making at quarterback. He touches the ball on every play. And he's done a good job of that. We're going to continue to build that. But I'm pleased with where he's at."
🔹 Outside linebackers Kayvon Thibodeaux and Azeez Ojulari are "getting closer" and will do more team reps this week in practice after both missed the first two games of the season. After practice, Thibodeaux said he was able to "open it up" and made "a lot of progress" on Wednesday.
🔹 Defensive lineman and captain Leonard Williams left Sunday's game in the third quarter with a knee injury, putting in question his streak of 21 consecutive games started. Today, Daboll said that "Leo's a quick healer. He tells me he's a quick healer. So, I'm not going to put it past Leo to be ready to go. Would it shock me either way? No. But he'll stay in; he'll get treatment today during practice, so you guys know. I that's the best thing for him."
🔹 Cornerback Aaron Robinson is a "wild card" for this week as he comes back from an appendicitis. He's walking around, but they won't know his status until the end of the week.
🔹 Rookie wide receiver Wan'Dale Robinson (knee) is also "getting better, close," but they'll see about his status for Monday.
🔹 Daboll was asked about Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons, who has 17 sacks in his first 18 career games and needs three more in his next two games to become the fastest player to reach 20. "He's a problem. He's a dynamic football player. And he can play multiple spots. He does. You'll see him at linebacker; you'll see him at defensive end. He has rare pass-rush ability. We're going to have to have a good plan for him. He's fun to watch when you're not getting ready to play him. I'll give him that compliment. He just does things that are pretty impressive on the football field."
🔹 Third-year left tackle Andrew Thomas has played 100 percent of the team's offensive snaps and has yet to allow a sack. He also has not been penalized for holding or a false start. "He's a good player," Daboll said. "He's very talented. But I think playing offensive line in the National Football League is tough, particularly playing tackle. You're going against some dominant edge rushers usually. The speed of the game is quicker, even though he played in the SEC at the highest level. I'd say that experience helps. You're going to go through some growing pains. I'm certain that he did. We all do. I think that his mindset is that he's a very consistent, dependable person. And that kind of translates to the field."
🔹 Daboll said Jones is "very steady" compared to him being a "fairly emotional" head coach. "And it's a good mix because I can get pretty high strung at times, and he's very, very consistent. I think he responds to a variety of different coaching techniques if you will. But he sees things and we sit there and we talk. We have good communication on the sideline. That's not something that I've had a lot of experience with him, so I'm learning that as we go. (He'll say), 'Here's why I did this,' or I might say, 'What did you see here?' (He'll explain), 'This guy was dropping underneath. It was really zone. They disguised it as man, so I didn't even worry about this other (defensive) back.' Whatever it may be. He's a good communicator in that regard, and he's got a little spunk to him, too. I know everybody doesn't see it, but he has that as well."
Daboll added, "There hasn't been much that I haven't done with him that he hasn't responded to. I think that's the mark of a good pro. You're always trying to learn your players, and I've gotten on him. I've loved him up. What a teacher is supposed to do is teach them, 'Hey. This is what you did. First of all, tell me why you do it.' Because it's a tough position to play. Everybody can see it from the outside, but unless you're standing back there in the pocket, which I'm not either, you see a lot of different things. They happen fast. (I'll say), 'Let's talk about what you saw. Here's what I saw. Let's make a correction.' I'd say that's usually the way it works. If there's a really poor decision, maybe that's not as much what you see versus what I saw."
🔹 The Giants will "white out" MetLife Stadium while they wear their Color Rush uniforms in primetime. Daboll will look for the place to be rocking again. "I would just say again the fan support's been great. It was awesome last week. Looking forward to it this week. I think the most important thing is trying to do our job and play well, and you can definitely feed off of the energy that they're providing when we make a good play or we make a good stop. I mean, it was hard to hear out there for (the) Carolina (Panthers), I know. And that's like, you say the 12th man. That's like the 12th man. It's hard to operate offensive football when it's that loud. So, obviously everybody gets juiced up a little bit after good plays. I think the crowd really was great, and we'll do our best to help them be great again by playing well."
The Giants will wear their all-white Color Rush uniforms on Monday Night Football against the Cowboys.