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Players to Watch

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Players to Watch: Malik Nabers makes primetime debut

PLAYERS-TO-WATCH-WEEK4

With the Dallas Cowboys coming to town for a matchup in primetime, the New York Giants will look to pick up their first divisional victory and their second win overall this Thursday at MetLife Stadium.

It's a quick turnaround for both teams, with the Giants having gone on the road this past Sunday to defeat the Cleveland Browns, 21-15. Meanwhile, the Cowboys dropped their second consecutive game in Dallas, this time falling to the Ravens, 28-25.

The Giants hope to snap their six-game losing streak to their division rival, a stretch that has seen the offense limited to no more than 20 points in every game.

Here are players to watch:

RB Devin Singletary

Following his limited Giants debut in Week 1, Singletary has now put together back-to-back strong performances. After running for 95 yards and a touchdown with an average of 5.9 yards per carry against the Commanders, the veteran back took 16 carries for 65 yards (4.1 avg.) and a touchdown while adding four receptions for an additional 43 yards. He has totaled 203 yards from scrimmage over the last two games with two touchdowns, but he has also lost two fumbles during that span. Despite the turnovers, the Giants' confidence in Singletary has not waned.

"He's a pro, played a lot of football," quarterback Daniel Jones added. "We have a lot of confidence in him and that's not changing any of our confidence. He's played well, come back and been big time for us. No one's losing confidence in that."

"You can't let one bad or two bad plays define a lot of the good things," coach Brian Daboll added. "So, you keep working on your ball security, and he'll do that."

As Daboll mentioned, there have been plenty of good things that Singletary has done through the first three games. He's averaging 4.7 yards per carry, has a 90 percent catch rate in the passing game, and has performed well in pass protection. Additionally, he is averaging an impressive 3.93 yards after contact per attempt, the fifth-highest mark among running backs with 20 or more rush attempts, and has six explosive runs of 10+ yards, tied for the ninth-most in the NFL. He's also proven to be quite elusive with the ball in his hands, as his 17 missed tackles forced on rush attempts ranks second in the NFL behind only San Francisco's Jordan Mason.

The Cowboys' defense has struggled against the run this season. Dallas enters this matchup having surrendered the most rushing yards, rushing yards per attempt, and rushing touchdowns in the NFL. In their Week 2 loss to the Saints, the Cowboys allowed Alvin Kamara to take 20 carries for 115 yards (5.8 avg.) and three touchdowns while adding another two receptions for 65 yards and an additional score through the air. Last week, Derrick Henry ran for 151 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries (6.0 avg.).

View rare photos from the historic rivalry between the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys.

WR Malik Nabers

For the second consecutive week, Nabers led the Giants in targets (12), receptions (eight), and receiving yards (78) while also catching two touchdown passes from Daniel Jones. Not only are his stats impressive, but the rookie wide receiver certainly passes the eye test, as well. Throughout the summer, we witnessed Nabers make some jaw-dropping grabs at practice on a near daily basis. Now he's doing it during games, where he's catching the attention of everyone across the league.

"He's played really well to start and it hasn't surprised us with watching him in training camp and all the plays he's made," Jones said after Sunday's win in Cleveland. "He's made a lot of big plays for us and I have a lot of trust in him going up and getting the ball. We need to continue to take advantage of his ability to make plays."

Nabers' 23 receptions on the season are the second-most in the NFL, while his 271 receiving yards rank fifth and his three receiving touchdowns are tied for the most in the league. After leading the nation in explosive plays last year at LSU, the 21-year-old's six receptions of 20 or more yards currently sits at the top of the NFL leaderboard. Given all of this, it should not come as a surprise that Nabers has the NFL's highest team target share (35.5 percent) and air yards share (57.6 percent).

The rookie is likely to see a good amount of Trevon Diggs in coverage Thursday night. The two-time Pro Bowl corner is still returning to form after tearing his ACL just over a year ago during practice, but already has an interception this season. According to Next Gen Stats, Diggs has been targeted 14 times in coverage and has allowed 10 receptions for 86 yards. Fellow cornerback Caelen Carson, who did not practice on Monday or Tuesday, has allowed nine receptions on 16 targets for 139 yards and a touchdown.

OTs Andrew Thomas & Jermaine Eluemunor

A lot was said throughout the offseason about the amount of resources the Giants put towards the offensive line. While it's still early in the season, the Giants have to be pleased with the protection up front. Over the last two weeks in which the offense has performed a lot better than in the season opener, Jones has been sacked just three times total, including two against a daunting Browns pass rush.

Things won't get much easier for the offensive line this week with a matchup against the Cowboys' defensive front, especially for tackles Andrew Thomas and Jermaine Eluemunor. One week after matching up against Myles Garrett and Za'Darius Smith, the two tackles will now face off against Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence. Parsons has just one sack on the season, although he does lead the team with six quarterback hits. Meanwhile, Lawrence is tied for the team-lead with two sacks on the year and is second to Parsons with four quarterback hits. Both Parsons (nine QB hits in six games) and Lawrence (12.0 sacks in 17 games) have had a lot of success against the Giants in previous years.

"Dynamic player," Daboll said about Parsons. "He's lined up in a variety of spots. He has the ability to play really any position. Explosive, athletic, tough. He's a hell of a football player. One of the better players in the league. A challenge to block him."

According to Pro Football Focus, Thomas has surrendered just one sack and nine total pressures this season, with most of that damage coming last week against Garrett. Eluemunor has been credited with zero sacks allowed on the year, according to PFF, although he has given up a few pressures each game.

DL Dexter Lawrence

The Giants recorded their highest single-game sack total in nearly a decade in Week 3 with eight on Deshaun Watson, and leading the way for the unit was none other than Dexter Lawrence. The 26-year-old lineman had two sacks and four quarterback hits against the Browns, giving him a team-high three sacks on the season (tied with safety Jason Pinnock). It was Lawrence's first multi-sack game since Week 7 of last year and only the third of his NFL career.

Three weeks into the season, Lawrence has once again proven to be one of the biggest pass rushing threats in the NFL. His pressure totals in the first three games are six, four, and seven, giving him 17 total on the year. This ranks second among interior defenders and is tied for fifth among all players across the league, and puts him on pace for a whopping 95 pressures this season (his career-high is 65, which he set last year). All of this comes with Lawrence also facing a higher double team rate than ever before. As if his pass rushing prowess wasn't enough, Lawrence has also been among the best interior defenders against the run this year, according to PFF.

"Everybody knows how good of a player he is and how much he can affect the game and affect the quarterback, it's huge," Daniel Jones told reporters Tuesday. "No one's surprised, and he's played well."

The Cowboys have given up nine sacks through the first three games of the season, although a lot of that has been at the expense of their tackles, Terence Steele and Tyler Guyton. Dallas' interior O-line, consisting of guards Tyler Smith and Zack Martin along with center Cooper Beebe, have performed well thus far. The interior trio has combined to allow 13 total pressures and three sacks, according to PFF, although they haven't faced a interior defensive lineman quite at Lawrence's level.

"Every year it comes down to the trenches," Lawrence said about facing the Cowboys. "I don't think we've slacked in other years in the trenches. They just beat us as a team. This year, having new additions, I think we could be better. I have confidence in us to go out here and win this game and that's the message on the short week."

CB Tae Banks

The second-year corner spent most of his rookie season covering opposing team's top receivers, and through the first three games of the 2024 campaign, he's had to face off against Justin Jefferson, Terry McLaurin and Amari Cooper.

Banks has yet another difficult matchup this week as he prepares to take on Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb. It's important to note that Lamb has lined up in the slot on 57.8 percent of his pass snaps this season, while Banks has only gone into the slot on eight snaps total this year. Daboll told the media Tuesday that if they believe the best game plan for guarding Lamb is to have Banks travel with him regardless of where he's lined up, that's what they will do. But at least for the 37.5 percent of the time Lamb is lined out wide, it's fair to assume Banks will be covering him.

Lamb is off to a relatively slow start with just 13 receptions for 218 yards and one touchdown heading into Week 4. But it was just last year that the first-team All-Pro receiver led the NFL with 135 receptions while totaling 1,749 yards and 12 touchdowns through the air. In the last meeting between the two teams, the 25-year-old caught 11 passes for 151 yards and a touchdown, which brought his career numbers against the Giants up to 52 receptions for 722 yards across eight games. Both of those are his highest totals against any opponent.

When Banks is not covering Lamb, he could be matched up against veteran Brandin Cooks or Jalen Tolbert. The third-year receiver is second on the team with 10 receptions for 136 yards and a touchdown, while Cooks has brought in eight passes for 75 yards and a score.

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