New York Giants Week 17 Top Storylines

It's do or die time for the New York Giants who need to win Sunday's regular-season finale against the Dallas Cowboys if they're to put themselves in position to win the division.

We made it, folks.

Seriously, if back in March and April during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, I had told you the NFL would be able to get in all its regular-season games, would you have believed me?

I know I had my doubts, but here we are. And speaking of "would you have believed me," if I had told you the Giants would be in the hunt for a playoff berth in Week 17 of this season despite having no off-season, no preseason, and a new coaching staff, would you have believed me?

Again, probably not. But seeing ahs been believing, and with a win and an Eagles win over Washington, the Giants can earn their first playoff berth since 2016.

Amazing right? So let's take a look at some of this week's leading storylines ahead of this all-important regular-season finale in which the winner could potentially take home the division crown while the loser goes home.

1. Can history (sort of) repeat itself?

In 1981, the Giants were three years into their rebuild under general manager George Young, head coach Ray Perkins and quarterback Phil Simms. With an 8-8 record, all they had to do to end an 18-year playoff drought was to find a way to beat the Dallas Cowboys in that year's regular-season finale, and they'd be in.

The Giants beat the Cowboys 13-10 in overtime to reach 9-7 and a Wild Card berth. They'd go on to beat the Philadelphia Eagles 27-21 the following week only to lose in the divisional round to the 49ers.

Almost 40 years later, the Giants, Eagles, and Cowboys are all involved in determining who wins the NFC East. New York has to hold off Dallas, something they haven't done in their last seven meetings.

They also need the Eagles to let bygones be bygones from that 1981 season (okay, how about from their Week 10 game when the Giants finally end the Eagles' eight-game winning streak over the Giants?) and do their part in beating the Washington Football Team. If that sequence plays out, the Giants will be on their way to the playoffs for the first time as NFC East champions since 2011.

2. Corralling the Cowboys' Passing Game

The Cowboys are currently on a three-game winning streak against struggling opponents such as the Bengals, 49ers, and Eagles. Still, with that said, the Cowboys have scored 30 or more points over those opponents, their offense clearly in a groove thanks to quarterback Andy Dalton getting into a rhythm with his receivers.

Over that three-game stretch, Dalton has gotten sharper, throwing for 171, 204, and 362 yards while throwing for seven touchdowns over that stretch. (Dalton, by the way, has a $1 million performance incentive if he leads the Cowboys to the playoffs.)

The Giants pass defense hasn't exactly been gouged, but so far in this final quarter of the season, they've allowed 14 big pass-plays of 20+ yards, more than any other four-week period in the season. The last time the Giants faced the Cowboys, Dallas recorded four deep pass plays, three with rookie CeeDee Lamb on the receiving end. The Giants need to tighten things up in the back end, especially if they're predominantly playing zone. 

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SEE ALSO:

• Decoding What’s Behind the Giants Offensive Line’s Woes?

• Giants' Offensive Struggles Lie Deeper than What the Stats Show

• Giants Motivated By, But Not Focused On Playoff Berth

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3. Is Daniel Jones genuinely worthy of the praise?

In each of the last two weeks, Giants head coach Joe Judge has sung the praises of quarterback Daniel Jones to the highest mountains. Kind of ironic, considering earlier in the year, Judge refused to say Jones's name, but hey, people do tend to grow on people, right?

Well, Jones can further endear himself to his head coach if he can load this team up on his shoulders and deliver the big-time performance they need to get them into the postseason. Jones, who admittedly is still not anywhere near 100% in terms of his mobility, really didn't get that chance last week since the defense couldn't figure out how to stop the Ravens offense, but hopefully, that problem won't repeat itself.

Although his statistics weren't a season-best, the first game against the Cowboys earlier this season saw Jones lead his team to a season-best 34 points, the only time the Giants have scored 30+ this year.

So if ever there was a time to show that he is indeed truly worthy of being a franchise quarterback, Jones needs to elevate the play of those around him Sunday. He needs to get the Giants into the end zone against a Cowboys team that's likely to be as desperate if not more so than the Giants to come out on top in this one.

4. Zeke and Tony

The Giants' run defense was gashed last week by the Baltimore Ravens to the tune of 249 yards, a season-high. So if they think this week is going to be easier, they're sadly mistaken.

Ezekiel Elliott has faced the Giants seven times, rushing for 90+ yards in four of those seven. This year, he's been complemented by Tony Pollard, who also offers production as a receiver out of the backfield.

As a whole, the Cowboys rushing game has averaged 206.5 yards in its last four games, including a season-high of 151 last week against the Eagles. That's not good news for a Giants run defense, which has allowed opponents an average of 156.2 rushing yards per game over its previous four games.

Elliott and Pollard are one of the best one-two ground game punch the Giants will face since they saw Cleveland's Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. Let's hope defensive coordinator Patrick Graham has a better answer to stop Elliott and Pollard.

5. Offensive Line Redemption

After a rough start in which the Giants offensive line allowed 20 sacks in its first eight games, the unit seemed to calm down and become more cohesive. That is until recently, when over their last three games, they've allowed a whopping 15 sacks and were exposed as still having trouble picking up sophisticated stunts.

Well, this week, they're looking at a Cowboys pass rush featuring Randy Gregory, who will line up across from Andrew Thomas and Demarcus Lawrence, who will square off against Cam Fleming.

If the coaches are expecting the Cowboys to deploy a mix of what they did last time and what Baltimore did last week, maybe it might behoove the Giants to stop the offensive line rotation and give these guys a chance to build cohesiveness in their communication so that Daniel Jones doesn't get flattened.