The New York Giants open their regular-season schedule with a trip to Dallas to take on the Cowboys inside AT&T Stadium. In four games played, the Giants are 4-0 inside that venue since it opened in 2009.
But in those four matchups, the Cowboys’ defense looked a bit different than it will Sunday night. For years under former head coaches Wade Phillips and Bill Parcells, the ‘Boys prominently played defense in the 3-4 scheme. With the hiring of new defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, however, they’ve made the shift to the 4-3 for the first time since 2004.
“You’ve got a guy in Monte Kiffin whose been coaching that defense for a long, long time. He’s an exceptional football coach,” Giants head coach Tom Coughlin said during his press conference Wednesday. “They have, as I look at preseason, it looks like that team has bought into the new scheme. They seemed to have adjusted and executed very well.”
Indeed, the Cowboys have made an easy transition to their new defensive scheme. According to Pro Football Focus’ Neil Hornsby, the Cowboys were in their base 4-3 defense 53 percent of the time during the preseason.
It was only the preseason, but it’s worth noting they finished 26th in total defense, allowing 354.6 yards per game. Players are still getting adjusted to the new scheme and it’d be foolish to overlook the threat of DeMarcus Ware off the edge — he is fourth among active players with 111 sacks.
“[Ware] is a tremendous player and I’m sure I’ve been sacked by him more than any other player, just because we’ve played a lot of games versus them over the years,” quarterback Eli Manning said. “Hopefully we can control him enough where he’s not making tons of plays and creating turnovers and we’ll have enough plays where we do block him so we can get the ball down the field and hit some big plays of our own.”
Ware does in fact hold the record for sacks of Manning with 13.5. He sacked the Giants’ gunslinger 3.5 times in two games last season.
But now Ware is out of his comfort zone, playing with his hand in the ground at defensive end for the first time in his NFL career. He played in three of the Cowboys’ five preseason games, recording two tackles in a 19-17 loss to the Oakland Raiders in Week 2.
The Cowboys are optimistic about their new defense and believe it will allow them to get the most out of their players. Ware could excel, he will no longer be asked to partake in coverage duties. Now, he gets to focus on what he does best — rushing the passer.
The defense will face its first real test Sunday night against the Giants. Manning averages 250.4 passing yards per game with 32 touchdowns and 19 interceptions in 17 games against the Cowboys since 2004.
“We’ve been a 3-4 team for a number of years and a lot of the guys who have been here have been in that style of defense maybe throughout their whole career, but I do think they like it,” Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett said during his conference call with the New York media Wednesday (via Giants.com). “We worked very hard to implement the scheme throughout the offseason and through training camp. Obviously, Monte Kiffin is one of the great coordinators ever in the National Football League and having a guy like Rod Marinelli… They have been together for so long in Tampa and know each other well.
“It’s a work in progress like everything on your football team at this time of year, but we’re excited to get a chance to play in a ball game.”
Louis Musto is a reporter and sports talk host for the Sports Journey Broadcast Network. He is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America. All quotes were acquired firsthand or via team email unless otherwise noted. You can follow him on Twitter @LouisMusto.