FanHouse Preview: Giants at Cowboys

Under most circumstances, you don't need much added incentive to watch a Giants-Cowboys game. The NFC East rivals always put on good games, are loaded with high-profile players and have designs on making noise in the playoffs later this season. Usually that's reason enough for them to land on national television, but Sunday night their contest will be a side dish.

Welcome to JerryWorld.

Jerry Jones' pleasure dome gets its long awaited night in the spotlight on Sunday and you can be sure that it will be profiled, discussed and featured far more than any players on either team. That's what pouring $1.15 billion into a stadium unlike any the NFL has ever seen before gets you. You'll hear plenty about 100,000 fans, $60 pizzas and everything else related to the building on Sunday night, so let's just focus on the game in these parts.

Three Key Questions:

1. Can the Cowboys do a better job against the run than they did against the Buccaneers in Week 1?

2. Will Tony Romo continue to bedevil the Giants pass rush with his feet?

3. Have the Giants fixed the problems protecting Eli Manning that led to eight Cowboys sacks when the two teams met last December?

Players in the Spotlight: You know about the two quarterbacks, so let's turn our focus elsewhere. A matchup that will go a long way toward determining who comes out on top in this game will be Cowboys tight end Jason Witten against Giants safeties Michael Johnson and Kenny Phillips. Romo has always killed the Giants by making plays when protection breaks down, either with his feet or by making a throw on the run. Witten is his favorite target in those circumstances, and the two Giants safeties can't let him slip free or he will make it a very long night for Tom Coughlin's defense. Complicating matters is the fact that both safeties missed practice time with injuries this week and that the Giants cornerbacks are riddled with injuries as well. There's not much margin for error, and a slip here could give the Cowboys a major edge.

New York's Path to Victory: The Giants need to keep things very simple on Sunday night. Pound Brandon Jacobs into the middle of the Cowboys defense until they prove they can stop it and then give the ball to Ahmad Bradshaw to outrun Cowboys defenders on the flanks. Manning proved last week that his fat new contract hasn't made him any better about holding onto the ball and avoiding interceptions when he's under pressure, so the Giants need to use the running game to keep him out of situations where DeMarcus Ware can make his life miserable. Defensively it's very similar. Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora need to pressure Romo, but they can't break contain to go for big plays. That will open lanes for Romo to exploit and leave their slow linebackers and injury-depleted secondary in bad situations.

Dallas' Path to Victory: Count on Terrence Newman, Mike Jenkins and Orlando Scandrick being able to keep the Giants receivers under wraps and stop the run. If the Giants are consistently finding themselves with long second and third-down conversions, they will not be successful offensively. That means a lot of work the good-looking Cowboys offense, especially if they can get the running game going. If Marion Barber and Felix Jones get going, it will make it even easier for Romo to find Witten in single coverage battles that he'll win more often than not.

Prediction: The JerryWorld factor becomes the thumb on the scale in what figures to be a very tight game between two teams that match up very well. The massive crowd, the wall of noise and the desire to avoid the anger of Double J himself proves to be enough for the Cowboys to pull this one out. Cowboys 23, Giants 20