At the beginning of the season, everyone, including myself, circled the fourth-week matchup at New York as an automatic win.
As Lee Corso would say: Not so fast, my friend. The Dallas Cowboys are not playing the kind of football that inspires the kind of confidence to talk about “automatic wins” right now.
The Giants, also 1-2 coming into tonight’s game, may not be playing world-beater football, but they look a little more consistent than the Cowboys do at this time.
They definitely look nothing like the team the Cowboys blew out 40-0 in last year’s season opener in New York and 49-17 at AT&T Stadium nine weeks later.
Still, history says that Dallas should walk off the field with a 2-2 record and a chance to be tied for the division lead depending on how Sunday’s games play out.
Against The Giants
The Cowboys are 75-47-2 against the Giants all-time. Dallas holds a 2,904-2,372 scoring advantage in those games.
The Cowboys are 34-26-1 in games played at New York and hold a 1,375-1,220 scoring advantage.
At home, Dallas is 41-21-1 with a 1,529-1,152 scoring edge. The Cowboys are 10-5 in games played at AT&T after dropping the first four home games against the Giants in their new stadium between 2009-2012.
The two teams have met twice every season since Dallas joined the NFL in 1960, with three notable exceptions.
The first season, 1960, they played just once and in New York. That game ended in a 31-31 tie, and it was the only game that the Cowboys didn’t lose that year.
Both of the 1982 games were wiped out by the strike. In 2007, they met three times.
In that year, Dallas swept the regular season games, only to lose the divisional round playoff game by a 21-17 score.
That is the only time the two teams have met in postseason play.
The Cowboys have faced the Giants five times in a fourth week contest. They hold a 3-2 advantage in those games.
Dallas won the first three such meetings, with wins at home in 1971 and 1981 and a road win in 1975.
The 1971 victory came on October 11th, and it was the final home game for Dallas at the Cotton Bowl. Two weeks later, Dallas would play its first-ever game at Texas Stadium.
In the Cotton Bowl finale, both Roger Staubach and Craig Morton threw touchdown passes for a 20-13 win over the Fran Tarkenton-led Giants.
The Giants won back-to-back Week Four games in 1989 (in Dallas) and 1990 (in New York).
Cowboys Hold Winning Record In Week 4 Contests
The Cowboys come into tonight’s game with a 33-24 record overall in games played in the fourth week of the season.
While they are a solid 17-9 at home, they are just barely above .500 on the road with a 16-15 mark. Dallas had one missed game to a strike, which was scheduled to be the Giants.
They have had six bye weeks fall in the fourth week of the schedule as well.
Dallas is just 6-6 against current NFC East opponents in the fourth week and are 7-0 against the Cardinals, a former NFC East foe.
The Cowboys are 11-2 against the NFC West’s teams, 6-2 against the NFC South and just 4-3 against the NFC North,
On the flip side of the equation, Dallas is 0-5 against the Cleveland Browns in games scheduled in the fourth week.
That gives them a 1-5 mark against the AFC North, thanks to a lone win against Pittsburgh. The Cowboys are 2-0 against the AFC South and 3-1 against the AFC East.
Dallas has yet to beat an AFC West opponent in the fourth week in five tries, including three losses to the Raiders.
ALL-TIME WEEK FOUR RECORDS VS. OPPONENTS
- Cardinals (7-0)
- Giants (3-2)
- Browns (0-5)
- Commanders (2-2)
- Saints (2-2)
- Falcons (3-0)
- Rams (2-1)
- Eagles (1-2)
- Raiders (0-3)
- Jets (2-0)
- Oilers/Titans (2-0)
- Packers (2-0)
- 49ers (1-1)
- Lions (1-1)
- Vikings (1-1)
- Patriots (1-0)
- Panthers (1-0)
- Seahawks (1-0)
- Steelers (1-0)
- Bears (0-1)
- Bills (0-1)
- Broncos (0-1)
- Chargers (0-1)
