John Harbaugh breathes new life into Cowboys vs Giants rivalry with strong message months before Week 1 showdown
The Dallas Cowboys have dominated the New York Giants to the point of making the divisional rivalry boring. Can new Giants head coach John Harbaugh change that?
Though it’s true the Dallas Cowboys meeting the New York Giants for a Week 1 showdown is nothing new, there’s a big chance the rivalry will feel new.
And the biggest reason why is Super Bowl winning head coach John Harbaugh is now in the scene. Months before even coaching his first game as the Giants head coach, he’s already bringing much-needed energy into the NFC East rivalry.
Harbaugh dismisses Giants-Cowboys history with strong message
In case you forgot, the Giants are 3-18 against the Cowboys since Dak Prescott’s NFL debut in Week 1 of the 2016 season. They haven’t beaten Prescott in a full game since then.
So when during a town hall event, a fan asked Harbaugh if the Giants would finally thrive versus NFC East opponents, Cowboys included, the question carried years of frustration. Harbaugh’s response was a refreshing one for the city of New York.
“I’m going to be nice and politically correct,” Harbaugh said via Darryl Slater from NJ.com. “I could care less about what happened last year or the year before that or 10 years before that. Honestly, I don’t give a crap about any of it. Not one bit.”
That by itself is a hype-worthy quote, but Harbaugh didn’t stop there.
“All I care about is tomorrow’s practice. Because if tomorrow’s practice is the way it’s supposed to be, that’ll be one more step in the direction of being a good enough football team to kick the Cowboys’ ass.”
I know this may be portrayed as coachspeak and not much else. But factoring in the positive changes to the Giants roster in recent years, including the arrivals of QB Jaxson Dart, EDGE Abdul Carter, and WR Malik Nabers, I gotta say…
The Cowboys must know this isn’t the same ‘ol, same ‘ol Giants.
Cowboys are barely favored in Week 1
To reflect the Giants’ improvement, allow me to point out to the fact that the Cowboys are only 2.5-point favorites in Week 1. The spread originally opened at -1.5. Now granted, Dallas is the road team in this scenario but I would have thought the spread would be larger regardless.
Improvement in New York is real. We’ll see if it’s enough to turn around a trend of Dallas dominating the series.