EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Gerald McCoy pulled up film of the New York Giants pass rush during NFL Network’s pregame coverage Sunday morning. New York can play man coverage on George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb, he said, because of what its rush does to a five-man protection.
The network posted the segment Sunday morning, nine hours before the Dallas Cowboys and Giants open the season at MetLife Stadium.
The best pass-rushing teams in the league have all landed on the same idea, McCoy said.
“If you want to neutralize these wide receivers, they can play man, and they’re going to have to play man, but the only way they can do that is because of the pass rush,” McCoy said. “All the top pass rushing teams in the league have figured something out. If we can rush with four and get there, imagine what we can do with five.”
“They’re not allowing offensive linemen to be able to double team,” McCoy continued. “They’re going five on five, and when they’re doing that, somebody wins. It speeds up the operation.”
What can the @Giants defense do to slow the Cowboys offense?@Geraldini93 needs them to bring pressure 😰 pic.twitter.com/nvprK9O17z
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) September 13, 2026
McCoy then stopped the film with Abdul Carter standing up off the line rather than in a three-point stance.
“So you see here, they’re in man-to-man on Pickens and Lamb,” McCoy said. “But that’s not what I want you to focus on. There’s five on four. Abdul Carter’s just standing up. But they’re going to walk him over to center. Now we have five on five. The center’s usually the worst blocker. Get it one-on-one. Get to the quarterback. It speeds it up.”
Carter went third overall in the 2025 draft. He played 17 games as a rookie and started six of them, finishing with 43 tackles, 4.0 sacks, 7 tackles for loss, and 23 quarterback hits. He forced two fumbles and recovered two others. His 843 defensive snaps were 76% of the Giants’ defensive total, and he finished fifth in AP Defensive Rookie of the Year voting.
Brian Burns started all 17 games last season, and his 16.5 sacks led the NFC. Jason Pierre-Paul reached the same figure in 2011, and the two are tied for the fourth-most in a season by a Giants defender. Burns also had 31 quarterback hits, which the team lists as the most by a Giants player since the league began tracking the figure in 2006.
Kayvon Thibodeaux added 2.5 sacks in 10 games, and New York finished with 38 sacks as a team. The defense ranked 26th in points allowed. Giants coach John Harbaugh hired Dennard Wilson as his defensive coordinator in January, and New York runs a 3-4 front.
Tyler Smith’s Absence Reshapes The Dallas Cowboys’ Interior
Dallas will block all of that without Tyler Smith. Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said Sept. 7 that the three-time Pro Bowl left guard would have thumb surgery the following day, and Dallas placed him on injured reserve. The designation costs him four games at a minimum, which puts Week 5 against Tampa Bay as the earliest he can return, as Dallas Sports Journal reported last week.
T.J. Bass starts in his place. Bass has 10 starts in 48 games across three seasons in Dallas, five of them last year.
“Tyler Smith’s a great player, but we feel really confident in T.J., and he’s put great film on here,” Schottenheimer said. “He’s played next to Cooper Beebe, he’s played next to [Tyler] Guyton, so that’s nothing new, the communication and all that stuff.”
Cooper Beebe is at center, with Tyler Booker at right guard and Tyler Guyton and Terence Steele at the tackles. Dak Prescott was sacked 31 times behind that group last season, a 4.9% sack rate. He led the NFL with 404 completions and threw for 4,552 yards, 30 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. Pickens caught 93 passes for 1,429 yards and 9 touchdowns. Lamb played 14 games and finished with 75 catches for 1,077 yards and 3 scores.
“I don’t know what Dak was looking at, but what it does is it makes you speed up the operation, because now you can’t double-team anybody,” McCoy said. “Now every man has to stand on their own and block one-on-one, and we have a great pass-rushing group like this. It gives a headache.”
Gerald McCoy’s Cowboys Chapter And NFL Network Role
Tampa Bay drafted Gerald McCoy third overall in 2010, and he spent nine seasons there before playing one year in Carolina and one in Las Vegas. He made six Pro Bowls in 11 years at defensive tackle.
Dallas gave him a three-year contract worth up to $18.3 million in March 2020. He tore his right quadriceps tendon in the first padded practice of that training camp, and the Cowboys released him a day later. He never played a regular-season snap for the team.
McCoy retired in April 2023. NFL Network hired him as an analyst that year, and he works “NFL GameDay Morning” on Sundays.
Kickoff is 7:20 p.m. CT on NBC and Peacock. Dallas leads the all-time series 78-48-2, and New York won the last meeting 34-17 on Jan. 4 at MetLife Stadium.
