NFL Preview: 2012 Season Opener

Dallas Cowboys at New York Giants – 8:30pm on NBC

In 2004, the defending Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots hosted and won the season opener, 27-24 over the Indianapolis Colts. Every year since then, the defending league champs have hosted the NFL Kickoff Game, and those teams are currently 8-0 in these games. This spells good things for the New York Giants, but the Cowboys are looking to add a new, less repetitive page to that history.

Dallas may be without Jason Witten for tonight’s game, but both Miles Austin and Dez Bryant are listed as probably and expected to play. On New York’s side, Ahmad Bradshaw has had no issues in practice and will play, but Hakeem Nicks is listed as questionable.

Last year the Giants became the first team to go 9-7 in the regular season and win the Super Bowl. 9-7 is not a typical record for an NFC East victor, and New York knows they cannot expect to go even to the postseason with a repeat performance.

Dallas, meanwhile, lost their last seven games played against teams that finished 8-8 or better, including two in the final four weeks at the hands of the Giants.

Tony Romo actually had one of the best years of his career statistically in 2011. The Giants have given him constant trouble, though. He has lost his last five starts to the G-Men, and in their two matchups last year, Romo was sacked nearly 10 times. The Cowboys offensive line gave no signs this preseason that this number will go down significantly.

Puff’s Pick: NY Giants over Dallas, 27-16

Remember to listen in to The All-Sports Crew’s broadcast, tonight at 7:00pm. If you live in the College Park area, you should be able to listen to the show on 88.1 FM, but if you try that method and don’t hear us, go online to WMUC Sports and click the big, red ‘Listen Live’ link. We got a lot of positive feedback from our last show and we have every reason to believe that we will be even better this week.

Thanks for reading, and for listening!


2:30pm edit:

I am not usually a big fan of Adam Rank, but he didn't fool around and presented a list of 100 actually interesting facts about the Cowboys/Giants rivalry. Read it on NFL.com!