IRVING, Texas -- While the Dallas Cowboys won the first meeting with the New York Giants in the season opener, Cowboys safety Barry Church is proud that his team forced six turnovers that day.
What he isn't proud of is that the Giants ran up 478 total offensive yards, had two receivers, Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks, each gain over 100 receiving yards and allowed quarterback Eli Manning to throw for 450 yards.
In the rematch on Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium, Church said to win Round 2, holding down the passing game is vital.
"We definitely weren't OK," Church said. "The six turnovers won the game for us, but we can't give up 450 yards and expect to win. We definitely got to bring that number down a lot. If the turnovers come, that’s a bonus but as a defense we got to keep the yards to a minimum."
The defense gets a boost by the return of three defensive players in cornerback Morris Claiborne, who missed the past two games with a hamstring injury, defensive tackle Jason Hatcher, out the last game with a stinger and rookie safety J.J. Wilcox, out the past three games with a bruised knee.
Church will be paired with not only Wilcox on Sunday, but with another rookie in Jeff Heath, who has struggled in the deep passing game.
"They are both very similar players," Church said of Wilcox and Heath. "Both very smart as far as learning the calls and that kinda stuff. They have it both down pretty much."
Will the Cowboys, despite winning the first meeting, have everything in order against a Giants offense that's helped produce a four-game win streak?
"We got a good game plan for them," Church said. "We're going to let our corners play and choke them out and get down in their face and hopefully we’ll have a better outcome than we did in the first week when they put 450 on us."