New York Giants sophomore right tackle Evan Neal will look for redemption against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football.
The Cowboys have one of the most formidable pass rushes in the NFL with Demarcus Lawrence and Defensive Player of the Year candidate Micah Parsons. This is normally too much for any offensive tackle to handle and posed a serious problem for a rookie tackle in Neal last season.
In his one and only game against Dallas, Neal allowed five pressures and three sacks in what was dubbed the worst game of his career.
“I’ve never had a performance like that,” Neal told the New York Post. “I’m not going to get mad because I put the tape on and see myself struggle. You want to be able to learn from your mistakes. I’m actually grateful I was able to experience that, and now I’m able to go back to it.”
That was a killer for the Giants as the leakage from the right side of the line was a problem all game. If Neal can take the next step and lock up his side of the line this could be an important divisional win for Big Blue going forward.
Neal is excited to make this a reality and get his redemption on Sunday night.
“Right out the jump it’s a divisional opponent, so that’s always good,” Neal said. “I’m excited to get another shot at those guys. I feel like I showed how far I came in a bunch of other games [late] last year — not just DeMarcus Lawrence and Micah Parsons. That just so happened to be my roughest game last year, but I’m just going to focus on executing the game plan and helping my team win.”
Neal feels that he is “prepared” for this matchup and has some “tricks” up his sleeve to deal with a potent Cowboys defense. One way or another come Monday morning it will be known if Neal has taken the next step or if he still has a lot of room for growth.
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