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A battle of division rivals takes center stage as "Sunday Night Football" kicks off this week with the New York Giants聽traveling to AT&T Stadium in Dallas to take on and the Cowboys.

A new season gives the Giants a chance to wipe the slate clean after a very disappointing聽2014 season that saw the team finish third in the NFC East and 6-10 overall. The team , giving a four-year, $84 million contract extension that聽includes $65 million in guaranteed money, meaning the pressure is now on for head coach to deliver. A second consecutive disappointing season could spell the end of the Coughlin era in New聽York.

Sunday night, New York will look to Manning and the passing game to be the difference maker against the聽Cowboys. The team in passing yards last season and 12th in terms of efficiency,聽according to . One of the main reasons for their success was Offensive Rookie of the聽Year , who wowed fans with his spectacular one-handed catches. Beckham caught 91聽passes for 1,305 yards and 12 touchdowns and surprisingly never exceeded 44 yards receiving in his first聽three games, putting his tremendous production into even more impressive context.

The question for Sunday will be if the Giants defense, which was so porous last season, can聽contain the running and passing threats of the Cowboys. The defensive line for the Giants may have聽gotten to opposing quarterbacks 47 times last season, good for fourth in the league. But that same line could not聽stop the run whatsoever, and the most yards per rush (4.9). They will be聽put to the test when they face the exceptional Cowboys offensive line.

Dallas enters the new season riding high after their 12-4 NFC East-winning campaign. That, despite聽making some major changes in the offseason, the most notable being the loss of star running back聽DeMarco Murray. Faced with the choice between wide receiver and Murray, owner Jerry Jones聽and his staff elected to go the way of the pass and let the NFL鈥檚 leading rusher walk this offseason.

But the Cowboys have good reason to suspect that Murray was a product of his environment, and not聽producing all on his own. The offensive line for the Cowboys was the best in the league last season, and聽Football Outsiders ranked them best in adjusted yards per run, second in their ability to get runs to the聽second level, and second in blocking the open field. These impressive stats will be tested as the Cowboys聽have continued to struggle to find their lead back, unable to decide between and former Oakland Raider .

As long as the run is effective in 2015, Romo, Dez, and the rest of the Dallas offense should continue to be聽successful. A healthy balance between run and pass enabled Romo to have his best season to date,聽notching a 113.2 quarterback rating and an 83.6 QBR, both good for best in the league. Romo鈥檚 QBR last聽season was so good, he now sits 5th in single-season QBR since 2006, behind the likes of Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Peyton聽Manning, and Aaron Rodgers.

The Giants have to hope they can take away Bryant, Romo鈥檚 biggest weapon, for big chunks of the聽game if they are to be successful. Bryant caught 88 balls for 1,320 yards and 16 touchdowns last season,聽and his presence on the field gives the Cowboys a consistent deep threat. Romo to spread the ball around, according to the Dallas Morning News.

鈥淥bviously, there are match-ups聽I鈥檒l be looking for,鈥� Romo said. 鈥淚鈥檓 not going to deliver those to you guys right now but I think it鈥檚 all聽part of the game and just understanding.鈥� Posturing aside, you can expect Bryant to be his number one聽target this and every week.

The Giants will undoubtedly improve on their lackluster 2014 season, but they will also likely start聽this season with a loss as the Cowboys have just too much offensive firepower for the Giants to handle.

You can watch the Giants and Cowboys Sunday night on NBC, beginning at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time.