Last year, on both occasions when the Cowboys and Giants played each other, it was no contest. However, New York gave Dallas all they could handle in a tightly contested Thursday night divisional matchup. Unfortunately, they came up short and dropped to 1-3 on the season as Dallas held on for a 20-15 win.
The Giants played well but could only manage five Greg Joseph field goals as they trailed 17-15 midway through the fourth quarter. Dak Prescott had thrown touchdowns of 15 yards to Rico Dowdle and 55 yards to CeeDee Lamb in the first half as Dallas looked to take control.
After another Dallas field goal, the Giants got the ball back with seven minutes remaining as they trailed 20-15, but they turned the ball over on downs near midfield with 3:21 remaining. After Brandon Aubrey had an uncharacteristically missed field goal, the Giants got the ball back at their own 40 with 28 seconds left and no timeouts but could not pull off a miracle.
Lamb was matched up with Giants cornerback Deonte Banks and gave the youngster all he could handle in a six catch, 94 yards first half performance. However, he had just one catch for four yards after halftime.
For New York, quarterback Daniel Jones had a big game as he passed for 281 yards, with Malik Nabers (12 catches, 115 yards) and Wan’Dale Robinson (11 catches, 71 yards) being his primary targets. Nabers left the game due to a fourth-quarter concussion, though.
Here are the takeaways…
-The Giants’ offense looked really good moving up and down the field with good rhythm and tempo as once again Jones got off to an efficient start. Having completed 20 of his first 22 passes on Sunday, Jones completed 19 of his first 22 on Thursday night – and two of the three incompletions were drops. However, their inability to convert long drives into touchdowns was a key factor.
-Just as big of a factor were the errors that enabled the Cowboys to achieve what the Giants couldn’t and turn their two first-half scoring drives into touchdowns. Linebacker Micah McFadden had a bad missed tackle on Dowdle’s touchdown and safety Tyler Nubin overpursued in the open field after Lamb beat Banks.
-Nabers had another productive game, but it was Robinson who was Jones’ favorite target early, catching five of his first seven completions. He twice made good open-field moves to extend drives but also had a key drop in the red zone.
-Prescott came into the game having beaten the Giants in each of his last 12 starts and he was just as efficient as Jones early. After an initial three-and-out, he completed 14 passes in a row. However, the Giants made things much tougher for him than last season where Dallas scored 89 points in the two meetings between the teams.
-New York was unfortunate on their opening drive when tight end Daniel Bellinger was flagged for a personal foul that caused the drive to stall and forced them to settle for a long field goal. A replay showed that Bellinger’s face mask was being grabbed by the defensive player rather than the other way around, so they should have had a first down in the red zone. It was a particularly sloppy game from both teams in terms of penalties, although most of the ones that went against the Giants were declined or offset.
-Less than a week after Eric Gray fumbled on a kickoff return, Tyrone Tracy did the same thing, although Chris Manhertz was on hand to recover it. The Giants did get a nice 22-yard punt return from Ihmir Smith-Marsette, though. For his part, Tracy atoned for his error by showing power and elusiveness on a 19-yard catch and run.
–Devin Singletary had a huge play on fourth down near midfield, as he broke a tackle in the backfield and beat another defender to the edge to convert. At the time, the Giants trailed 14-6 and it’s not difficult to picture the Cowboys taking over near midfield, scoring another touchdown and making it a blowout before halftime. Singletary otherwise struggled though, as he had just 24 yards on 14 carries.
-The Giants’ offensive line did a solid job this week, holding the Cowboys to just one sack as Andrew Thomas kept Micah Parsons quiet just four days after doing the same to Myles Garrett. However, New York’s own pass rush, which had racked up 14 sacks in the first three games, was quieter this week despite Kayvon Thibodeaux registering his first full sack in his last 10 games dating back to last season.
Highlights
What’s next
The Giants will head to Seattle to take on the Seahawks for Week 5 at 4:25 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 6
