The New York Giants had not defeated the Dallas Cowboys in a game that was meaningful to both teams since 2016. That’s pretty impressive (actually, depressive if you’re a Giants fan). Yes, they beat them in the final meaningless game last season to drop the Giants in the draft order; that worked out all right for the Giants. Yes, they beat them in the final game in 2020 when the Giants were trying to win the NFC Least at 6-10, but that game meant nothing to Dallas and Andy Dalton was the quarterback. In 2022 when the Giants actually had a good team, they couldn’t even beat Dallas at home when Cooper Rush started for them. Dak Prescott has had their number for almost his entire NFL career. The Cowboys put 40+ points on the board against the Giants three times in that span, and 30+ points three other times.
Those days are now officially over. The Giants defeated the Cowboys 28-20 in a game you might even say they controlled. How did they do it?
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Not an explosive offense, but an effective offense
If tonight was an indication of what’s to come, the Giants’ offense is going to be annoying for opponents to play against. Jaxson Dart only attempted two passes longer than 20 yards and completed neither. Dart’s longest completion was his 15 yard TD pass to Isaiah Likely. Still, Dart managed to accumulate a respectable 230 yards passing, with 3 TDs and a 134.2 QB rating.
What had to be frustrating to the Cowboys was getting their hands on the ball so seldom. The Giants dominated time of possession 36:40 to 23:20. The did it by doing many of the same things over and over again on long drives. A lot of that was Isaiah Likely, who only had 78 yards, but that was on 8 receptions in 8 targets (including the beautiful catch and toes down in the back of the end zone, a key play in the game). For now, he is the linchpin of this offense. Another 54 yards were on keepers by Dart. Three of those carries were scrambles, nine others designed runs, but unlike last year, Dart showed that he has finally learned his lesson by mostly keeping himself out of harm’s way. Little of it was spectacular, but all of it felt like an offense that Dart knows how to run and is in complete control of.
The running game is clearly going to be an important part of this possession offense. Cam Skattebo picked up where he left off, as the human bowling ball bounced off tacklers for 81 yards in 18 carries. We also got our first taste of the Patrick Ricard experience. Ricard was on the field for 27 of the Giants’ 35 rushing plays, and pretty much wherever he went was where the ball was going to go behind him.
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The offense will take a little getting used to for me; I like explosive plays. But dominating time of possession is a winning formula…as long as you convert those possessions into points, as the Giants did tonight.
Perhaps the best news of the evening was seeing Malik Nabers back on the field, given that we didn’t know for sure until almost game time that he was going to play. More importantly, Nabers caught 6 balls in 9 targets for 69 yards. Those aren’t the types of stats that made Nabers a rookie sensation, but he was still a valuable component of the offense, and he seemed relieved after the game. We’ll see whether the Giants open up the offense at SoFi Stadium next week against a Rams defense that was diced up by Brock Purdy in Australia and will be without Myles Garrett. Malachi Fields made his debut as well as caught 2 balls for 25 yards.
The defense will go as far as the pass rush and run D takes it
The Giants’ defense didn’t sack Dak Prescott all night, but they pressured him 9 times and he was 0 for 8 on passes thrown while under pressure. Compare that to his 22 of 26 when he was kept clean. Abdul Carter, Chauncey Golston (nice to see him being used finally), and Kayvon Thibodeaux all pressured Dak multiple times, so even with Brian Burns having a quiet night, Dak couldn’t really get comfortable.
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I also thought the Giants’ run defense was better tonight than anything I saw last year. Dallas doesn’t live by the run, but Tremaine Edmunds and rookie Arvell Reese seemed very effective against the run. Edmunds in particular had 7 tackles and 1 assist and Reese 5 tackles. Golston also had 2 tackles and 2 assists. Dallas only had 69 yards rushing all night, and we only saw one run of 10 yards, and that was by Prescott. The Dallas OL was not gashing holes up the middle, and we weren’t seeing their backs get outside and turn the corner on the Giants much either.
And it’s a good thing, because if tonight was any indication, any time an opposing quarterback does manage to get a clean pocket to pass against the Giants, it may be trouble. After one game, it’s still fair to say that the Giants do not have a single cornerback who can be counted on to defend a pass. Admittedly, CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens are a challenge for any secondary. However Dru Phillips continued to show that he can’t be trusted in coverage, drawing three interference penalties (one of them pretty iffy). Deonte Banks surrendered a TD, although he at least seemed more competitive in coverage than he had in the past two years. Paulson Adebo was beaten twice in 3 targets for completions. The one bright spot was Jevon Holland, who had an interception and only allowed one completion. Again, Lamb and Pickens are a tough ask…but next week it’s Puka Nacua and Davante Adams.
Will Tyrone Tracy be buried on the depth chart?
Skattebo is clearly RB1 on the depth chart despite just returning from a serious season-ending injury. He looked like his rookie self with no ill effects. Unfortunately when Tyrone Tracy entered the game, he fumbled on his second carry and spent the rest of the game on the bench. Fortunately Devin Singletary, although not running the ball much, caught swing pass after swing pass after swing pass without the Dallas defense adjusting to stop it. And of course the Giants have Najee Harris on the bench if needed. But it’s fair to wonder whether/when Tracy is going to get another chance after having similar problems last year. After the game Harbaugh greeted him warmly, so maybe he’ll be back in the rotation in LA.
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