It was supposed to be different.
Last season saw the Dallas Cowboys field one of the worst defenses in franchise history. The organization spent the entire offseason hiring people and bringing in players to make sure that such a thing never happened again.
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We are only one game in… but it looked a lot like last year.
The Cowboys lost a game of significant to the New York Giants and did so with Dak Prescott under center. This sort of thing has not happened often in the last decade, but maybe it will more in the future.
Prescott and the offense took some time to find their form, but they certainly contributed to the problem by stalling out early. The defense never really did much, outside of a fumble that they forced and recovered, and let the Giants completely handle them in the second half.
Below you will find our recap of it all. You will surely have questions as you re-live the performance to get down to the comments.
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The Cowboys are now 0-1 to start the season.
First Quarter
The Giants won the toss and deferred. GOTI, the Cowboys’ appointed nickname for their offense (Greatest Offense There Is) was on the field first.
Unfortunately the first possession of the GOTI era did not go well. Dallas went three and out, but sort of surprisingly so. It appeared that George Pickens converted on third down, but as the Cowboys took to line up on what they thought was first down, officials referenced replay assist to note they did not make it which led to a punt.
The Giants capped off their 10-play, 6-minute drive in style… Cam Skattebo punched it in for the score.
While the next Cowboys drive actually moved the ball a little bit… it also ended in a punt.
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The quarter ended with New York holding the ball and a 7-0 lead.
Second Quarter
The Giants were approaching midfield as the quarter began, and Kenny Clark made sure that Skattebo moved backwards in that endeavor. Thankfully the Cowboys forced their first stop of the season and took over on offense once more.
The Cowboys began moving the ball, albeit thanks to some pass interference penalties. They were correctly called to be clear, but they were certainly a part of the drive.
All told they were part of the first scoring drive of the season. After Javonte Williams initially scored and had it overturned due to being short… Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb left no doubt to even the game up.
New York took over on offense and the Cowboys couldn’t seem to fully stop them. In what felt like no time they were beyond midfield and threatening to score.
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Caleb Downs jarred the ball loose as he picked up the first sack of his career, but even then it landed in the hands of a Giants lineman.
While the Cowboys were not able to get on that ball… they got on the one that Jalen Thompson (and Quinnen Williams) popped loose right after!
Shout out Shavon Revel for the quick reflexes.
The Cowboys took over at their own 16-yard line with almost two minutes remaining before halftime. Given that they received the ball to start the game and that the Giants were set to receive after halftime… the possession was important.
Unfortunately it went pretty poorly. George Pickens dropped what would have been a huge gain early on, and a few plays later Dak Prescott threw off of his back foot in a serious manner of tempting fate, and the Giants made him pay by picking him off at their own 45-yard line.
It turns out the team to more fully understand the importance of end-of-first-half possessions was the Giants, unfortunately. Jaxson Dart moved with extreme ease, so much so that the NBC broadcast was baffled at how the Cowboys were letting it happen.
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After what felt like no time, the Giants found the endzone.
The home team went into the locker with a 14-7 lead.
Third Quarter
It would stand to reason that the Cowboys spent halftime talking about how things did not go the way they wanted in the first half. They likely pledged to make changes in the name of turning things around.
Assuming that happened… things did not exactly go according to plan. The Giants came out of halftime and just about had their way with their rivals. In a drive that totaled 12 plays, 74 yards, and a staggering 8:01 of game clock… they scored yet again for the double-dip that every team so badly seeks.
Dallas took over on offense for the first time in the second half, and trailing by 14 points with pressure starting to really mount.
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To their credit, the Cowboys seemed to embrace that pressure. They responded with their own 12-play drive, this one only traveling 63 yards and consuming just over six minutes of game clock, for a touchdown to respond.
With return serve being met on the day of the U.S. Open final in New York, it was suddenly time for the G-Men to take center stage once more. Such action would require the fourth quarter to unfold.
Fourth Quarter
At this point the Giants were on their second possession of the second half, one of those games where time just worked out that way.
This was the case because New York was stringing together long and methodical possessions, bleeding the clock and the Cowboys’ will simultaneously. They did it once again and punched in their third touchdown in a row, dating back to the end of the first half, to basically put the game on ice as it gave them a 28-14 lead.
Give the Cowboys credit, at least give the offense credit, for not quitting.
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Facing a herculean task… they delivered. They marched right down the field and scored a touchdown to keep the faint heartbeat of this game still going for them.
Unfortunately it did not come without a cost.
You will see that Javonte Williams, who scored the touchdown, got called for taunting while strolling into the endzone. That penalty moved Brandon Aubrey back a ways for the extra point and he missed it as a result. This left the Cowboys down by a touchdown and a 2-point conversion.
It didn’t matter, ultimately. The Giants were able to run the ball out and end the game in victory formation.
The Dallas Cowboys are 0-1.
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