John Harbaugh’s first night as head coach of the New York Giants had the kind of spotlight that can swallow a team whole. Instead, New York came out sharp and stayed in control against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night, leaning on Jaxson Dart’s efficient passing and a steady ground game to dictate the tempo from the start.
The clearest snapshot of how the game tilted came in the second half, when Mike Kafka kept dialing up the same simple look and Dallas never found a fix. Dart dumped the ball to Devin Singletary in the left flat, the Cowboys missed the coverage, and the Giants went right back to it.
Then again. Then again.
Across a five-play stretch, New York ran the same pass four times, and each one produced real yardage. The sequence finished with Singletary strolling into the end zone from 9 yards out to stretch the lead to 28-14.
The reaction online was immediate, and plenty of fans sounded equal parts amused and baffled. “That’s what I do when I play my nephews in Madden 🤣,” one fan joked.
“How tf does an NFL defensive coordinator see this happen the first 2 times and not make any changes?” another commenter asked.
Dart was excellent throughout the night, going 23 of 29 for 230 yards and three touchdown passes without an interception. He also ran for 54 yards on 11 carries, mixing designed runs with the kind of smart sliding that kept him out of trouble.
New York got big production from tight end Isaiah Likely in his Giants debut, too. After following Harbaugh over from Baltimore, Likely caught eight passes for 78 yards and two touchdowns.
Cam Skattebo also found the end zone in his first game back from last year’s serious ankle injury, and he capped the moment with a full backflip in the end zone.
By the time it was over, the Giants had a 28-20 win and had snapped an eight-game losing streak against Dallas in primetime matchups. For one night, New York found a weak spot and kept hammering it until the Cowboys had no answer.
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Cowboys Fans Have A New Overshown Question After That Giants Opener
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Overshowns late hit on Jaxson Dart drew a penalty and left him facing the possibility of a league fine once the play is reviewed, which only adds another layer to how Dallas will manage him moving forward. Given his history of major knee injuries, every snap for Overshown carries a little more weight than it would for most players, and the Cowboys now have a familiar question to sort through: how to get his aggression on the field without letting it spill over into costly mistakes. [Read more 🡒]
Cowboys Loss Exposed The Same Problems Fans Feared Most
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New York converted 10 of 11 third downs, a brutal sign for a unit that was supposed to look sturdier after the changes. Add in the penalties, missed tackles, a costly interception and dropped passes, and the Cowboys were left with the same mix of execution problems and coaching questions that have followed them before, only now with an opening loss to show for it. [Read more 🡒]
Cowboys Trade Deadline Hope Just Got Much Tougher For Jerry Jones
The Cowboys search for a defensive jolt took a hit with Maxx Crosby staying put on the Raiders side of the conversation. Dallas had already been in the mix as a finalist in earlier trade talks, and Jerry Jones has made it clear he is open to doing something if it helps the defense. With the deadline still weeks away, the idea of Crosby in a Cowboys uniform had remained alive as one of the bigger names worth monitoring.
But the market has gotten a lot more complicated. The Rams also explored a deal for Crosby, only to learn he does not want to be moved and would rather remain in Las Vegas, and that kind of stance changes the temperature around any chase. For the Cowboys, it means any renewed push would have to overcome not just trade cost, but a player preference that could make a November 10 deal much harder to pull off. [Read more 🡒]