The Dallas Cowboys had a real opening Sunday night in New York. They just couldn’t hold onto it.
Dallas came away with a 28-20 loss to the Giants, and the game got away in a stretch that started just before halftime. Up to that point, the Cowboys had managed to stay alive despite New York controlling much of the action. But with a chance to flip the game, they handed it right back.
It began around the two-minute warning before the half, when Dallas recovered a fumble at its own 16-yard line. That stop kept the Giants off the board and gave the Cowboys a shot to break a 7-7 tie and seize the lead going into halftime.
Instead, the sequence unraveled fast. Dak Prescott put a deep throw on George Pickens in the Giants secondary, but Pickens couldn’t come down with it.
On the next big snap, Prescott tried to avoid a sack by throwing a desperation pass, and it turned into an interception. New York took possession with 58 seconds left in the half at the 45-yard line.
From there, the Cowboys’ defense couldn’t slow anything down. The Giants needed just 29 seconds to move 55 yards and score.
That touchdown sent New York into halftime with a 14-7 lead. The Giants then received the second-half kickoff and turned that into another touchdown drive, and Dallas spent the rest of the night trying to chase the game. It never got there.
The Giants had already been the better team for most of the night, and the trio of Jaxson Dart, Cam Skattebo and Isiah Likely gave Dallas problems throughout. John Harbaugh has the G-men playing ball again, and the NFC should take note.
In Other News...
Cowboys Fans Have A New Overshown Question After That Giants Opener
The Cowboys got their first real look at a new season against the Giants, and before the opener had even settled in, DeMarvion Overshown was already back in the middle of one of the defenses biggest storylines. New York opened with an early touchdown, but the attention quickly shifted to the Dallas linebacker, whose physical style has long made him one of the more intriguing pieces in the front seven as he works back into a full-time role in the teams defensive scheme.
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
The season opener in New York did little to quiet the unease around Dallas. The Cowboys fell 28-20 to the Giants, and the loss felt familiar in all the wrong ways, with a defense that had been reshaped in the offseason still unable to get off the field and an offense that spent too much of the night fighting behind the sticks.
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 🡒]