The Dallas Cowboys opened the season with an ugly 28-20 loss to the New York Giants on Sunday night, and the game exposed a lot of the worries that followed Dallas through the offseason.
For a defense that was supposed to look refreshed after a busy overhaul, the first impression was rough. The Cowboys leaned on soft zone too often, and New York kept slicing it up.
Dallas also didn’t generate enough pressure, and the Giants made the most of it by converting 10-of-11 third downs. The problems didn’t stop there: the run defense offered little resistance, the tackling was sloppy, and communication breakdowns only made the night harder for Christian Parker’s group.
Dallas also buried itself with mistakes. The Cowboys were flagged seven times for 60 yards in the first half alone, a particularly painful number for a team that led the NFL in penalties last season.
Those seven first-half penalties were the most Dallas had committed over the first two quarters of a game since 2008. The discipline got better after halftime, but it still didn’t disappear entirely.
Javonte Williams was penalized for taunting, and that sequence ended with a missed extra point. Later, a facemask gave New York a critical first down in the fourth quarter.
The offense had its own mess to sort through. Dak Prescott threw an ugly interception, George Pickens dropped two passes, including one that could have turned into a long touchdown, and CeeDee Lamb had another drop. The passing game never settled in, and the Cowboys’ offensive line struggled in the exact way many feared it might.
The Giants’ pass rush got after Prescott all night, especially early. In the first half, he was pressured on 10 of his 19 dropbacks and went 3-for-9 for 23 yards with a pick.
Even worse for Dallas, New York did it without having to send extra rushers, which let them keep more help in coverage. The concerns about the line didn’t get any smaller from what happened in pass protection or in the run game.
The Cowboys also didn’t adjust nearly enough as the night wore on. More screens could have helped slow the pressure.
Getting the ball to Lamb and Pickens more often would have made sense, too. Dallas also could have moved away from the soft zone and tried to bring more blitzes, especially with the lack of pressure on Dart.
There was also the frustrating fourth-quarter Giants drive in which they kept dumping the ball off to their backs with steady success and Dallas never really responded.
This one wasn’t just on the players. It was on the coaches, too.
Dallas did force one turnover when Shavon Revel recovered a fumble, but the Cowboys could have done more damage there. The Giants put the ball on the ground four times and still recovered three of them. That’s not the kind of takeaway production Dallas needed after finishing with the third-fewest turnovers in the league last season.
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 Trade Deadline Hope Just Got Much Tougher For Jerry Jones
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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 🡒]
Cowboys Let A Winnable Night In New York Slip Away Fast
A game that looked manageable for long stretches in New York tilted the wrong way in a hurry for Dallas, which fell 28-20 to the Giants on Sunday night. The Cowboys had a chance to steady things when they recovered a fumble near halftime, and for a moment it seemed like they might carry momentum into the break with control still in reach.
Instead, the turnover battle flipped the night. Dallas gave it back before halftime, and the Giants converted the mistake into points almost immediately, then opened the second half with another touchdown drive to keep the Cowboys chasing the rest of the way. From there, New York stayed in front and never really let Dallas get the response it needed. [Read more 🡒]