It was supposed to look different for the Cowboys.
After an offseason built around repairing one of the worst defenses in franchise history, Dallas opened the year by looking far too familiar in a 28-20 loss to the Giants. The Cowboys got some life from the offense, but the defense never really found a way to slow Jaxson Dart and company, and the result was a loss that felt heavy for a Week 1 game.
Dallas is now 0-1 to start the season.
The day began with the Giants winning the toss and deferring, which sent the Cowboys’ so-called GOTI offense - Greatest Offense There Is - onto the field first. The label didn’t hold up on the opening series.
Dallas went three and out, though it came in a strange way: George Pickens appeared to convert on third down, only for replay assist to intervene and say he had not made it. The Cowboys were already lining up as if they had a fresh set of downs before the correction forced a punt.
New York answered with a 10-play, 6-minute drive that ended with Cam Skattebo punching in the touchdown for a 7-0 lead.
Dallas had a little more movement on its next possession, but that drive also stalled and ended in a punt.
The Cowboys finally got a stop to open the second quarter. Kenny Clark knocked Skattebo backward as the Giants neared midfield, and Dallas forced its first defensive stand of the season.
That gave the offense another chance, and this time the Cowboys started to build something. Pass interference penalties helped move the ball, and though they were correctly called, they played a real role in the drive.
Javonte Williams initially scored, only for the touchdown to be overturned because he was short. The Cowboys answered anyway, with Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb finishing the job to tie the game at 7-7.
The tie didn’t last long. New York moved back into Dallas territory and kept pressing.
Caleb Downs recorded the first sack of his career and jarred the ball loose, though the fumble ended up in the hands of a Giants lineman. Dallas didn’t get that one back, but it did recover the next loose ball, when Jalen Thompson and Quinnen Williams helped pop it free and Shavon Revel reacted quickly to secure it.
That takeaway mattered even more because the Cowboys got the ball back at their own 16 with almost two minutes left before halftime. Since Dallas had opened the game with the ball and the Giants were due to receive after the break, the possession carried extra weight.
Instead, it turned into a costly stretch. Pickens dropped what would have been a big gain, and then Prescott, throwing off his back foot, gave the Giants an opening. New York intercepted him at its own 45-yard line.
The Giants made the most of the chance. Jaxson Dart moved with extreme ease, and the NBC broadcast was baffled by how little resistance Dallas was offering. Before long, New York was in the end zone again and carried a 14-7 lead into halftime.
Whatever was said in the locker room didn’t show up quickly enough for Dallas. The Giants opened the second half with a 12-play, 74-yard march that ate 8:01 off the clock and ended in another touchdown, stretching the lead to 21-7.
The Cowboys responded with their own long drive, going 12 plays and 63 yards in a little more than six minutes. That series ended with a touchdown, cutting into the margin and keeping Dallas alive.
But the Giants kept controlling the game with long possessions and patient football. Their next drive - the second of the half - became another methodical march, and they finished it with their third straight touchdown dating back to the end of the first half. That pushed the lead to 28-14 and put the Cowboys in a deep hole.
To their credit, the Cowboys didn’t fold. The offense answered with another touchdown drive, keeping the game from slipping away entirely.
But even that score came with a hit. Javonte Williams was flagged for taunting as he walked into the end zone, and the penalty pushed Brandon Aubrey back on the extra point.
Aubrey missed, leaving Dallas still needing a touchdown and a two-point conversion.
That chance never came. The Giants ran out the clock and finished it in victory formation.
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 🡒]