Football
Here is everything you need to know about Thursday night’s Cowboys/Giants game
A win is a win and we will not apologize for any. The Dallas Cowboys won on Thursday night and defeated the New York Giants for the 14th time in their last 15 attempts. That is highly impressive regardless of the funk that the G-Men have been in for some time.
This game took place on a Thursday night which inherently makes it ugly by nature. The Cowboys offense showed serious life at game’s beginning, but long and sustained drives from the Giants kept them off of the field.
Ultimately the Cowboys kept New York out of the endzone for the duration of the contest though and that wound up being rather significant. It was an injury-riddled game as Trevon Diggs, DeMarcus Lawrence, Zack Martin and Micah Parsons all had varying issues, the overall statuses of which remain in flux in the immediate aftermath of the game. We will of course keep you covered on all of them.
The Cowboys needed a win desperately and got it, even if it was ugly. They did and saw things that they can build upon and that they can get in the lab to try and improve. They are 2-2 on the season and now have the mini bye to take a breath and figure out who they are moving forward.
Below you will find our quarter by quarter recap, put together so that it can be read chronologically.
1st Quarter
The New York Giants won the toss and deferred which set the offense up with a chance to give the team a lead to play with. Dallas went three and out so that was that.
New York began to move and had a huge conversion on their first third down to rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers. Ultimately they stalled out, but not before coming away with a field goal for the game’s first points.
It was at this point that the Dallas Cowboys went to serious work. Over the course of 12 plays they ultimately (shout out penalties) traveled 95 yards thanks to some remarkable work from Dak Prescott. The possession was capped off with a screen pass to Rico Dowdle that went for a touchdown. There was initially a penalty called, but it was picked up.
The quarter ended a few plays later with the Giants having the ball.
2nd Quarter
The Giants made it down the field with penalties working for and against them in the process. Thursday nights can be that way sometimes. Ultimately they settled for 3 once more.
Dallas got back to work and faced a fourth and short from inside of their own 40-yard line that had the potential to destroy the momentum the offense had been building. Mike McCarthy went for it by way of a handoff to Hunter Luepke and on the very next play Dak Prescott hit CeeDee Lamb for a 55-yard touchdown!
The next drive was a very weird one. Ultimately the Giants took over eight minutes off of the game clock, but did so in incredibly slow fashion. Penalties made the long drive feel even longer. Amazingly, New York barely pulled off 47 net yards (across 15 plays) and settled for another field goal. This left some time for Dak Prescott and the Cowboys to work.
Dallas was unable to make anything of the possession though, with tons of flags in the process between both teams, and punted it back to New York who sent the game to halftime.
3rd Quarter
The Giants had a fumble on the opening kickoff but recovered it and calmed things down.
They then went to work in the exact same way that they had to this point in the game. New York put together a drive that consumed almost half of the quarter and ended with points for the home team. Like with every instance before, it was a field goal and not a touchdown. Unfortunately DeMarcus Lawrence went to the locker room to be tended to during the possession.
Dallas took over and netted only 28 yards thanks to a (shocker here) penalty. Given who their kicker is that was enough and Brandon Aubrey booted one in from 60 yards out.
After this the Cowboys forced a punt for the first time in the game, and off of a three and out!
Dallas returned serve and punted back fairly quickly. The return set New York up right around midfield. That is basically how we advanced to the fourth.
4th Quarter
Once again the Giants moved the ball almost all the way down the field, but as was most often the case prior to this moment they had to settle for a field goal. Dallas got the ball back with a lot of the fourth quarter left and a two-point lead to try and add to.
A touchdown would have likely put the game on ice what with the extra point making things a two-possession game. Unfortunately Dallas could only pull off a field goal and took the lead by five.
While the Cowboys ultimately stopped the Giants on the next possession (on fourth down) it appeared to come at a price. Micah Parsons exited after the third down play and was carted to the locker room with what appeared be a leg/foot injury. Obviously we will update things when more is known.
The Cowboys did what they could do bleed clock and got into comfortable field goal range for Brandon Aubrey. It turns out he is human though and missed the 51-yard attempt. This left 28 seconds for the Giants to go get a touchdown.
It did not happen. Ballgame. Boom!
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Notable Recent News
A loss on Thursday night would give Dallas a 1-3 record through the first four games of a season for only the eighth time in franchise history. Hopefully that is not the case.
Injury Updates
On the Cowboys side of things Caelen Carson and Markquese Bell were both doubtful on the final injury report.
As far as the Giants are concerned both Adoree Jackson and Dru Phillips were ruled out.
NFL News Relevant To The Cowboys
This is the first game of the week so not a ton has happened to this point. But as far as the NFC East is concerned, as we are always keeping our eye on it, this is obviously a divisional game which means there are only two left in the week.
The Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders are both on the road this week and are taking on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Arizona Cardinals, respectively. For the Eagles it is a rematch of the Wild Card game that they lost last season, a game that also took place in Tampa Bay.
Up Next For The Cowboys
The Cowboys will get a mini bye to hopefully celebrate a win and soon enough will be back in action in primetime as they visit the Pittsburgh Steelers next week on Sunday Night Football.
Entering Week 4 the Steelers are one of the league’s remaining undefeated teams and host the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.