Dak Prescott’s efficient night gets win, defense holds Daniel Jones out of end zone

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The Dallas Cowboys are 2-2 and 1-0 in division play after Thursday night.

For the second straight time playing from MetLife Stadium, the Dallas Cowboys defense held the home team New York Giants without a touchdown in their own stadium. It may not have been nearly as impressive as the 40-0 season opening win on a Sunday night from a year ago, an early statement from Dallas that they could be a dangerous team once again - and type of statement this current Cowboys team is still searching for through four weeks - but there were still plenty of things the Cowboys found a way to do right in the game’s biggest moments to scrap out a win 20-15.

Mike Zimmer’s defense found a way with practice squad call-ups like Amani Oruwariye seeing the field for the first time, the newly re-signed Carlos Watkins already being thrown into the defensive tackle rotation, and with Trevon Diggs, DeMarcus Lawrence and Micah Parsons leaving the field with injuries at different times. For a defense that had been rightfully criticized for hardly giving this team a chance in their first two home games of the season, being the catalyst for a road win going into a ten day break is something for this team to potentially start building on.

The defense looked at it’s best once the Cowboys offense was able to find just enough traction to take their first lead in a game since Week 1. The Cowboys forced Daniel Jones and the Giants to consistently take the long way down the field, with all but one of New York’s scoring drives taking ten plays or more. The Giants got as close as the Cowboys’ three-yard line, and within their 25 three other times, but never got the ball into the end zone.

The Cowboys offense never panicked at the fact the Giants ultimately won the time of possession by over ten minutes, not forcing the ball downfield with low percentage throws and instead finding more creative ways for Dak Prescott to facilitate the ball to seven different receivers at an 81.5% completion percentage.

Knowing this game on a short week would likely come down to which team’s stars could impact the game the most though, CeeDee Lamb and Jake Ferguson led the way with a combined 14 catches on 15 targets, accounting for 63% of Prescott’s completions and 147 of his 221 yards. Lamb also produced the team’s longest run of the night for ten yards, but Rico Dowdle was the top option out of the backfield with 11 carries for 46 yards. Dowdle also put the Cowboys ahead 7-3 with a receiving touchdown in the first quarter, taking a screen pass 15 yards to paydirt.

No matter how the Cowboys got in the win column in New Jersey on Thursday, there was no possible way for this team to answer all the questions circling Mike McCarthy’s squad after two straight lopsided losses. The only important thing is that they did indeed win, and now can continue answering these questions with a stable 2-2 record as opposed to a potentially disastrous 1-3, where the Giants now sit in on the year with two division losses already. The Commanders and Eagles will both be in action on the road this Sunday.

Let’s take a look at a few other notes on how the Cowboys came out on top in their fifth straight NFC East win and seventh consecutive against the Giants.

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• On both team’s first offensive possession, they were faced with an immediate third down attempt after running the ball on second down. The Cowboys dialed up a rollout play for Prescott that didn’t give him many options once Lamb was taken away, and were quickly forced to punt. The Giants got their best receiver Malik Nabers in a favorable matchup against Andrew Booth, filling in at CB for Dallas without rookie Caelen Carson, and it led to their longest pass play of the night with Nabers winning on a double move for 39 yards. A Giants penalty would help the Cowboys get them into another third down where Zimmer could dial up pressure from safety Donovan Wilson, forcing Jones to throw short of the sticks and the Giants to settle for a field goal.

Still early enough in the game to not know this would remain the story of the entire night, it appeared the Giants had early momentum and could have used it to set up their defense in a similar situation as last week’s win at the Browns where the pass rush teed off. The Cowboys quickly responded by getting their top receivers established on the ensuing drive, as Brandin Cooks made his first catch to move the chains on a third and short three plays before Dowdle’s touchdown.

The Cowboys may not have put the same emphasis that the Giants did on ensuring their receivers were lined up against the cornerbacks they wanted, but they got creative in other ways to change the picture for the Giants defense and allow Prescott to do what he does best from the pocket. Motion out of the backfield with all of their backs including fullback Hunter Luepke, who caught two passes and carried twice for eight yards with a fourth down conversion, as well as key blitz pickups from players like Deuce Vaughn on Lamb’s 55-yard touchdown, made it harder for the Giants pass rush to make the impact they expected. Even with rookie Tyler Guyton having his struggles against Kayvon Thibodeaux, who had NY’s only sack, the Cowboys stayed on schedule as an offense and only faced four third downs longer than seven yards out of ten total.

The goal for the Cowboys offense should of course be to find more ways to push the ball downfield to avoid needing all three downs to advance, with Lamb making his splashes as promised on Thursday, but in a game they had to have any way possible it was good enough in all three phases.

Staying out of third down was the key for the Cowboys on their final scoring drive, ensuring the Giants would need to find a way to score a touchdown to win after Dallas punted backed up following a second and 20 run and third and 12 completion for just three yards to Luepke on the previous drive.

Jake Ferguson had a pair of nine-yard receptions on first and ten plays to give the drive a promising start, but when finally faced with a third down after back to back runs to Dowdle and Lamb for just three net yards, Prescott could not connect with Lamb on the third down attempt and the Cowboys continued to leave the door open by settling for another field goal.

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Mike McCarthy calling a dynamic offense in year two as play caller was supposed to be the biggest gameday advantage the HC coaching for his job could bring into 2024, but instead it was Zimmer’s defense looking like they adjusted the most from the Week 2 and 3 losses and getting back to lining up in a way they gave the defense a chance on every snap.

The offense is having a much harder time doing this with any regularity right now, as the pressure will only continue to build for a unit lacking serious game-breaking ability at several positions.

• Just like the Giants began the game picking on Andrew Booth, at this point a better run support player on the boundary than cover cornerback in Zimmer’s defense, they started the second half throwing against Booth’s replacement Amani Oruwariye. The practice squad call up equally had his struggles locating the ball and putting himself in position to not allow big plays, but still the Cowboys defense held in the red zone thanks to a third and goal open field tackle by DeMarvion Overshown. Overshown looked comfortable lined up tight to the line of scrimmage to disguise pressures and make Jones go to his short reads, as well as in space turning and chasing the ball to the boundary. No moment has looked too big for a player getting his first regular season experience following a preseason ACL tear as a rookie. The second-year linebacker was everywhere for Dallas in this game, also making the tackle on the kickoff that began this drive that took up nearly half of the third quarter for the Giants.

Shortening the game themselves but still trailing, only to see Brandon Aubrey push the Cowboys’ advantage back to five with an automatic 60-yard field goal, was a real turning point for the Giants having any hope of coming out on top.

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The Giants punted, kicked their final field goal, turned the ball over on downs, and threw the game-ending interception to Oruwariye on their remaining possessions needing a touchdown to take the lead. Zimmer’s defense was able to sit back and drive on throws with help over the top, and also come up with splash plays like Marshawn Kneeland’s tackle for loss on Jones (another young player also playing well on special teams) and Jourdan Lewis’ middle of the field tackle in space against Robinson.

With so many rotating faces throughout the lineup on defense, the Cowboys weren’t fundamentally sound for all four quarters with missed tackles and penalties being obvious areas to address, but they looked more coherent in their alignments than at any point over the past two weeks. They put their most experienced players like Lewis, Malik Hooker, and Micah Parsons in position to make plays.

• Following up a strong fourth quarter performance against the Ravens, Mazi Smith continues to make more and more plays each week and is showing real promise in a scheme that fits him as the Cowboys’ best option at nose tackle. Smith is winning with leverage and doing a better job staying square to the line of scrimmage to reduce how much blockers can drive on him. With holding the point of attack being one of his roles as a one-technique, Smith has also shed blocks to make solo tackles in recent weeks as the most encouraging sign that Dallas will have a chance to sustain better run defense as he continues to improve.

One of the main reasons this rivalry has been so one sided in recent matchups is not only Prescott’s strong performances against the Giants, but the Cowboys pass rush absolutely having their way with the Giants up front. For the first time in a long time, this did not happen as the likes of Parsons and Odighizuwa struggled to get off blocks in times to affect Jones, but holding up enough against the run was still needed by this defensive front. The Giants could not rely on their run game to set up favorable passing situations for Jones, as even when the Cowboys front wasn’t making the stop, they spilled runs to the second level where Overshown or leading-tackler Eric Kendricks were there to finish plays.