Historical notes from the Dallas Cowboys win over the New York Giants

Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images

We took a look at Thursday night’s Dallas Cowboys win and where certain things fit into franchise history.

You are likely aware that Dak Prescott won his 13th consecutive start for the Dallas Cowboys against the New York Giants on Thursday night. This type of thing has become numb to us over the years (years!), but that does not change how impressive it is.

Dallas has beaten New York 14 of the last 15 times that they have played (the 2020 finale ruined a perfect streak) which is certainly historic. But you have heard that as noted.

What kind of history haven’t you heard about the Cowboys’ performance on Thursday night? Every week we take a look at the game and run it through the incredible services that our friends at Stathead and Pro Football Reference provide to see where things stand with some historical context.

Jump in the DeLorean. You’re about to see some serious you know what.

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A performance like that from the run defense had not been seen in some time

On the night the Giants had 26 rushing yards. This in and of itself is pretty wild.

But what is particularly insane about this mark is that they had 24 carries. Read that again! It is unbelievable how horrendous the production was for New York on the ground.

This was only the 10th time in the last almost 50 years (49 to be precise) that a team had 26 or fewer yards on at least 24 attempts. Shout out Mazi Smith.

It was a unique win to say the least

Obviously the subject of the run game has been a popular one for the Cowboys, and for not exactly great reasons. Dallas has been struggling to run the ball and similarly struggling to stop opponents from doing so. This is partly what made the above point so incredible.

The Cowboys ultimately had 80 yards on the ground themselves, but because New York dominated time of possession (which again is wild given how little production they had on the ground) they held the ball for under 25 minutes. Dallas only scored 20 points on top of all that and that’s because one of their two touchdowns was a 55-yard score from Dak Prescott to CeeDee Lamb.

It was only the 11th time in franchise history in which the Cowboys won a game within these particular thresholds. It is hard to do.

The Cowboys defense made sure the Giants made NFL history

As mentioned, having 26 or fewer rushing yards in a game is pretty uncommon. Doing it in a game where you have the ball for over 35 minutes sounds impossible.

It almost is. This was the third time ever that this has happened.

Notably it was the first time that the team in question (in this case the Giants) lost. It was also the first time that the team in question did it at home. If you think you/we feel bad about the Cowboys, just think about that.

The rushing performance was nice from Dallas, but they are still in poor company

On the Cowboys side of things there were 80 rushing yards to be had overall, but we are still talking about an all-time bad group on the ground.

Dallas has 301 yards on the ground through the first four games of the season. This is the fourth-fewest amount of rushing yards the Cowboys have ever had through the first four games of any season.

Incidentally all four years here are in the Jerry Jones era of ownership.

CeeDee Lamb has been scoring from downtown a lot

As noted, the Cowboys’ WR1 had a 55-yard touchdown in this contest. Just two weeks ago he and Dak Prescott hooked up for a 65-yard score.

It is unlikely, not impossible, that Lamb will ever outdo his career long touchdown reception of 92 yards that came in the penultimate week of the regular season last year. Interestingly though, his two touchdowns this year are now his second- and third-longest of his entire career with the latter coming on Thursday night.

It is not a secret that the Cowboys offense has been struggling and two of their touchdowns have literally been among the longest of Lamb’s career. They have to improve there.

CeeDee Lamb is now in the top 10 of Dallas Cowboys receiving touchdowns

The score that Lamb had on Thursday night was his 34th as a professional and in a Cowboys uniform given that this has been the only team he has played for. Relative to team history, he is now inside the top 10 as far as most touchdowns caught and with his next one he will push Miles Austin out of the club.

Lamb and Austin have the same amount of touchdowns with most of Lamb’s fifth season still to come, but it is incredible when you remember how little Austin was used early on in his career. When he caught on it was amazing.

Also amazing is the average yards. Bob Hayes was something else. Over 40 yards! On touchdowns! And he had 71 of them!

CeeDee Lamb has the second-most touchdowns caught in a Cowboys’ first 70 games

The subject of Terrell Owens was once upon a time a divisive one among Cowboys fans so please let the record show that I loved that time and am a huge fan of what he did for this team.

While it was not my purpose, the next search effectively took him out of the running. I was curious where Lamb stood relative to team history in the amount of games that he has played with the club (70) and obviously T.O. did not reach that mark.

In terms of a players’ first 70 games with a star on their helmet, only Dez Bryant caught more touchdowns than Lamb has.

Lamb still has a ways to go if he wants to pass Bryant all-time (he has to more than double his current touchdown total), but he is picking up pace in his fifth season.

Brandon Aubrey is one kick away from tying history

We saw Brandon Aubrey make another 60-yard field goal in this contest, his third since joining the Dallas Cowboys.

He trails Brett Maher as far as most field goals made from 60+ by a single three-pointer.

It is amazing to consider that Greg Zuerlein was also on this team at one point. Clearly Dallas values the long ball as far as kickers are concerned.

But to the point at hand, it feels safe to say that this record will someday be Aubrey’s and his alone.