Most NFL teams would like their chances of winning a victory if they held the Dallas Cowboys’ potent offense to two touchdowns all night, but the New York Giants are not in the majority this season.
For the second time in four games this season, the Giants (1-3) failed to score a touchdown in a 20-15 loss to the Cowboys on Thursday night at MetLife Stadium, settling for five Greg Joseph field goals.
“I think we just didn’t execute in those positions,” Giants quarterback Daniel Jones said. “We got behind the sticks with some penalties and with some unforced errors and just didn’t execute the same as we had leading up to that point. I thought we moved the ball well and drove it, but we didn’t finish, and we have to go back and see what we could have done better there.”
The Cowboys scored a pair of touchdowns in the first half — a 15-yard reception by Rico Dowdle and a 55-yard connection from Dak Prescott to the dangerous CeeDee Lamb — but had to hang on for dear life down the stretch, mustering just a pair of field goals in the second half.
Prescott completed 22 of 27 passes for 221 yards in the win, while Lamb hauled in eight catches for 98 yards against a shorthanded Giants secondary.
Jones put together a second-straight promising performance despite the loss, completing 29 of 40 passes for 281 yards and one interception, which came as time expired when a 41-yard prayer intended for Jalin Hyatt was picked off by Amani Oruwariye.
“He’s made good decisions. He’s thrown the ball where he needs to throw the ball,” Giants head coach Brian Daboll said of Jones. “The last play to (wide receiver Jalin) Hyatt, that’s a heave it down there and see if we get a DPI (defensive pass interference), or we can go up and try to make a play. For three games he’s been locked in. He’s played well. He’s seeing the field. He’s delivered the ball where he needs to.
“Again, we had some opportunities to continue drives today, as well. I’m proud of how he’s performed, how he’s prepared. He’s done a nice job for us.”
His connection with rookie receiver Malik Nabers was clicking once again as the two connected 12 times for 115 yards. However, the LSU product was forced to leave the game after suffering a concussion late in the fourth quarter after trying to wrangle in a fourth-down pass from Jones while toeing the sideline.
The ground game was a complete non-factor, following up a strong Week 3 showing by getting stifled by a Cowboys run defense that gave up over 200 yards last week. Devin Singletary had just 24 yards on 14 carries.
Left with a one-dimensional attack, the Giants were left lacking that killer instinct in plus territory. They got well past midfield in each of their first three drives of the night, but only had one snap in the red zone. Joseph capped off each drive with a field goal as the Giants trailed 14-9 at the break.
With their opening possession of the second half, the Giants marched 77 yards on 11 plays down to the Cowboys’ 3-yard line, but instead of going for it, Daboll opted to go for a fourth field goal to cut the New York deficit to three.
“We were going to go for points on that one,” Daboll said. “To get three points. It was a close game, so we didn’t know what we would need at the end there. But we were going to kick it.”
It proved costly, as the Giants never saw the Cowboys’ red zone again. New York has now lost seven straight games to the Cowboys.
“I’m not getting no petty wins,” defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence said. “Whoever won on the scoreboard, that’s the game. I don’t give a damn about a petty win. That’s football. We come out here to score points to win and stop them on defense. We didn’t do that, and they beat us.”
