Cowboys vs. Giants: Postgame Grades, Notes and Quotes
The Dallas Cowboys opened the 2015 campaign on Sunday Night Football against the NFC East-rival New York Giants and failed to do only one thing well in the first half. Finish.
Whether it was finishing a catch, a run, a series or the half in general, the Cowboys consistently failed in the first two quarters of the season.
The Cowboys took the opening kickoff and proceeded to run 14 plays for 77 yards to set up 1st-and-goal at the New York 5-yard line. Three pass plays and a penalty later, Dan Bailey converted a 22-yard field goal to give Dallas the early 3-0 lead.
The first Giants possession of the game featured two near fumbles and quite possibly the softest 15-yard penalty in history on corner Brandon Carr, leading to a 50-yard Giants field goal to tie the game. From that point, with 1:58 left in the first quarter through the end of the first half, the Cowboys would out-gain the Giants 123 to 48, yet they managed to be outscored 10-3 due to two miscues by typically reliable members of their offense.
First, with 56 seconds left in the second quarter, Cole Beasley fumbled after a 15-yard gain, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie recovered for the Giants and took it back 57 yards for a touchdown, giving the Giants their first lead of the game at 10-6.
On the very next play from scrimmage, Tony Romo escaped the pocket to his right and threw a short pass to Jason Witten. However, the ball was behind the trusty tight end, who tipped it up in the air into the waiting arms of Giants linebacker Uani Unga for the interception at the Dallas 36-yard line. The Cowboys defense held, forcing a 40-yard field goal and a 13-6 Giants lead.
Overall, the Cowboys held the Giants offense to only 88 first-half yards, held the ball for almost 22 minutes offensively and moved the ball at will, but they failed to finish and went into halftime down seven.
The Giants opened the second half with their best offensive drive of the game, going 68 yards in 12 plays, culminating in a 30-yard field goal and a 16-6 lead for New York. But Tony Romo and his crew answered with a long drive of their own, capping off a nine-play, 80-yard march with a Romo-to-Escobar touchdown pass, bringing the team back within three.
The teams rounded out the third quarter exchanging punts, but with eight minutes left in the game—and with Dez Bryant in the locker room with what was later diagnosed as a fractured bone in his foot—Tony Romo hit Devin Street on a slant pattern on 3rd-and-6.
Street was immediately hit by veteran safety Brandon Meriweather, which popped the ball out right in the direction of Giants corner Trumaine McBride, who returned it for what appeared to be a touchdown before instant replay ruled he had stepped out of bounds at the 1. Rashad Jennings took the handoff on the very next play and was able to get into the end zone, putting the Giants back up 10 with about eight minutes left in the game.
On the ensuing possession, Tony Romo hit Jason Witten, Terrance Williams and Cole Beasley twice each, going 76 yards on six plays, hitting Jason Witten for the one-yard touchdown to bring it back to within three.
The Giants got the ball back with just over five minutes remaining in the game with an opportunity to try to put the game away. They ran 13 plays and gained 79 yards, getting all the way to the Dallas 1-yard line, with some help from a 15-yard unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty from veteran defensive lineman Jeremy Mincey.
However, because of some notable clock-management mistakes by the Giants, combined with the Cowboys’ use of timeouts as well as the two-minute warning, only 3:34 ran off the clock on that drive. The possession culminated with a 3rd-and-goal decision to attempt a pass when Dallas had no timeouts left and only about a minute and 45 seconds on the clock. An incompletion stopped the clock, and the Giants’ field goal put them up six.
The Cowboys took the ensuing kickoff and, in vintage Tony Romo fashion, drove 72 yards on six plays, jump-started by two completions to running back Lance Dunbar, and capped by a Romo-to-Witten connection for an 11-yard game-winning touchdown.
Read on for all the Cowboys grades, notes and quotes you need for the game.
Position Grades for the Dallas Cowboys
1 of 5
Position | Grade |
QB | A+ |
RB | B |
WR | C- |
TE | A |
OL | A |
DL | C+ |
LB | B |
DB | B+ |
Special Teams | C- |
Coaching | C+ |
Quarterback
Tony Romo started the game looking very sharp mentally, recognizing the Giants’ intentions pre-snap and adjusting his team's plans to attack accordingly.
However, several of his early throws were behind his targets, including a potential touchdown pass to Terrance Williams on the first possession and the intercepted pass intended for Witten toward the end of the first half. Still, when his team needed him most, he was as sharp as ever, completing 11-of-12 for 146 yards and two touchdowns on the team's final two drives to ultimately win the game.
Overall, Romo finished 36-of-45 for 356 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions.
Running Back
Joseph Randle got the first crack at the running back job, and despite starting a bit shakily by fumbling on his second carry of the game, which he recovered, Randle performed relatively well. Darren McFadden and Lance Dunbar also played significant snaps, and each contributed well to the offense.
Randle finished with 16 carries for 65 yards to go along with three catches for 42 yards, while McFadden had six carries for 16 yards and a 19-yard reception. Lance Dunbar led the Cowboys in both receptions and yards, catching all eight of his targets for 70 yards, including two very important plays on the game-winning drive.
Wide Receiver
Early in the game, the Cowboys wide receivers left quite a bit to be desired. Terrance Williams dropped a few early passes that hit him in the hands, Cole Beasley fumbled on his second touch of the game and despite four catches for 43 yards in the first half, Dez Bryant dropped a third-down pass in the red zone that likely would have been an early touchdown and could have gone a long way toward changing the tone of the game.
Eventually, Beasley and Williams both made big plays on important drives late in the game. Dez finished with 48 yards on five catches, Williams had 60 yards on five catches of his own and Beasley caught four for 49 yards.
Tight End
When Tony Romo wanted to get the ball into the end zone in this game, he looked for his tight ends. Gavin Escobar was targeted only twice in the game, catching both for eight yards, including a six-yard touchdown. Future Hall of Famer Jason Witten caught eight for 60 yards and two touchdowns, both in the fourth quarter, and including the game-winner. Witten was also a key pass protector on several important completions as the Giants brought blitzers to try to generate some pressure.
Offensive Line
The Cowboys offensive line started 2015 right where it left off in 2014, helping the running game to be successful when called upon and keeping Tony Romo upright throughout the game. They gave up zero sacks and only allowed Romo to be hit one time on his 45 pass attempts.
Defensive Line
The Cowboys dressed only seven defensive linemen for Sunday night’s game, leaving Davon Coleman, Ken Bishop and Ryan Russell inactive. When Randy Gregory injured his ankle in the third quarter, it left them with only two true defensive ends available.
Through about three quarters, the Cowboys were able to generate quite a bit of pressure on Eli Manning, hitting him four times and adding a sack from Tyrone Crawford, as well as forcing him to rush a few of his throws. However, after the strain of attrition, the pass rush slowed significantly in the fourth quarter.
Linebackers
Sean Lee and Anthony Hitchens played the lion’s share of the snaps and appropriately led the team in tackles with nine and eight respectively. Kyle Wilber was the third linebacker when the Cowboys were in base personnel, and he had two tackles of his own.
Several of the biggest plays on defense were made by this group, as Wilber and Lee each had tackles for loss on run plays, forcing 3rd-and-long situations. In addition, both Lee and Hitchens made touchdown-saving tackles on drives late in the game that kept the Cowboys in the game.
Defensive Backs
Odell Beckham Jr. caught only five balls for 44 yards. That is probably the most important stat line to consider when evaluating the Cowboys secondary. On Beckham’s first target of the game, safety J.J. Wilcox came downhill hard and delivered a clean, tone-setting hit that put the Giants receivers on alert for the rest of the game.
The Cowboys covered well the entire game, allowing Manning to complete less than 56 percent of his passes for fewer than 200 yards. They didn’t give up a single pass play of more than 16 yards until the last play of the game which went for only 19 yards. The tackling in the secondary wasn’t as consistent with Barry Church missing a couple of important tackle opportunities near the line of scrimmage, but J.J. Wilcox tackled well and made a touchdown-saving tackle on the Giants' final drive.
Special Teams
Chris Jones averaged 53.5 yards per punt, allowing only three total return yards, and Dan Bailey kicked off six times and put six balls out of the back of the end zone. Both Cowboys specialists rendered Dwayne Harris helpless in his first game against his former teammates.
The Cowboys averaged 19.2 yards per kick return, although Lance Dunbar was probably over-eager in bringing kicks out of the end zone in trying to make a play. Cole Beasley lost three yards on his only punt return of the night. Dan Bailey was what Dan Bailey is, going perfect on this two field goals and three extra points.
Coaching
Jason Garrett used both of his available challenges in the first quarter, winning one of the two. Overall, the coaching staff performed well, and they put their players in position to succeed offensively.
Some will question the balance of the play-calling, but the way the game played out with the Cowboys needing to come back quickly in the fourth quarter—as well as their attempt to score toward the end of the first half—made this ratio look different than it otherwise would have.
Jason Garrett managed his timeouts and the two-minute warning well on the Giants' last possession as he attempted to leave his team as much time as possible to complete the comeback.
Important Note No. 1: The Injuries
2 of 5
There were three very important players who suffered injuries Sunday night. Starting left guard Ronald Leary suffered a groin injury in the first half and defensive end Randy Gregory sustained a high ankle sprain late in the third quarter. But most importantly, star wide receiver Dez Bryant fractured a bone in his foot and will miss four to six weeks. Oh, and there was one more injury, although it didn’t cost anyone any time:
"Wilcox broke his nose when he hit Beckham. Told trainers to leave it alone until after game. Beckham told him he'd never been hit that hard.
— David Helman (@HelmanDC) September 14, 2015"
The way the Cowboys are able to perform over the next month or so, leading up to their Week 6 bye, will go a long way in setting the path for their season. Rolando McClain and Greg Hardy are out on suspensions through week four, while Gregory and Bryant will likely be out until at least the bye week.
The next three or four games will be a test of the Cowboys' depth. I would assume that they would be looking to sign a defensive end. Maybe Lavar Edwards—who was cut by the Cowboys to make room for Christine Michael—would be an option after being released by the Raiders last week.
Important Note No. 2: Offensive Balance
3 of 5
A lot will be made over the next week of the fact that Tony Romo threw the ball 45 times compared to only 23 rushes by the team. Analysts will point to the success the team had last year running the ball, and the absence of a certain running back who is now in Philadelphia, as reasons for worry about the sustainability of the Cowboys offense.
However, much of this Week 1 imbalance was driven by the way the game unfolded. With three minutes left in the first half, Romo had thrown the ball 18 times and the Cowboys had 14 rushes. Romo then proceeded to throw six consecutive passes on their last two possessions of the half. In addition to this, Romo threw 12 passes on his team's two fourth-quarter touchdown drives.
These 18 passes drove the run/pass ratio out of balance further than intended, or further than the performance of the running game might have led them to otherwise.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Quote No. 1: Stephen Jones on How the Team Played
4 of 5
After the game, Cowboys vice president Stephen Jones said, via Jon Machota's Twitter:
"We can't play football like we did tonight and expect to win a lot of games. We've got to do better.
"
Many times in an NFL season, a team won’t play its best in a game. Most of the time, when that happens, the team will wind up losing. However, when clubs can play poorly and find a way to win, they are able to effectively steal an extra win they may not have “deserved.”
On the other hand, teams that consistently play poorly will see poor results on the scoreboard more often than not. Stephen Jones knows this, and he knows his team must avoid those types of mistakes in future weeks if they want to accomplish their ultimate goal.
Quote No. 2: Tony Romo on Life Without Dez Bryant
5 of 5
Tony Romo said after the game, via Jon Machota:
Romo knows that without No. 88 on the field, defenses will approach this Cowboys offense differently and that things will get more difficult as teams aren’t forced to allocate extra coverage resources to keeping Dez from beating them.
Tony’s so-called easy out on certain plays is to throw the ball up to Dez when he is covered one-on-one. He will be without that outlet for the next several weeks, and he knows that he has to put his team in position to succeed on offense without Bryant.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
.png?w=480)
