Cowboys vs. Giants: Full Report Card Grades for Dallas
The Dallas Cowboys have officially lost their second game of the season. After losing in Week 1 against the New York Giants at home, the Cowboys rallied off 11 straight victories only to once again lose to the Giants in MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
A lot was talked about with this game. Unlike the Cowboys, who have already clinched a berth to the playoffs, the Giants are fighting for their lives to get into the postseason. In primetime at home, this was the game for the Giants to put the rest of the NFL on notice. However, getting a victory against one of the best teams in football was going to be difficult as well.
The Giants elected to receive the opening kickoff, in an attempt to set the tone on offense. Three punts opened up the matchup. In the fourth drive, the Cowboys got the drive rolling after a nice mixture of run and pass. In New York territory, Dak Prescott faked a handoff to Ezekiel Elliott. Prescott rolled out and found Terrance Williams wide open for an easy touchdown.
New York responded with a long drive in the following possession, but the drive ended when Sean Lee forced an Eli Manning fumble, which was recovered by Cedric Thornton. On third down of the Cowboys drive, Prescott looked to Dez Bryant, but Bryant fell down, leading to an easy interception for Janoris Jenkins. Both teams punted on their next possessions.
Manning fumbled once again after being strip-sacked by Benson Mayowa. Lee made the fumble recovery. Despite having short field to score points, the Cowboys offense stalled, and they punted once again. The next four possessions were punts.
Dallas got the ball back with around a minute left before the half. Rather than opting to take a knee and head to halftime, the Cowboys displayed confidence in Prescott, dialing up plays for him to move the football down the field in hopes of scoring some more points before half.
Short passes led the Cowboys to get in field-goal range for Dan Bailey. After Prescott connected with Williams for an 18-yard gain, the Cowboys called a timeout and Bailey came on for a 55-yard field-goal attempt. In difficult weather and kicking a cold football, Bailey booted a perfect ball in the middle of the uprights. However, the ball did not have enough distance, and it boinked off the field-goal post.
Despite receiving the ball at half, the Cowboys failed to get anything going, resulting in another punt. Both teams traded punts, and the Giants, on their second possession of the game, finally got on the scoreboard after an 11-play, 35-yard drive that ended in Robbie Gould connecting a 39-yard attempt.
In response to the field goal, Prescott threw another interception, this one a bit more ill-advised, looking for Bryant down the field. On the second play of the Giants' following drive, Manning connected with Odell Beckham Jr. on a two-yard pass. However, Beckham Jr. took the ball the rest of the way for a touchdown, giving the Giants their first lead of the game. The Cowboys' next four offensive drives resulted in this: punt, punt, fumble, turnover on downs.
Dallas was given the opportunity twice to tie up the game after Manning and company failed to pick up a first down. With about one minute to go, Prescott and the offense needed about 60 yards to get into field-goal range for Bailey to tie it up. The first play of the drive was a pass intended for Jason Witten that sailed north. The second play of the drive was incomplete for Lance Dunbar. The third play of the drive was batted down by Devon Kennard.
On fourth down, Prescott looked for Bryant. In what was excellent coverage, Jenkins broke up the ball just enough for the football to hit the ground. Initially ruled as a catch on the field, the play was reviewed, and the catch was incomplete. Just like that, the Giants picked up their second victory over the divisional foe, and the Cowboys dropped their first loss in just over 90 days.
Read on for full grades and analysis from the Cowboys' second loss of the season.
Passing Offense
1 of 6
For the second consecutive week, Dak Prescott looked like a rookie. Not displaying a good feel for a mental clock in the pocket, making incorrect reads and failing to correctly place the ball on several occasions, it looks as if the rookie has hit a wall in some way.
Prescott's statistical line was ugly in this one. Sometimes, statistics do not tell anything. But in this game, the numbers are truly indicative of his impact on the field. Prescott completed 17 of 37 passes for 165 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. He failed to ever get in a rhythm, and he was extremely inefficient on third down.
In a time where the offense needs him most, Prescott's past three games have proven he has regressed a bit. If this continues, the boo birds and eager Cowboys fans alike are going to be wishing for Tony Romo to come in at quarterback. Prescott has played spectacularly this season, but he is still a rookie, and there are still mistakes he's making that rookies typically make.
Grade: D
Rushing Offense
2 of 6
In what was probably the quietest performance of his rookie campaign, Ezekiel Elliott still managed to record 107 yards on 24 carries. While most of his runs ended in being bottled up at the line of scrimmage, he was still able to break free on multiple carries.
Because the Cowboys failed to maintain drives in this game, it kept Elliott from fully getting in motion. However, there were multiple displays in this game where Elliott was wearing down New York's defense. You have to wonder why the Cowboys continuously went after the running game in the third quarter even when it is working.
On top of Elliott's performance, the offensive line was once again was beaten by the Giants defensive front. Johnathan Hankins and Olivier Vernon were forces and anchors throughout, and the Cowboys failed to consistently win at the line of scrimmage. In fact, most of Elliott's success came on second efforts.
This will be an area where the Cowboys look to improve going into next week against one of hottest defenses in football in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Grade: B-
Passing Defense
3 of 6
Once again, the narrative of the Giants winning and not Eli Manning proved true in this game. Manning looked lost in this game and threw six intercept-able passes. If not for multiple drops from Barry Church and Justin Durant, this pass defense could've very much been different. Instead, the Cowboys failed to capitalize on opportunities.
However, it's hard to get upset at a defense that was simply spectacular in this game. Outside of a 61-yard reception, the Cowboys defense played a better performance than any Cowboys defense I've witnessed in years. The defensive line got pressure and the secondary, even without their best option in Morris Claiborne, was solid.
Manning completed 17 of 28 passes for 193 yards, a touchdown and just one interception. He also had two fumbles as well. A bright spot for the Cowboys in this game is the play and the impact of Anthony Brown. Placed into a starting role because of injury, Brown once again opened eyes in this game.
Regarding the other side at cornerback, Brandon Carr wasn't necessarily beaten all game, but he was beaten multiple times in shadow coverage against Odell Beckham Jr. The Cowboys are still drastically missing another piece, and that piece is Morris Claiborne.
Grade: B+
Rushing Defense
4 of 6
If you watched the broadcast of the game, you would continuously hear Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth boast about the Cowboys run defense and how it is No. 2 in all of football. Statistically yes, but the reason why the Cowboys have been so good against the run all season is because their offense maintains drives and keeps opposing teams' running games from getting into rhythm on offense.
However, the Cowboys did not maintain drives in this game, and it led to some cracks against the run on defense. As a whole, the Giants rushed for 93 yards on 33 carries, which is an average of just under three yards per carry. This is impressive, but the Cowboys did give up multiple first downs off runs.
The biggest bright spot from this game was Sean Lee. I've watched a lot of football games, but this must've been the best performance by a linebacker in quite some time. Lee finished with 18 total tackles. He was all over the place, making stops and getting past the offensive line to get in the backfield.
When Lee plays well, Anthony Hitchens feeds off that impact as well. If the Cowboys can get these types of performances from Lee and Hitchens, it could be huge for the next few games and years.
Grade: A
Special Teams
5 of 6
It's hard to harp on Dan Bailey when he missed that 55-yard attempt, as it was the difference in the game. But Bailey had a relatively quiet night, with obviously the lousy offense having a big part in that. Without Lucky Whitehead at kick and punt returner, there wasn't a bad difference. Cole Beasley had a nice return that put the Cowboys deep into New York territory, but because of a penalty, the return was brought back.
Punter Chris Jones only averages about three punts per game, but he was spectacular in most of his punts today, averaging 42 yards per punt. The Cowboys punt coverage gave up just 22 yards on four punts, which is another positive to look at that.
I feel like I say this a lot, but if it weren't for the individual performances from Bailey and Jones, Rich Bisaccia would definitely be on the hot seat as the special teams coach. The Cowboys special teams had four enigmatic penalties that brought big returns back. The penalties as a whole are not acceptable, but multiple penalties from special teams is simply ridiculous.
Grade: C
Coaching
6 of 6
For the second time this season, Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo outsmarted and outcoached Scott Linehan. After the initial success New York's defense had, Linehan failed to get creative and get players like Elliott and Bryant in space. Sure, Prescott had an off night, but Elliott was brought out for Lance Dunbar on passing downs, and Bryant was never moved inside in the slot to create matchup concerns.
Not to take anything away from the performance the Giants put in, but there were multiple times where the Cowboys could have put the game away and they failed because they once again weren't able to make in-game adjustments to counteract what the Giants were doing.
If it weren't for the coaching of Rod Marinelli in this one, this grade would be much lower, but it's hard to critique the problems of this defense when it continuously made big plays in this game despite not having a lot of talent on the unit.
Grade: D
Feel free to reach out to me on Twitter @RyanRattyNFL. I'm always willing to talk football.
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