In the immediate aftermath of the loss, one thing is exceptionally clear: the Dallas Cowboys left far too many plays on the field. From penalties to missed opportunities, Dallas was outplayed by both the New York Giants and themselves.
Dallas had seven penalties for 60 yards in just the first half alone. They would end up finishing the game with nine penalties for 90 yards. This included a taunting call from Javonte Williams late into the fourth quarter en route to a touchdown, leading to a missed
PAT.
Paired with that, the Cowboys defense finished with five turnover-worthy plays but only walked away with a single takeaway. From forced fumbles that just bounced the wrong way to dropped interceptions, the Cowboys defense just couldn’t take advantage. On a night where the Giants moved the ball slowly yet methodically down the field, chewing up clock on the way to the endzone, this defense needed to finish when the ball was up for grabs. They just didn’t do that.
As mentioned earlier in the week, one of the ways that Dallas could lose this game was due to lack of defensive scheme experience and familiarity. This lack of experience certainly factored into the large voids left on the field by Cowboys defenders leading to multiple New York Giants touchdowns. These mistakes allowed the Giants offense to convert on third downs at a rate of 81%. This kept the Cowboys offense off the field for much of the second half.
And let’s not give the offense a pass. Against the Giants, George Pickens was not the same player that we saw throughout training camp. Two untimely drops resulted in a punt and an eventual turnover – an interception thrown by Dak just before the half on a ball he seemingly meant to throw away. The Giants would go and score back-to-back touchdowns after that mistake and never look back. The dropped deep ball from Pickens was a turning point in this game.
The expectation for the Cowboys was to come into their division rivals house and knock them down. But Dallas found out the hard way that when you play an underdog like the Giants in their own stadium, the quickest way to lose is to commit untimely penalties, turn the ball over, and miss your opportunities at big plays. The Cowboys did just that, and now they will start the season 0-1.
