That was a tough loss to suffer for the New York Giants. There are no moral victories in football as the Giants fall to 0-2, but it’s hard not to be excited about the performance after a dismal Week 1 against the Washington Commanders.
This was a WILD game; one that will be remembered indefinitely. Giants totaled 506 yards for the first time in well over a decade.The Giants and Cowboys were heavily penalized. The Giants committed 14 penalties for 160 yards and Dallas 12 for 106 yards. The last time New
York had that many offensive yards was 2011 – another game against the Dallas Cowboys. The Giants were the winner of that affair, but they failed to seize victory despite a valiant effort.
Here are the five plays – or sequence of plays – that were noteworthy in the game.
Play 1: Russell Wilson to Malik Nabers 1.0
We saw a different Russell Wilson in Week 2. Wilson threw for more yards in the first half than he did in the entire Week 1 loss against Washington. Below is Russell Wilson’s first touchdown as a New York Giant – a 29-yard strike to Malik Nabers:
Nabers got inside of Trevon Diggs (7) and achieved a few vertical steps on the Cowboys’ defender. Wilson hit his back foot, noticed the leverage, and fired the ball high, allowing the star receiver to high point the football for the first touchdown of the Giants’ season. It was imperative for New York to find pay dirt after several trips to the red zone yielding just three points every time this season.
Play(s) 2: The end of regulation
The end of regulation was just insane. Starting from the two-minute warning, right after Dak Prescott converted a fourth-and-three conversion to Jalen Tolbert on a well scooped pass; Dru Phillips did commit a defensive pass interference penalty that was denied, so the Cowboys would have extended their drive, regardless.
The score was 30-27, Giants, and Prescott led the Cowboys down the field in seven plays to score, post the two- minute warning. Prescott picked up 14 yards on a third-and-5 conversion, Javonte Williams had a 13 yard rush two plays later, and then Prescott found Pickens on this 6-yard touchdown with 52 seconds left two plays after that:
In just three plays, the Giants struck back with a 48-yard touchdown to Nabers:
As exciting as this play was to witness, it did leave 27 seconds on the clock for Prescott and the Cowboys, who had all their timeouts and a steel legged kicker; that, plus Shane Bowen, who plays his defense deep, allowed Prescott to connect easily in front of zone defenders to tight end Jake Ferguson for 18 yards.
Ferguson’s catch was followed up by a short Williams run that set up Brandon Aubrey’s 64-yard field goal to tie the game and send it to overtime.
Play(s) 3: Overtime
The Giants ended regulation with 503 total offensive yards – they gained just three yards in overtime on two possessions, due to two Russell Wilson mistakes. Wilson was phenomenal in this game – exactly what Giants’ fans hoped to see…until overtime.
Wilson connected with Malik Nabers for 14 yards to start overtime; all New York needed was points to secure victory after Dallas was forced to punt. Wilson then connected with Nabers, again, for seven yards, and got the Giants to the 35 yard line. Then Wilson fumbled the football out of bounds on second-and-3, which put the Giants in a third-and-17 situation.
The fumble, which was ruled a sack, forced the Giants to punt after an incomplete pass to Wan’Dale Robinson. However, the Giants defense forced another punt and Wilson received another chance. Two plays into that opportunity, Wilson made this throw:
Dallas received the football at their own 30-yard line and Prescott connected with Pickens for 30 yards. Two plays later, Prescott scrambled up the middle for 14 yards, which set up Aubrey’s 46-yard game winning field goal with no time on the clock.
Play(s) 4: Wan’Dale Robinson breakout
All throughout training camp, we heard that Robinson was being used vertically. There’s a lot of training camp fodder that never transpires, but THAT bit of information was accurate. Robinson caught eight passes for 142 yards on ten targets with a touchdown. He set career highs last week with Wilson and shattered that against Dallas. Robinson’s touchdown came in the final three minutes of the game and gave the Giants a 30-27 lead. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. Here are some quality plays by the receiver:
It’s crucial for the Giants to locate another reliable receiving threat to lessen the burden on Malik Nabers. Robinson did an excellent job in that role against Dallas.
Play(s) 5: Fourth-and-2 drop
We can ignore the X user’s snarky comment, but this drop was a massive turning point in this game – a game where the Giants had all the momentum and energy, but a minimal lead. I don’t hate the Giants going for it; the play design could have certainly been better to maximize the play, as highlighted by Greg Olsen on the broadcast.
Even with the design, the rookie running back has to come down with this throw that was away from defensive leverage. Shortly after this drop, the play below happened.
The Giants surrendered this 30-yard touchdown run to Javonte Williams (33) to take their first lead of the game, 17-16. Jalen Tolbert’s (1) motion gives the Cowboys an extra blocker to the play-side, and Williams did a good job finding a crease for six. This was before the game really went off the rails; before 41 total points were scored in the fourth quarter.
