New York Giants fans react to the loss against the Dallas Cowboys, 23-16, at MetLife Stadium on Monday, Sept. 26, 2022. Nfl Ny Giants Vs Dallas Cowboys Cowboys At Giants
Syndication: The Record
The New York Giants lost their first game of the season this past Monday night, 23-16, to their NFC East rivals in the Dallas Cowboys.
The energy surrounding MetLife Stadium was enormous as the game called for a “white-out” clothing theme for the fans to support the Giants’ color rush jerseys. Smiles and cheers erupted with Saquon Barkley’s performance, including his 36-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. Believe it or not, this was the first touchdown of the contest with Brett Maher and Graham Gano making two field goals each prior.
With the Giants carrying all the momentum, in comes Cooper Rush, the backup quarterback filling in for the injured Dak Prescott. He led the Cowboys to two straight touchdowns immediately after Barkley’s score enabling Dallas to the impressive road win.
Dallas capped an 11-play, 89-yard drive with a one-yard rushing touchdown from Ezekiel Elliott. They weren’t done; they went for the lead on the next drive, using only 9 plays to find CeeDee Lamb on a flamboyant one-handed catch in the endzone.
Giants head coach Brian Daboll acknowledged the Cowboys’ presence at the line of scrimmage during his post-game press conference. “They controlled the line of scrimmage. They ran the ball for, what was it, 180 yards? We had no sacks. So, when you can control the line of scrimmage and you’re not getting a lot of pressure on the quarterback, you can usually stay in rhythm pretty good.”
Rush was the better of the two throwers on paper as he threw for a touchdown on top of 215 yards in the air. Daniel Jones threw for 196 yards in the contest with little help from his receiving core.
Kenny Golladay, whose contract has the biggest hit on the team’s salary cap at $21.15 million, drew only three targets with zero catches, including a big drop on a third down in the fourth quarter in what could have been a big play with the Giants trailing by seven.
“Me just not looking it all the way in. Me just trying to make a play for the team and get up the field. I was running before I really secured the ball. That’s pretty much all that that was. That’s stuff that can’t happen,” Golladay said after the game, “I want to be a guy that can make that play, so I definitely put that on myself. It was third down and that can’t happen.”
On top of that, Jones had to deal with the immense pressure that the Dallas Cowboys possess. Daniel Jones was hit 12 different times and he was pressured 24 times according to ESPN Stats & Info. A later tweet from ESPN Stats & Info revealed that Jones was pressured 24 times, the most in a game since they started keeping that very statistic in 2009.
As a result of the one-sided battle in the trenches, Dallas was able to record 5.0 sacks on Daniel Jones. Jones did everything he could but ultimately fell short after he was picked off by Trevon Diggs to put the game to sleep.
They didn’t just lose the game on that play, they lost their longest-tenured player, Sterling Shepard, as he tore his ACL on the final offensive play in the game. It was a non-contact injury and it appears that Shepard took a bad step before screaming in agony.
Players from both franchises circled Shepard before he was carted off in support of the wide receiver.
Saquon Barkley holds a close relationship with Shepard and was seen running towards the cart as it drove off with the receiver.
“Any player that gets taken off on a cart is not a good sight. Obviously, the relationship I have with Shep (Wide Receiver Sterling Shepard), it definitely hurts a little bit more. But at the end of the day, I’m his brother and I’m going to be there for him,” Barkley said in the locker room after the loss.
This result puts the Giants tied for second place in the NFC East, with the undefeated Philadelphia Eagles at the top of the charts. The Cowboys own the tiebreaker now after this victory.
New York will conclude their three-game homestand on Sunday afternoon against the Chicago Bears.
