Giants grades for Week 4 vs. Cowboys: Two big D's against Dallas
Wan'Dale Robinson, left, and Rakeem Nunez-Roches of the Giants walk to the locker room after a game against the Dallas Cowboys at MetLife Stadium on Thursday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
OFFENSE: D
Not only were the Giants kept out of the end zone on Thursday night, they have yet to score a touchdown in either of their first two home games. This time they were limited to five field goals. While Daniel Jones was mostly competent and made no glaring mistakes he came up short on at least two deep attempts that could have been game-changers; one was a deep pass to Darius Slayton on a free play with the Cowboys offsides that wound up being a negated interception and the second was when Malik Nabers got behind Trevon Diggs but the ball was underthrown and broken up. Some dropped passes including one on a late third-down by Wan’Dale Robinson also stung. The Giants thought they would be able to run the ball against the league’s worst ground defense but managed just 26 yards on 24 carries.
DEFENSE: C
They did more things well than not but the nots resulted in scoring plays that decided the game. The first was the 15-yard swing pass from Dak Prescott to Rico Dowdle on which the running back scooted through would-be tacklers into the end zone. The other was a deep pass to CeeDee Lamb in which Deonte Banks was beaten for the catch and then he and safety Tyler Nubin couldn’t make the tackle on a 55-yard touchdown. They held the Cowboys to 221 passing yards and 80 rushing yards and Kayvon Thibodeaux had a sack – the first one by the Giants against Prescott since 2021! – but there were no takeaways and few other impact plays.
SPECIAL TEAMS: B
Greg Joseph kicked field goals of 52, 41, 38, 22 and 42 yards on a busy night after missing his only attempt in his Giants debut last week. The Giants’ kickoff return game continues to be an issue for them, however, as Tyrone Tracy first muffed the opening kick of the second half then picked it up and fumbled it. Luckily for the Giants Chris Manhertz was there to recover it. The Giants returned four kickoffs and brought only one out past the 30. Ihmir Smith-Marsette did have a promising punt return of 22 yards.
COACHING: D
The offensive staff found some creative ways to get Nabers free including putting him in motion and lining him up in the backfield. They should have been as resourceful in fixing their running game, though, which they came in wanting to establish but couldn’t figure out. Daboll kicked the field goal on fourth-and-goal at the 3 on the first drive of the second half and while a TD there would have been significant it was probably the right call to take the points. Scoring on second- or third-down would certainly have worked better. The bend-don’t-break defensive philosophy of yielding field goals rather than touchdowns would work much better in conjunction with an offense that could score its own TDs.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
