Three takeaways from Giants' loss to Cowboys in Week 4
Daniel Jones of the Giants throws a pas in the second quarter against the Dallas Cowboys at MetLife Stadium on Thursday. Credit: Mike Stobe
1. Long story short, Daniel Jones needs to hit some deep passes.
Daniel Jones had his third consecutive solid game at quarterback for the Giants and received lavish praise from coach Brian Daboll.
But . . .
Jones and the Giants continue to miss on opportunities to connect on deep passes. There was one in Thursday night’s 20-15 loss to the Cowboys, a 39-yarder to Malik Nabers.
But Jones failed on several chances for long plays, including an underthrow to Darius Slayton on what was a free play after an offsides call on the Cowboys.
“I thought the quarterback played well,” Daboll said. “You’d like to have all completions. But certainly, it’s something we want to continue to work on.”
Said Jones, “Got to him ‘em. We’ll look at it and see where we can improve . . . I’ll look at where I can improve on that.”
2. The Giants might actually have an offensive line.
No one involved in the Giants’ running game had a good night, not when they totaled 26 yards on 24 rushes against what was the worst rushing defense in the NFL after three weeks.
But after years of trouble with pass protection, the Giants had to feel good about what they saw from their line in giving Jones time to throw.
Jones was sacked only once and for much of the night had time to actually stand in the pocket and survey his options – an unimaginable luxury for much of his NFL career.
“I thought the pass (protection) was really good,” Jones said. “The execution in the pass game was pretty good.”
The line of Andrew Thomas, Jon Runyan Jr., John Michael Schmitz Jr., Greg Van Roten and Jermaine Eluemunor – if it can stay healthy – looks like it might give Jones and the passing game a chance to function all season.
3. The Cowboys had 11 penalties to the Giants’ four, but Dallas still somehow came out ahead in the officiating department.
Questionable officiating impacted two key possessions in the first quarter.
The Giants took their opening drive to the Dallas 37 when tight end Daniel Bellinger was flagged for facemasking. The problem with the call was it was Bellinger’s facemask that was grabbed by Dallas’ DeMarvion Overshown, not the other way around.
“I got back to the sideline and (Daboll) asks what happened and I didn’t have an answer for him,” Bellinger said. “I was just like ‘Coach, I don’t know what to tell you.’ I had no idea until I got back in the locker room and saw the video and it was him grabbing my facemask.”
The second instance came later in the quarter when Dak Prescott hit Rico Dowdle on a 15-yard touchdown pass with multiple flags on the ground. Daboll said he was expecting a different call, presumably holding, but the officials were adjudicating an illegal lineman downfield on the pass.
After a consultation, they picked up the flags and counted the score that gave Dallas a 7-3 lead it would never relinquish.
