Giants’ Promising Start Fades Under Cowboy Pressure

Daniel Jones took five sacks as the Giants’ offense failed to make a case it should remain intact.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — One drive late in the fourth quarter Monday night against the Dallas Cowboys summed up the state of the Giants perfectly. Trailing by 7 with about seven minutes remaining, Daniel Jones threw two of his best passes of the night, but his receivers, Sterling Shepard and Kenny Golladay, dropped them.

The drive stalled at the Giants’ 22-yard line, and KaVontae Turpin’s punt return put the Cowboys in position for a 44-yard field goal, essentially sealing the contest, which finished as a 23-16 Dallas victory.

“You can’t let these things linger, just like you can’t let a win linger,” the first-year coach Brian Daboll said in a postgame news conference. “To ride the roller coaster, there’s going to be a lot of ups and downs throughout the year with any team.”

The optimism surrounding the Giants’ first 2-0 start since 2016 quickly turned to frustration as the game opened with a sloppy first half in which both teams missed field-goal attempts and went into halftime with the Cowboys ahead, 6-3. Dallas receiver CeeDee Lamb also dropped a potential touchdown pass.

It soon transformed into a back-and-forth affair, as both teams scored rushing touchdowns on successive drives. After the Giants opened the second half with Graham Gano kicking a 51-yard field goal to tie the score, the team’s next possession finished with running back Saquon Barkley sorting through a congested line of scrimmage to burst into the end zone for a 36-yard score to put the Giants up by 13-6 after the extra point.

The Cowboys responded with a nine-play, 75-yard drive that culminated with an Ezekiel Elliott 1-yard touchdown run.