Cowboys have fun, Giants are done: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

A few observations from the Dallas Cowboys win over the New York Giants. There was some good, some bad and some downright ugly play.

The Dallas Cowboys won their fifth game of the year on Monday night when they beat the New York Giants 37-18. In a disturbing trend, the Cowboys started the game real ugly but were able to finish the fight for the victory.

The Week Nine contest against the Giants was like most football games with plays you loved and plays you would love to forget. Below we’ll breakdown the good, the bad, and the downright ugly of the Cowboys’ fifth win of the season.

The Good
The Cowboys dug themselves a hole in the first half. At the two-minute warning, the ‘Boys were trailing 12-3. Three plays later, quarterback Dak Prescott targeted tight end Blake Jarwin eight yards downfield for a reception that Jarwin would take to the house for a 42 yard touchdown.

On the ensuing Giants possession, the defense came up big on first and second down forcing two incompletions. On third down, Giants quarterback Daniel Jones went for a big gain that was easily intercepted by Dallas safety Xavier Woods and returned to the Giants 39 yard line.

Dallas would gain five yards on their next three plays but that was enough for kicker Brett Maher to try a 52 yard field. On the last play of the first half, Maher connected atoning for an earlier miss from 54 yards to put the Cowboys in front 13-12 at the half.

In games past, two turnovers and a missed field goal would have been enough to deflate the Cowboys. Against the Giants, the team was able to rally for a half time lead, which they did not deserve.

At the start of the third quarter, the Giants received the kick-off and returned it for 50 yards setting up shop near mid-field. A here we go again feeling descended on Cowboys Nation.

This time, the Cowboys defense stepped up. The Giants were able to convert one first down but linebacker Jaylon Smith and defensive end Robert Quinn split a third down sack forcing a punt.

From that point on, the momentum swung towards the Cowboys. Prescott and his crew scored two touchdowns and the defense stripped sacked Jones resulting in a 63 yard return for a touchdown by corner Jourdan Lewis.

The Cowboys showed resilience that they will need as the games get tougher down the stretch. Hopefully the team will not dig any unnecessary holes but they will know if they do, they will be able to fight their way back into the game.

There were several honorable mentions for the Good play of the game. The first goes to the offensive line and running back Ezekiel Elliott who seemed to be five yards downfield on each carry before any contact was made. For the game, Zeke had 23 carries for 139 yards.

The second honorable mention goes to the defensive line who had five linemen combine for 4.5 sacks to go along with five tackles for a loss. The third honorable mention goes to the linebackers for limiting Giants running back Saquon Barkley to 28 yards on 14 carries.