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

The Bad
The Cowboys survived the game despite committing ten accepted penalties for 104 yards. Smart disciplined teams find ways to not give three first downs by penalty or get behind the chains with drive killing penalties.

Poor Randall Cobb. He had yet another touchdown catch negated by an offensive penalty.

This time it was a hold on tackle Tyron Smith. The Cowboys eventually settled for a field goal costing them at least three if not four points. For the game Smith collected two holding penalties.

The defense was just as willing to give up free yards to the Giants. Newly acquired defensive end Michael Bennett had two penalties: one for offside and the other for lining up in the neutral zone. The offside penalty gifted one of the free first downs to New York.

The game was chippy throughout but it got out of hand when safety Xavier Woods legally pushed Giants quarterback Daniel Jones out-of-bounds with about three minutes left in the third quarter. Giants offensive lineman Will Hernandez came to his quarterback’s defense and instigated a melee that resulted in a taunting penalty on Woods.

The penalty to Woods was a game management officiating error. Hernandez clearly instigated the issue and should have been held accountable with a penalty.

From that point, the Cowboys defense lost their focus and became intent on settling a score with Hernandez rather than focusing on the task at hand. Defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence with two and linebacker Justin March also incurred personal fouls resulting in fifteen free yards. The good teams like the Vikings, Patriots, Eagles or Rams will exploit the lack of discipline and focus that the defense showed.

Penalties are indicative of coaching. While the coaches are not the ones committing the infractions, they set the standard that they players follow. The defense losing their cool must be addressed.