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

The Ugly
The Cowboys will need to clean up their start to games. For the third time this season, turnovers and lack of offensive rhythm derailed their first half.

If they want to have success through the remaining eight games, they will need to come ready to play the game. The tougher teams left on the schedule will be able to take advantage of the many mistakes Dallas made early in the game.

The game started real ugly for the Cowboys. The Giants kicked off with a short kick that landed near the sideline around the twelve yard line. Kick returner Tony Pollard touched the ball and then tried to induce a kick out-of-bounds penalty by stepping out-of-bounds and then re-touching the ball.

What could have been a brilliant play by Pollard was negated because he had already touched the ball. The result was Dallas started their first offensive series from the twelve yard line.

On the first Dallas offensive play of the game, Dak Prescott dropped back, faked the handoff to Elliott and tried to hit wide receiver Michael Gallup on a slant. Giants safety Antoine Bethea, who was standing very clearly in the line between Prescott and Gallup, interrupted what looked like a great play-action fake for a first down.

Bethea made the easy interception and the Giants started their first offensive series from the Dallas eight yard. The Cowboys turnover was a role reversal from the Eagles game two weeks ago. Fortunately for Prescott and the offense, the defense forced a three and out which netted the G-Men only a field goal.

After missing a field goal on their third offensive possession, Dallas was driving for a go ahead touchdown on their fourth possession. Wide receiver Randall Cobb made a catch on third down that would have netted a first down. A helmet on the tackle caused the ball to pop out for the second Cowboys turnover of the game.

Two turnovers, a missed field goal and a few penalties were enough to cast some first half doubt in a game the Cowboys would win by a large margin. While Dallas came together for the win, the team will need to move on quickly as the Vikings are coming to Arlington for a Sunday Night prime time showdown next week.