3 huge Giants mistakes that helped the Cowboys win on Thanksgiving

The Dallas Cowboys were heavily favored coming into this matchup. At one point, they were favored by up to 10.5 points depending on the sportsbook.

To be fair, it made sense. The Cowboys were coming off of one of the most complete and dominating wins they’ve had in quite some time against the formerly 8-1 Minnesota Vikings. The Giants, on the other hand, suffered an embarrassing loss to the Detroit Lions that also saw them lose several key players to the injury report.

For the first two quarters of football, the Cowboys looked subpar, to say the least. Dak Prescott had some costly interceptions. The defense wasn’t getting to Daniel Jones nearly as much as they were against a much better quarterback in Kirk Cousins. And, by far the most continually frustrating part was the penalties. 

At one point in the broadcast, Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen even joked that it seemed like there was a penalty every four seconds and that the refs just wanted to get screen time.

Thankfully, after a lackluster first half, the Cowboys were able to do what they love to do — make halftime adjustments. This team has a knack for getting their act together in the third and fourth quarters.

At the end of the day, the Cowboys are up 8-3, which firmly plants them in second place in the NFC East and helps them inch closer to the Eagles who have looked more beatable lately than they did in the first part of the season.

Back-to-back touchdowns from Dalton Schultz and an impressive hurdle move from rookie TE Jake Ferguson helped put some oomph back into the Cowboys in the second half.

However, the Giants made a few costly mistakes that allowed Dallas to not only get back into things but run away with it altogether. Let’s look at three mistakes that allowed the Cowboys to win this game.

3 Giants mistakes that allowed the Cowboys to win on Thanksgiving

3. Barkley’s costly 4th down drop

After the half, the Cowboys got the ball and put together a 14-play, 75-yard drive that ate up seven minutes and 39 seconds of clock to put themselves back on top again.

With Dallas only up by one point and a chance for New York to get back on top, the Giants decided to go for it on 4th and 1 from their own 45. Going for it on fourth down wasn’t the issue. The problem was the execution of the play.

With just over four minutes to go in the third and the play clock winding down quickly, Daniel Jones took the shotgun snap and dropped back. He had Saquon Barkley open for what should have been an easy first down and potentially a go-ahead touchdown.

Instead, Jones underthrew a wide-open Barkley, which caused him to fall to the ground without the ball and give the Cowboys possession with great field position.

All the Giants QB had to do was lead his running back so that he could catch the ball on the run. With Barkley’s speed, the chances of him getting past linebacker Leighton Vander Esch were presumably high, which could have resulted in not only a continued possession but potentially a huge gain or even a touchdown.

To add insult to injury, on the very next Dallas drive, the Cowboys were able to successfully run what looked like the same exact play to Ezekiel Elliott.