It all felt bad when watching the Dallas Cowboys lose to the New York Giants in primetime in Week 1 of the 2026 NFL season. But time has allowed us to process our emotions and properly assess the matchup in its entirety. And unbeknownst to some, there were positives in this losing effort.
While larger questions are surely being asked about the Cowboys' offense and specifically the poor play of Dak Prescott, we'd be doing you all a disservice if we didn't highlight the fact that offensive tackles Tyler Guyton and Terence Steele stood tall against a tough Giants front.
Early in the offseason, Guyton was competing with Nate Thomas for a starting job, and more recently, Steele had a fire lit under him with the additions of Broderick Jones and Wanya Morris. But Dallas' bookends didn't look like they needed replacing on Sunday; they looked like real cornerstones.
Cowboys got big performances from Tyler Guyton and Terence Steele vs. Giants
The Cowboys' run game never took off against the Giants because they got behind the 8-Ball and trailed the whole contest, as they had just 16 designed runs compared to 36 dropbacks. And while the composite stats don't look great, both Guyton and Steele were moving bodies to clear lanes.
According to Pro Football Focus, Guyton had the highest run-blocking grade on the Cowboys at 84.8, which was also the third-highest mark in the league in Week 1 among tackles. Steele also pitched in a respectable 62.7 mark, even though Dallas didn't run the ball toward his side too often on Sunday.
In terms of pass protection, the number of pressures that the two gave up varies by the outlet that puts out the advanced stats. But having watched the film myself, I can tell you that Guyton got flat-out beat just one time in the contest, and Steele was beat twice. The rest were subjective or not on them.
New York has a monstrous defensive front, with Brian Burns, Abdul Carter, Kayvon Thibodeaux, and even Arvell Reese getting in on the action. And Carter used his speed to dance around both Guyton and Steele for three of his pressures, none of which were particularly pretty reps for the Cowboys.
But according to NFL Next Gen Stats, Guyton completely shut out Burns for the first time in his career. On 20 pass-rush snaps against Guyton, Burns didn't even record a pressure. If that's not progress, then I don't know what is.
As far as Steele's pressures were concerned, again, he got flat-out beat twice by Carter. To paint a broader picture of his play, though, a few snaps stick out. On one in the first half, he knocked his defender into the ground, but into the legs of Tyler Booker, which allowed the Giants to pressure Dak.
On another, he pancaked the defender, but he just... stopped playing after that. He looked upfield to see where Prescott had thrown the ball; only he was still in the pocket looking for a receiver downfield, and Carter ended up technically pressuring Prescott on that as well.
There was another rep where Prescott simply held onto the ball too long, and he uncharacteristically drifted back deep in the pocket. At a certain point, the angles just aren't favorable to the offensive tackle when a quarterback is too deep, so we'll forgive both Guyton and Steele for a "pressure" there.
When Prescott threw his ill-fated interception, again, technically, Thibodeaux was in his face, and Steele was tasked with blocking him. But that pressure didn't occur until Prescott left the pocket, so be advised when looking at the composite stats about how many pressures these two gave up.
Mostly, Steele countered Carter's immense speed with strength and by taking great angles. All told, Prescott had roughly 2.74 seconds to throw against the Giants, which is about league average. Against a good front, and without Tyler Smith to help out, that's a great showing for Dallas' OTs.
Where Tyler Guyton and Terence Steele can improve for Cowboys
Again, both, but particularly Steele, struggled with speed at times in the matchup. And Steele just needs to finish plays; several times, he won the initial battle with his hands or got his defender to the ground but got outworked on the second effort. That is an easy fix.
Guyton, honestly, got beat just once, which happens in an NFL game. And luckily, with a veteran quarterback, not all of these two's miscues will be amplified and turn into sacks or big hits. But there is no rest for the weary, as a retooled Washington Commanders front comes to town on Sunday.
And after that, it'll be the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans, both of whom have dominant defensive fronts as well. Outside of Steele needing to finish plays, the recipe for him and Guyton is more of the same.
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