The New York Giants knew they had to double down on their inspiring performance against the New Orleans Saints last Sunday if they wanted to leave AT&T Stadium with an upset victory against a thriving Dallas Cowboys team.
What they didn’t expect was for the game to completely unravel before their eyes in a handful of plays that saw their most valuable offensive players go down with injuries.
Along with losing 44-20 in brutal fashion in the late game window Sunday, the Giants suffered devastating blows to their depth chart, as three offensive starters--quarterback Daniel Jones, running back Saquon Barkley, and receiver Kenny Golladay--left the game with injuries.
The Giants offense, led by backup quarterback Mike Glennon, was able to keep its composure, move the ball downfield a few times, and score throughout the second half. Still, it was no match for the fiery Cowboys offense propelled by incredible performances from quarterback Dak Prescott and running back Ezekiel Elliott.
Here’s a few other notes and stats from the Giants Week 5 loss to Dallas:
1. On the eve of the anniversary of his season-ending ankle injury suffered in Week 5 of 2020 against the Giants, Prescott showed that the fog from that fateful day had lifted.
Prescott completed 22 of his 32 passes for 302 yards and three touchdowns, becoming the first opposing quarterback to throw that many touchdowns against the Giants since Ben Roethlisberger on Sept. 14th, 2020.
Elliott was on the receiving end of one of those scores, adding the 4-yard reception to his performance of 110 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown. But despite the efficient work of his quarterback and offense unit, Elliott saw room for improvement amid turnover woes early in the game.
“Yeah, we didn’t play that well. We had some turnovers early. We turned the ball over in the red zone. That can’t happen at all," he said. "We got the job done, but we’ve got to focus on playing a complete game.”
2. While it’s easy to point to the Giants’ offensive injuries as a significant cause for their downfall, it’s negligent to ignore the disappointing performance by their defense. The Cowboys gained a total of 515 yards, including 201 on the ground, as the Giants defense couldn’t get Prescott and company off the field on third down (8 of 14).
While the Giants did force a pair of turnovers, that total yardage surrendered became tied for the ninth-highest total allowed by a Giants defense in their history. Like every poor performance, head coach Joe Judge attributes this one to poor execution.
“Obviously, we have to play better. We have to coach better. We have to execute better. That’s across the board. A lot of things tie into that," he said after the game.
"We’ll look at the tape, make the adjustments, make the corrections. There’s a lot of things we have to do right now going forward. It’s definitely a phase that has to be a weapon for us.”
3. Giants backup quarterback Mike Glennon entered the game in the final three minutes of the second quarter after Jones was carted off with what was later diagnosed as a concussion. It was Glennon's first regular-season game since he started the final five games of 2020 for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
His performance wasn’t pretty by any stretch, but the nine-year veteran did what he had to do, which was run the Giants offense. And he did so respectively to the tune of 16 passes for 196 yards and a touchdown despite two interceptions.
Speaking on Glennon from the “eyeball test," Judge appreciated how his backup prepared for the moment.
“Mike does a good job of preparing. I thought in terms of the eyeball test that him getting out there today, there was a lot of things he did well, a lot of positions he put us in with a chance to have success.
"Mike’s had a lot of experience. In terms of how he comes to work to prepare every day as if he’s going to take every snap, I thought that showed up on the field today in terms of how he performed.”
4. Running back, Devontae Booker also stepped up for the Giants in the absence of Barkley. Booker rushed for a team-high 42 yards on 16 carries and converted two touchdowns.
The first came on a 4th-and-inches goal-line dive in the second quarter to tie the game 10-10. The second was a three-yard catch with 3:16 remaining to cut the deficit to 34-20 in the fourth quarter.
5. The Giants have now lost eight of their last nine outings with the Cowboys, and their fifth straight game in Dallas stemming back to 2016, the last season the Giants made the playoffs. They now sit at 1-4 at the bottom of the division.
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