The Cowboys found a way to win for the first time this year in a nail-biter against the Giants. Many are understandably disappointed that it took overtime to beat this team, but the Cowboys had several encouraging facets of the game. With that in mind, let’s hand out some grades from this one.
Quarterback
At the start of the fourth quarter, Dak Prescott would have received a poor grade. Not quite an F, but borderline passing for the passer. He had been erratic for much of the first half, and an ill-advised throw got picked off to start the third quarter.
But man, did he turn it on in the fourth quarter and overtime. Prescott completed 16 of his 21 passes to finish the game out, including the clutch touchdown to George Pickens and the scramble to set up the game-winning field goal for Brandon Aubrey. You can’t ignore his early struggles, but Prescott played inspired ball when it mattered most.
Grade: A-
Running backs
Remember when we were concerned about the run game? That was funny. Javonte Williams picked up where he left off in Week 1, running low to the ground and bowling over defenders. He finished the night with 97 rushing yards on 18 carries and averaged 4.9 yards after contact per attempt.
Miles Sanders proved to be a good complement, too. His 15 yards on five carries won’t blow anyone away, but he added seven rushing yards over expected and scored a touchdown. It’s still fair to wonder what Jaydon Blue could add to this rotation, but it’s hard to argue with the rushing results through two games.
Grade: A
Pass catchers
This game offered a glimpse into just how potent this passing attack can become. CeeDee Lamb finished with 112 yards on nine catches, Jake Ferguson added 78 yards on as many catches, and George Pickens racked up over 100 yards when including pass interference penalties.
And yet, does it all feel a little underwhelming? The numbers all look good, but the passing game was really slow to start out this one. Part of that is on Prescott, but the pass catchers also had four drops in this one. Overall this bunch probably could’ve added a bit more.
Grade: B+
Offensive line
This was not the best game for the offensive line. The run game put up numbers, but there were several plays where they got beat bad by the Giants. In fact, the Cowboys were stuffed on 21.4% of their run plays, fifth-highest in Week 2, pending Monday Night Football.
Pass protection was worse, though. Prescott was pressured on 36.8% of his dropbacks and the Giants led the league in total pressures this week. Tyler Smith, fresh off becoming the highest paid guard in the NFL, was the only starter to not give up multiple pressures. Three of them gave up 4+ pressures. Hardly ideal.
Grade: D
Pass rush
Jerry Jones watched this game and decided to call up Jadeveon Clowney’s agent – something he never does, as we’ve been told – and work out a deal during the game. That should tell you all you need to know about the pass rush.
Honestly, it wasn’t abysmal. Russell Wilson was pressured on 33.3% of his dropbacks and sacked three times, but he also had way too much time to throw on most plays. Kenny Clark led the team with five pressures, and rookie Donovan Ezeiruaku was the only other defender to record multiple pressures. The Cowboys certainly have higher aspirations than that.
Grade: C+
Run defense
Maybe it’s just that the Giants didn’t feel the need to run much with how much Wilson was cooking the secondary, but the Dallas run defense once again looked solid. Cam Skattebo had several explosive runs, but the Giants still only finished with 84 total yards on 21 carries.
That’s even better when you consider that 15 of those yards came on scrambles from Wilson, which isn’t really an indictment of the run defense but more so the discipline of the coverage unit. Speaking of…
Grade: B-
Pass coverage
Yeah, so this was bad. The Matt Eberflus defense is fundamentally concerned with keeping the offense in front of them and not allowing any big plays. Despite that, Giants receivers routinely got behind the defensive backs, and Wilson had seven completions that went 20+ yards past the line of scrimmage.
It wasn’t just one player, either. Trevon Diggs, Kaiir Elam, and even Malik Hooker all got burned on those deep shots. It wasn’t just the deep shots, either, as Wilson completed 73.2% of his passes. The only thing that saves them from a full on F is the clutch interception from Donovan Wilson in overtime.
Grade: D-
Special teams
On one hand, Brandon Aubrey. Not much more needs to be said about the best kicker in the NFL, but the fact that the Cowboys had zero hesitation in trotting him out for a 64-yard field goal says it all. Aubrey will become the highest paid kicker in the league, and he’ll still be underpaid.
On the other hand, the Cowboys had 12 total penalties in this game and half of them came from the special teams unit. It felt like every kick return had a flag alongside it, and the poor starting field position certainly had an impact on the poor offensive showing in the first three quarters.
Grade: B
Coaching
Let’s start with the bad. Whatever plans Eberflus had to contain this offense didn’t work, flat out. Eberflus never seemed to come up with answers throughout the game, either. The sloppy play on special teams also reflects poorly on Nick Sorensen’s coaching of that unit.
Offense, though, looked good again. Brian Schottenheimer called some really good plays, and he was aggressive throughout the game. Of course, he also gets some blame for not having his team ready to beat the Giants until the fourth quarter, so it’s a bit of a mixed bag here.
Grade: B-
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