Photo by Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images The Cowboys officially eliminated New York from playoff contention on Thanksgiving Day. Thanksgiving Day was a fun one for the Dallas Cowboys as they picked up their second win in five overall days and in the process got rid of a lot of bad statistics that were hovering around them. Thursday marked the first win at home of the season, and also had a running back run for a touchdown at AT&T Stadium for the first time this season. From a rushing perspective, Rico Dowdle, the touchdown scorer, even had over 100 yards rushing, the first time since Week 3 of last season that a Cowboys rusher accomplished that. Getting rid of all that funk is a euphoric feeling which is why this weekend sets so nicely up to be a Cowboys fan. Times are a bit more tough on the other side of the game though, as the New York Giants have lost seven straight games. The G-Men have lost eight consecutive games against the Cowboys specifically, though. To make matters worse, by defeating them on Thanksgiving the Cowboys officially made the Giants the first team to be eliminated from playoff contention this season. ESPN The Giants would hold the number one overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft if the season ended today so there is at least some solace in their suffering. But it will never, ever get old to put a division rival through the ringer which is what the Cowboys have been doing to the Giants a lot as of late.

Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images The Dallas Cowboys won on Thanksgiving Day and it was so much fun Thanksgiving traditions can come from anywhere. They can start at any time and feel as important the very first time as they do years later. For the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving, they sparked their second winning streak of the 2024 season by beating the New York Giants 27-20. In the spirit of the holiday season, the headline here doesn’t need to be that the Cowboys won both games against the Giants this year, now the clear worst team in the NFC East, by a combined 12 points. They are playing mostly watchable football for the first time in a long time, having some fun while doing so, and getting players back healthy to make a difference. They finally have a home win to improve their AT&T Stadium record to 1-5 this season, with home games remaining against the Bengals, Buccaneers, and Commanders. It wouldn’t be a 2024 Cowboys home game without trailing early at some point, but unlike in so many other games this season the Cowboys were able to respond, get back to playing complementary football, and win the turnover battle and the game. The Cowboys have now won two straight to snap a previous five-game losing streak and improved their record to 5-7. It is amazing how simply winning games in this league can turn narratives on their head, even when the wins and losses are determined by mere inches. Dallas has gone from a team destined to have one of the most pitiful lost seasons of all time to one tied in the win column with Indianapolis, San Francisco, Tampa Bay, and the L.A. Rams. The outlooks for all of these teams are much better than where the Cowboys appeared to be heading before finding their footing and winning two games in four days. This is a team that hasn’t showed signs of quitting despite staring many reasons for doing so in the face. While these wins have dropped their draft position outside of the top ten, the Giants seventh straight loss keeps them in position for the number one overall pick. Certainly this adds the context to not get carried away with too much talk of the Cowboys making a miraculous run to the playoffs, but winning in the Thanksgiving throwback uniforms is always a welcome sight. This was the fourth time the Cowboys and Giants have met on Turkey Day, with the Cowboys now 4-0 and securing a sweep of their rivals from New Jersey for the fourth straight season and seventh in the last eight. Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images With a longer break now before the Cowboys look to add to their two-game win streak and start a home one against the Bengals, here is how the team served up dessert to go with every fan’s Thanksgiving feast on Thursday afternoon. It was once again a makeshift offensive line for the Cowboys as Zack Martin missed his second straight game. In what should have been a good evaluation game for Tyler Guyton, it was mostly Chuma Edoga at left tackle after Guyton got hurt, alongside Tyler Smith who did return after missing the Commanders game. The Cowboys were able to mitigate this again by getting the ball out of Cooper Rush’s hands, as well as relying on Rico Dowdle to serve as his own blocker when needed and run through defenders for positive yards. Of Rush’s 21 completions, only two were completed longer than ten yards. The Cowboys were just 3-12 on third downs, with two of these conversions coming on the game’s opening drive. Jumping out to a touchdown lead against a Giants team starting journeyman Drew Lock at QB would have been ideal, but another red zone third-down attempt didn’t give the Cowboys much of a chance at finding paydirt. With Brandin Cooks playing in his first game since the week four win at the Giants, also played on a Thursday night, the Cowboys looked to get him involved early out wide. This allowed CeeDee Lamb to get more opportunities out of the slot which is where Mike McCarthy can scheme the run-after-the-catch plays needed for this Cowboys offense to find any explosiveness. With Cooks on the outside and Lamb inside on a third and five, Cooks could not win at the catch point on a drive route and brought up a fourth down that led to Brandon Aubrey’s first of two field goals. Cooks and Lamb playing on the same side of the formation was a heavy focus for the Cowboys in this game, looking to find any way to get their receivers more free releases and create easy throws underneath for Rush. This entire concept is still a work in progress for this offense though. The second-down play before the incompletion in the red zone was a slot fade to Kavontae Turpin. We mentioned last week how Turpin should have a real chance to get more involved with the offense for the rest of this season, but a low percentage throw like this one is not a good way to do so. In his first game back from injury, Cooks continued to have some of the same struggles from earlier in the year when it came to keeping defenders away from the catch point and separating vertically on routes. Returning for just his third home game of the season after only playing in early season runaway games against the Saints and Ravens, it was a great sight for tired turkey-feasting eyes to see Cooks score on a crossing route in the third quarter to extend the Dallas lead to ten. This pushed the lead to double-digits which went a long way with Lock and the Giants offense struggling to sustain drives and handle a Cowboys pass rush that again had their way whenever given the chance to play from ahead. Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images If the playoffs are still

Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images The Dallas Cowboys won on Thanksgiving and we have 10 important thoughts about what happened The Dallas Cowboys won another football game. It once again came against an NFC East team, as the Cowboys defeated the New York Giants 27-20 on Thursday to keep their season interesting. It was a nice treat for a season that has lacked a lot of substance. Here are 10 thoughts on the Cowboys’ Thanksgiving win over the Giants. 1. RICO’S BEST DAY We were told that the Cowboys would make Rico Dowdle the workhorse back for this offense, and it turns out, they weren’t lying. This was the second straight game he’s dominated the work in the backfield and put up another good showing. Dowdle’s 22 carries for 112 yards are both career highs for him. He also scored his first rushing touchdown of the season, which feels crazy. Dowdle ran with energy and displayed a lot of shiftiness giving the Cowboys running game their first sign of life this season. Better late than never. 2. TAKING AWAY THE RUN Not only did the Cowboys establish the run on offense, but they did a nice job stopping the Giants running backs. Rookie Tyrone Tracy Jr. only had 32 yards on nine carries (3.6 ypc) and veteran Devin Singletary had 23 yards on seven carries (3.3 ypc). Besides letting quarterback Drew Lock get loose a couple of times, the Cowboys defense was fantastic against the run. There weren’t many rushing lanes to be found and the defense did a good job wrapping up. 3. FEASTING ON LOCK The run defense was good, but so was the Cowboys pass rush. All day they were in Lock’s face causing problems. On the day, the Cowboys’ defense finished with six total sacks with Micah Parsons leading the way with two. Several players got in on the action including Carl Lawson, Osa Odighizuwa, Donovan Wilson, and Eric Kendricks who also stripped the ball away on his sack. Even Mazi Smith was credited with half a sack. You know things are going well when Mazi is getting in on the action. 4. WELCOME BACK, BRANDIN After missing the last seven games dealing with an infection in his knee following arthroscopic surgery, Brandin Cooks was back in action on Thursday. He only caught three passes for 16 yards, but a couple of those catches were big. He caught a touchdown pass on the Cowboys’ opening drive in the second half to extend their lead to 20-10. And then he caught a key pass late in the game when the Cowboys courageously aired it out on third down to get a first down and ice the game. It wasn’t much, but it was nice to have the veteran receiver back on the field. 5. ANOTHER THANKSGIVING PICK-SIX One player who didn’t have a sack was DeMarvion Overshown, but he was all over the place. The Cowboys young linebacker finished the game with nine tackles, a fumble recovery, and an interception returned for a touchdown when he batted a pass to himself and scampered 23 yards for the score. It was a year ago on Thanksgiving when DaRon Bland broke the NFL record with his fifth pick-six of the year, so it was nice to see the team get another with their first defensive score of the year. 6. WINNING THE TURNOVER BATTLE, AGAIN With Kendricks’ sack/fumble and Overshown’s pick-six, the Cowboys forced two turnovers in this game. It’s nice to see them take the ball away, but it’s even more satisfying when they don’t turn the ball over on offense. The Cowboys finished the game with a plus two turnover margin for the second straight game. Cooper Rush came close to fumbling the ball into the endzone, but fortunately, his knee was ruled down and gave the Cowboys new life. It’s a lot easier to win games when they can finish ahead in the turnover battle. 7. AN ANNOYING PENALTY Parsons came so close to blocking a punt in the second quarter but instead was called for running into the kicker. The penalty didn’t give the Giants a new set of downs, but it did allow them to re-do the punt after the first one traveled into the end zone for a touchback. The second punt was much better rolling down at the one-yard-line. The Cowboys essentially wasted a play using a quarterback sneak just to get a little breathing room. The drive was a quick three-and-out and gave the Giants great field position that they converted into three points, making it a 13-10 game. 8. SILENCED THE LAMB Entering the week, CeeDee Lamb had 77 receptions on the year, the most in the NFL. Unfortunately, his place a the top spot is in jeopardy as he only had two catches on Thursday, his lowest total since the season opener of the 2022 season. It was a tough day for the Cowboys star receiver as he had three drops and exited the game in what looked like a re-aggravation of a shoulder injury he already had. 9. TOTAL OWNAGE With this win, the Cowboys have swept the Giants on the year. This is the fourth-straight season that Dallas has swept New York, and now makes 15/16 wins for the Cowboys when these teams face off. This series has been completely one-sided over the last eight seasons as the Cowboys continue their dominance over those Jersey boys in blue. 10. STILL IN THE HUNT Don’t look now folks, but the Cowboys have themselves a winning streak. They currently sit with a 5-7 record, which, if we’re being honest, still looks pretty bad. But, with seven teams in the conference making the playoffs each year, they are not completely out of striking distance. The Washington Commanders (7-5) currently hold the seventh and final spot, but they have lost three straight games and are heading in the wrong direction. Arizona (6-5), Los Angeles (5-6), San Francisco (5-6), and Tampa

Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images The latest Dallas Cowboys’ headlines after defeating the New York Giants on Thanksgiving. Cowboys torment Drew Lock, beat Giants for first home win of the season – Jason Owens, Yahoo! Sports The Cowboys defense gave Giants’ QB Drew Lock a very hard time on Thursday. The Cowboys sacked Lock six times. They forced one interception and a forced fumble. Lock finished the day completing 21 of 32 passes for 178 yards with no passing touchdowns and the pick-6. On offense, the Cowboys controlled the game on the ground and got 112 yards and a touchdown from Dowdle. Rush completed 21 of 36 passes for 195 yards with a touchdown and no turnovers. The win does little to improve the Cowboys’ long-shot hope of making the playoffs as they play the stretch run without injured starting quarterback Dak Prescott. But it was certainly better than the alternative, which would have been another embarrassing loss at home on Thanksgiving stage. The Giants’ season goes from bad to worse with the loss. Lock is New York’s third quarterback to start this season after the benching and release of Daniel Jones. Tommy DeVito started last week in a blowout loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Dallas Cowboys vs. New York Giants: Thanksgiving Player of the Game – Ali Jawad, Sports Illustrated Rico Dowdle finally broke the 100-yard rushing mark on Thanksgiving. Before today’s Week 13 Thanksgiving matchup, the Dallas Cowboys had not had a 100-yard rusher since November 13, 2022 when running back Tony Pollard rushed for 115 yards against the Green Bay Packers. All of that changed today thanks to running back Rico Dowdle, who earned today’s Thanksgiving Player of the Game after a 100-yard rushing performance that helped the Cowboys defeat the New York Giants 27-20. The veteran running back had 22 carries for 112 yards, scoring his first touchdown of the season and averaging 5.1 yards per carry, helping Dallas improve to 3-0 all-time against the Giants on Thanksgiving. DeMarvion Overshown explains emotional pick-six in Thanksgiving win over Giants – Patrik Walker, DallasCowboys.com DeMarvion Overshown has been a shining star in an otherwise dim season and his pick-six on Thursday was a game-changing play that proved just that. “I was just playing football and it’s like, man, I knew a play was coming and I’ve been told all week that play is coming,” Overshown explained. “I didn’t know when it was coming, but it was coming, and I was just playing football. I [saw] the ball, tipped it, and I was just praying the whole time that it stayed up. I was like, ‘Man, please let my speed, for once, be fast enough to get to this ball. “Everywhere else is cool, but let me get to this ball. So the emotions? I’m just overjoyed right now. It’s a good win and I’m proud of our team.” Simply put, Overshown is a force of nature. “I told y’all from the beginning he was gonna be a dude,” said multi-time All-Pro linebacker Micah Parsons. “From his rookie year, before the injury, I said, ‘That will be an All-Pro, Pro Bowl type of player. I’m just happy that he’s finally showing it. I saw it from the beginning.” And then, wearing a huge smile, Parsons gave Overshown another massive compliment. “He reminds me of somebody,” he said of the young linebacker, hinting at the obvious. “Now, he ain’t No. 11 yet, but that’s Agent 0, and I think he has his own creative identity, and that’s what I like. He’s not trying to be like me. He’s his own special specimen. He’s gonna be felt on every play. “He’s a wild cat out there on the field. I love playing next to him.” 5 takeaways from Cowboys-Giants: Dallas finally gets it cooking at AT&T for first home win – Calvin Watkins, Dallas Morning News A few of the takeaways from the Cowboys win over the New York Giants. Home in the third quarter The Cowboys had won 16 consecutive home games before the losing streak, but some good things happened Thursday. Rico Dowdle scored his first rushing touchdown of the season, Brandin Cooks caught a receiving touchdown and the Cowboys outscored someone at home in the third quarter. Dallas won the third quarter for just the third time this season. The home crowd, quiet for the early stages of the game, erupted with boos when coach Mike McCarthy called for a run play on a third and long, but when country singer Jelly Roll took the stage at halftime the crow got loud and continued making noise for in the third quarter on some key plays. For a change, the Cowboys’ took care of business in the third quarter with a 14-0 scoring advantage. Lamb’s drops and health Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb had three drops and Giants receiver Malik Nabors had one. Lamb’s three drops were in the first half, and near the end of the first 30 minutes he was doing pushups on the sideline as punishment. Lamb had four dropped passes coming into the game and six in 2023. Lamb left the game briefly with a right shoulder issue. He entered the game with a sprained AC joint in his right shoulder and it appeared he took a hit to the shoulder late in the third quarter as he was getting blocked. Lamb said this is the most nicked-up he’s been during his career and it’s clear the shoulder is bothering him. Lamb was leading the NFL in catches despite the health issues. He finished with two catches for 39 yards on Thursday. Using Turpin is working KaVontae Turpin is the fastest man for the Cowboys. Some would say cornerback Josh Butler can match him. But Turpin needs to be used more on offense. On Thursday, Turpin caught four passes for 53 yards in the victory. The Cowboys even tried an end-around play with Turpin that gained 2 yards. But if the Cowboys want

Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images Thursday saw a lot of good things from the Dallas Cowboys This year, the Cowboys can be thankful for the finite nature of losing streaks. Just a few days ago, they pulled off a chaotic win over the Commanders on the road to snap a five-game losing streak. Then, on a short week to play their classic Thanksgiving game, the Cowboys snapped their home losing streak, beating the Giants 27-20 for their first win at AT&T Stadium since December 30 of last year. They did so with a healthy helping of Rico Dowdle, along with some inspired defensive play. The Cowboys got the ball to start the game and started moving the ball quickly. Two big pass plays to KaVontae Turpin and CeeDee Lamb helped flip the field, but an incomplete pass on third down brought up a field goal, which Brandon Aubrey made with ease. Then it was the Giants’ turn, and a chance for Drew Lock to make his first start of the year after Tommy DeVito was injured in his first start of the year this past week. New York got off to a hot start, successfully converting a fourth-and-short before Lock ripped off a huge 29-yard scramble that was initially ruled a touchdown. Replay confirmed he had stepped out just one yard short, but the Giants ran in for the score on the next play to go up 7-3. The Cowboys took the field again looking to respond, but a face mask penalty on the offense backed them up to second and 21. Cooper Rush handed it off to Dowdle on a draw, and the running back surged forward through several broken tackles to rack up 22 yards and the first down. He followed it up with a 13-yard run that lit the offense on fire. Before long, Dallas was in field goal range again, and they drilled a field goal after the first of several drops from CeeDee Lamb came on third down. Following the field goal, Aubrey kicked off the ball and Dallas forced a fumble on the return. New York managed to recover it, but then turned it over anyway on the first play of the drive in spectacular fashion: WHAT A PLAY BY OVERSHOWN. : #NYGvsDAL on FOX : Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/o9hC8Zduzw — NFL (@NFL) November 28, 2024 DeMarvion Overshown batted a pass, caught the ball and ran it in for a touchdown. It got the Dallas defense fired up, and they played lights out for the rest of the first half. The Giants would net just nine yards on their next four drives, getting a field goal in there solely because of a punt return that started the drive off at the Dallas 29. New York finally got the ball moving in the two-minute drill right before halftime, but they didn’t score any points and went into the break trailing 13-10. The Giants got the ball to start the third quarter, but they turned it over after just three plays. Eric Kendricks punched the ball out when Lock tried to scramble past him, and Carl Lawson fell on it. The Cowboys offense took over just 38 yards away from points, and a screen pass to Turpin on third down set them up in goal-to-go. On second and goal, Rush rolled out on a play action bootleg before turning upfield to run in for the score. As he went down short of the endzone, the ball came out and was recovered by a defender in the endzone. However, replay showed that Rush was down by contact prior to the fumble, giving them the ball back. On the next play, Rush hit Brandin Cooks – in his first game back from injury since Week 4 – for a touchdown to go up 20-10. The Dallas defense forced a three-and-out on the next drive, giving the ball back to their offense again. After moving the chains a couple of times, Rush hit Jalen Tolbert on a deep shot down the sideline that picked up 36 yards and flipped the field. A few plays later, Dowdle powered in for a touchdown to put Dallas up 27-10. The Giants went on to score 10 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, but the Cowboys had already transitioned into a run-heavy approach to grind out the clock. By the time New York cut it down to a one-score game, there were just over two minutes left and Dallas was able to move the chains and take a knee to celebrate the win. Dowdle had another big game, breaking triple digits for the first time this year with 112 rushing yards on 22 carries. He had four different runs of 10+ yards and broke multiple tackles throughout the game, stabilizing the offense even as Lamb missed the last few drives of the game with an apparent injury. The defense took another big step forward despite missing Trevon Diggs for the second straight game. Josh Butler, who had a career game last week, left early with a scary looking knee injury, but Lock still had very few places to go with the football. He was sacked six times and turned it over twice, while the Giants running backs averaged just 3.5 yards per carry. This now moves the Cowboys up to 5-7 on the year and gives them their first winning streak since the beginning of October, when they followed up a win over the Giants by beating the Steelers. Their next game will come at home on Monday Night Football against the currently 4-7 Bengals before traveling to face the 3-8 Panthers, which opens up the conversation of Dallas perhaps going on a run despite seemingly being out of the hunt entirely just a few weeks ago. It’s still too early to tell if the momentum will continue, but for the first time in a very, very long time, the vibes in Dallas are actually good again.

Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images DeMarcus Lawrence could be back for the next Dallas Cowboys game. The Dallas Cowboys have won two games in a row, and while they are “only” 5-7 through Thanksgiving, they are technically alive in the NFC playoff picture. Determining how “alive” the Cowboys are is clearly a matter of personal opinion, but in an objective sense the Cowboys have mathematical life left with regards to making their playoffs. If they continue to win games then obviously all things become more possible. Up next for Dallas, after a long rest following their Thanksgiving win, will be a Monday night game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Speaking after the team’s win over the New York Giants, Cowboys pass rusher Micah Parsons revealed that DeMarcus Lawrence may be back for it. Cowboys DE Micah Parsons said that the defense might be getting DE DeMarcus Lawrence back before the team’s next game against the Bengals. He’s been out since week four with a foot injury. — Nick Harris (@NickHarrisFWST) November 29, 2024 The last game that Lawrence appeared in was the first Dallas matchup against the Giants all the way back in Week 4. In the time since, the Cowboys have obviously struggled, but as of late the defense has found itself a bit and the play of DeMarvion Overshown is a clear reason for that, plus the return of Parsons from his injury. Having a group of Parsons, Overshown and DeMarcus Lawrence manning the front seven could go a long way towards pulling off the incredibly long shot of making the playoffs. At the very least it could provide a swan song of sorts for Lawrence as it is very possible that this is his last season with the team. We will see if he does, in fact, wind up returning for Cincinnati.