EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey – Labeling a Week 4 game against a sub-.500 team as a “must win” may sound dramatic.
But when the Dallas Cowboys took a moment to think about the misery that would be a 1-3 flight home, the nickname didn’t seem so out of place.
It wasn’t just about the expectation of beating the New York Giants because, well, Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott hasn’t done anything but that for eight seasons and 13 straight games.
It was the noise that was getting louder after the New Orleans Saints and Baltimore Ravens comprehensively outplayed the Cowboys in their own building.
It was about the reality that in the age of social media, a young locker room does hearing outside noise even when team leaders would be happy if they didn’t.
So after head coach Mike McCarthy and Dak Prescott discussed in a recent conversation how naive it would be to expect to be able to ask players to quiet the noise, they realized it was best to implore their high-profile locker room not to. They will let themselves be carried away by emotions. wave of external narratives even when they are exposed to them.
They need to show more to fully earn the trust of the league. But their best chance to go down that path was to enter this 10-day period between games with a win.
So let’s allow Prescott his admission after the Cowboys beat the Giants, 20-15.
“One thousand percent was a must-win,” Prescott said on the way to the team bus. “Before a long weekend, it leaves us with a better taste in our mouths. But at the end of the day… it’s a process. We are not going to fall into complacency. We’re not going to get too excited about what we’ve done tonight. It’s about building and discovering what we can do better in all phases.
“But it’s a lot easier to do it with a win.”
Prescott’s connection to Lamb makes a difference
Prescott was one of the first to point out a time when it could have been better.
The Cowboys opened Thursday night’s game with a three-pointer, paving the way for the Giants to get on the board first with a field goal.
Prescott reviewed the film of the first drive on the sideline between drives and realized: Wide receiver CeeDee Lamb was a more viable option on the second play of the game than he had thought. Second-year cornerback Deonte Banks was in coverage, but the double coverage the $34 million-a-year receiver has encountered so often this season wasn’t as noticeable in that appearance.
“After that, I said, ‘I’m going to play fast, trust my feet, trust my eyes,’” Prescott said.
On the second series, the Cowboys did it.
Prescott not only gave Lamb a opportunity on the next series: he gave Lamb five, including on a running play. The star receiver caught all four of Prescott’s passes for 30 yards and made a jet sweep for another 10. Now the receiver who wanted to better control his emotions in Sunday’s loss to the Ravens was compromised, and the entire team could feel it when the attention Lamb’s opened. he picked up running back Rico Dowdle to score the first touchdown.
“I understand how vital it is to get the offense going and do what he does to be confident,” Prescott told Yahoo Sports. “When he’s in a good mood, everyone else is just because of how energetic he is.”
The Cowboys again held the Giants to a field goal on their second drive, foreshadowing what would be a night without an end zone for New York.
Prescott was glad to have a narrow lead, but still wanted to get Lamb involved even further – especially if the receiver could achieve single coverage.
Then, when the Giants sent a blitz on first-and-10 with 9:25 left in the first quarter, Prescott deflected the safety with his eyes as Lamb beat Banks off the line. He was careful not to send the ball too far in light of the safety, and instead relied on Lamb to create space. The result was a 55-yard touchdown.
“Able to give him the ball, he went and broke the tackle,” Prescott said. “It felt good to get him off to a quick start.”
The Cowboys didn’t get far behind the Giants as Dallas took penalty after penalty, ruining their rhythm and creating unfavorable third-and-long route situations at 3-for-10 on third-down conversions. Dallas accepted 89 penalty yards on 11 flags during a night in which several more flags were rejected or moved.
The offense moved the ball well enough to score regardless and the defense stopped the run well enough to limit the Giants to five field goals. But Prescott knew that by completing 22 of 27 passes for 221 yards, two touchdowns and a 125.5 passer rating, his team didn’t realize its full potential as the Cowboys scored just 20 points.
“If we take away some penalties and things like that, it’s a completely different result,” Prescott said. “We are a completely different world.”
At 2-2, what will it take for the Cowboys to capitalize?
The Cowboys’ locker room after the game had a sense of calm that didn’t reach celebratory levels.
Lamb said there was “more joy” after “a phase where everyone is a little tense” from a two-game losing streak.
But the relief was more palpable than the exuberance.
“Winning is important… but it wasn’t perfect,” running back Micah Parsons said. “I don’t want to keep getting by. I want legitimate victories. I want to win consistently. And next week we’ll have a tough matchup (against Pittsburgh).”
The Cowboys took solace in at least one week of drastically improved run defense, allowing just 26 total yards and 1.1 yards per carry after back-to-back weeks with 190 and 274 rushing yards, respectively.
The Giants’ running game may not intimidate the league like previous opponents Alvin Kamara and Derrick Henry do, but New York had still rushed for 129 and then 112 yards in its last two games.
Cutting that by a multiple of nearly five times was significant as the Giants were limited to 26 yards rushing. Players hoped this performance reflected a growing comfort in their first season under Mike Zimmer’s system as the coordinator preached discipline and stopping the run to earn the right to rush the passer.
“As soon as training camp started we knew why they brought Coach Zimmer in,” cornerback Jourdan Lewis told Yahoo Sports. “We need to be more sensible and stop the race.”
Up next: The Cowboys offense hopes to solidify penalty-free protection and inch forward in the running game to set up plays and smuggle in the passing game. The Cowboys defense wants to hit the passer harder than the group on a night in which Daniel Jones completed 29 of 40 pass attempts for 281 yards, including 12 of 15 for 115 yards by star rookie Malik Nabers.
Dallas held off New York with an interception to seal the game.
The team appeared to avoid major injury scares with negative X-rays to overcome running back DeMarcus Lawrence’s foot and Parsons’ ankle. Parsons said he would have an MRI on Friday after he was brought off the bench. Neither running back played again after their latest injury, but both were optimistic they would be able to play in the next game.
That contest will reintroduce the spotlight, with Dallas traveling to the currently 3-0 Steelers for a Sunday Night Football game that’s sure to amplify the Cowboys narrative in one direction or another.
Prescott will implore his teammates to keep up with the rumor mill. He will also know how difficult it is to ask for it.
“If guys want to read about themselves on this team, let’s hope it’s all positive,” Prescott said. “Keep their confidence and just let them build momentum. (I’ve) played on a lot of different teams, and some, when you start, it’s just hot. That’s what we’re looking to do.
“Get hot at the right time, build.”
He hopes a Thursday night visit to New York will be the start of that, even if he knows not everyone will agree on the importance of the victory. Prescott remembers when the Giants beat him in his first professional game, and again later that 2016 season, when he beat every other team he faced that season. He hasn’t lost to the Giants since, but should that negate the power of victory?
“Fuck, give it credit,” Prescott said. “Not everyone always beats the Giants.”
