ARLINGTON, Texas – It was ugly and pretty. Maybe that’s how this Thanksgiving Day was supposed to go on a rainy day outside AT&T Stadium.
The Cowboys completed a series sweep of the New York Giants, with a 28-20 victory late Thursday afternoon. Dallas (8-3) put New York (7-4) down not only in the NFC East title race, but also into a questionable position for making the playoffs.
Though there is much to play for the next few weeks, the Cowboys have placed themselves in good shape with two consecutive home games forthcoming. Dallas completed a three-games-in-12-days stretch with two victories, a blowout win at Minnesota and this one over the Giants.
We have five things to note from this game:
Division race continues
With the Cowboys winning, it moves them out of a tie with the Giants for second place in the NFC East and continues their quest for a division title with a Christmas Eve game coming up against the first-place Philadelphia Eagles. The first step toward giving yourself a chance at the division title is knocking off your divisional rivals, and the victory over the Giants can only be viewed as a positive. Now, if the Eagles (9-1) lose Sunday night to the Packers (4-7), then this race gets tighter.
TEs can have fun, too
The Cowboys have such a talented tight end group. Dalton Schultz caught two touchdown passes, Peyton Hendershot ran for a score on a Jet Sweep, Sean McKeon had some strong blocks and Jake Ferguson jumped over Giants safety Jason Pinnock while completing a 30-yard catch and run. This is probably one of the deeper tight end groups the Cowboys have had in years and all four have the diversity this offense needs moving forward. After the Hendershot touchdown run, three of the tight ends jumped into the red kettle in the east end zone and played a game of Whack-A-Mole with Hendershot holding the hammer.
Lamb, Gallup with strong games
Yes, the Cowboys want free agent wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., and based on what we’ve seen the last two games from CeeDee Lamb and Michael Gallup, it only enhances what this group is. At one point during the season, the wide receiver corps was a one-man group, Lamb, as Gallup continued to recover from a torn ACL. But Sunday, Gallup caught five passes for 63 yards, taking some tough shots along the way. Lamb caught six passes for 106 yards (plus a game-ending onside kick recovery). It was Lamb’s second 100-yard game of the season. He also had a nice one-handed grab while being held for a reception near the goal line. Yes, both interceptions thrown by Dak Prescott were toward Lamb, but the offense was able to overcome that.
Penalties again
It’s been a while since we’ve talked about penalties. But the Cowboys committed a season-high 13 for 86 yards against the Giants. Some were questionable calls, but defensive tackle Carlos Watkins was penalized for holding a second consecutive week. Dalton Schultz was penalized for a questionable hold on Kayvon Thibodeaux. It was the third time this season the Cowboys have been penalized in double-digits.
Defense does its job
The Giants were trying to grind this game out with quarterback Daniel Jones’ abilities to get out of the pocket and runs with running back Saquon Barkley. The Cowboys’ defense held Barkley in check for the most part, he gained 39 rushing yards, and outside on a long reception of 44 yards by Darius Slayton, the pass defense played well. Micah Parsons had two sacks and Dorance Armstrong also had one. Speaking of which, Armstrong with eight sacks on the season is making everyone forget about Randy Gregory around here. What team does Gregory play for again?
