EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – 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 a flight home at 1-3 would bring, the name didn’t feel so strange.
This wasn’t just about expecting them to beat the New York Giants, because Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott has now done nothing else for eight straight seasons and thirteen games.
This was about the noise that grew louder after the New Orleans Saints and Baltimore Ravens thoroughly outplayed the Cowboys in their own building.
This was about the reality of a young locker room in an age of social media do hear the outside noise, even though the team management 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 hope that they could ask players to tune out the noise, they realized that they would instead be better off begging their high-profile locker room to not to get caught up in the emotional tensions. wave of outside stories, even when exposed to them.
They need to show more to fully gain the trust of the league. But their best chance to go that route was to start this ten-day gap between games with a win.
So allow Prescott his confession after the Cowboys beat the Giants 20-15.
“This was 1000% a must-win,” Prescott said on the way to the team bus. “For a long weekend, that leaves a better taste in the mouth. But ultimately it is a process. We will not become complacent. We’re not going to get too excited about what we did tonight. It’s about building and finding out what we can do better in all phases.
“But with a win it’s a lot easier.”
Prescott-lamm connection makes all the difference
Prescott was one of the first to point out a moment where he could have been better.
The Cowboys opened the game on Thursday night with a three-and-out, paving the way for the Giants to get on the board first with a field goal.
Prescott watched the film of the first drive on the sideline between series and had a realization: Wide receiver CeeDee Lamb was a more viable option on the second play of the game than he had realized. Sophomore cornerback Deonte Banks was in coverage, but the double coverage that 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 just going to play fast, trust my feet, trust my eyes,’” Prescott said.
The Cowboys did just that on the second drive.
Prescott didn’t just give Lamb An chance on the next drive – he gave Lamb five, including on a run play. The star receiver caught all four of Prescott’s passes for 30 yards, with Lamb also taking a jet sweep for another 10 yards. Now the receiver, who wished he had better control of his emotions during last week’s loss to the Ravens, was engaged, and the entire team could feel it as Lamb’s attention was opened by running back Rico Dowdle to score the first touchdown score.
“I understand how important he is to get the offense going and do what he does for his confidence,” Prescott told Yahoo Sports. “When he’s in a good mood, everyone else is just because of his energetic nature.”
The Cowboys defense once again held the Giants to a field goal on their second drive, foreshadowing what would become an end zone-less night for New York.
Prescott was happy to get the narrow victory, but still wanted to get Lamb involved more – especially if the receiver was able to find single coverage.
So when the Giants sent a blitz on first-and-10 with 9:25 to play in the first quarter, Prescott misdirected the safety with his eyes as Lamb beat Banks off the line. He was careful not to send the ball too far due to safety, but trusted Lamb to create in space.
“Able to get him the ball, he went and broke the tackle,” Prescott said. “It felt good to get him off to a fast start.”
The Cowboys wouldn’t get far from the Giants as Dallas drew penalty after penalty to destroy the rhythm and create unfavorable third-and-long situations that ultimately dropped them to 3 of 10 on third down for the night. Dallas counted 89 penalties on 11 accepted flags on a night in which several more flags were rejected or offset.
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 as he completed 22 of 27 passes for 221 yards, two touchdowns and a passer rating of 125.5, his team wasn’t utilizing all of its potential as they scored just 20 points.
“Take away a few penalties and things like that, it’s a completely different score,” Prescott said. “We are a completely different world.”
What will it take for Cowboys to capitalize at 2-2?
A sense of calm pervaded the Cowboys locker room after the game that didn’t quite reach celebratory levels.
Lamb said there was “more joy” after “a phase where everyone is quite tense” following a two-match losing streak.
But the relief was more palpable than exuberance.
“Winning is important … but it wasn’t perfect,” edge rusher Micah Parsons said. ‘I don’t want to come over anymore. I want legitimate wins. I want to win consistently. And next week we have a tough game.”
The Cowboys defense found solace in at least a week of dramatically improved run defense, allowing just 26 yards and 1.1 yards per carry after consecutive weeks, yielding 190 then 274 rushing yards, respectively.
The Giants’ rushing attack may not intimidate the league the way previous opponents Alvin Kamara and Derrick Henry do, but New York had still rushed for 129 and then 112 yards in their last two games.
It made sense to cut that by a multiple of almost five times. Players hoped the performance reflected an increasing comfort in their first season under Mike Zimmer’s system as the coordinator preaches gap discipline and stopping the run to earn the right to rush the passer.
“We knew as soon as training camp started why they brought in Coach Zimmer,” cornerback Jourdan Lewis told Yahoo Sports. “We have to be more gap-sound and stop the run.”
Next: The Cowboys offense hopes to solidify protection without penalties and follow the running game to set up play-action and bootlegs in the passing game. The Cowboys defense wants to impact the passer more intensely than the group did on a night when Daniel Jones completed 29 of 40 pass attempts for 281 yards, including 12 of 15 for 115 yards to rookie Malik Nabers.
Dallas’ defense held strong with an interception to seal the game.
The team appeared to avoid major injuries with negative X-rays on rusher DeMarcus Lawrence’s foot and Micah Parsons’ ankle. Parsons said he would get an MRI on Friday after being taken away. Neither rusher returned to the game after their late injury, but both were optimistic they could play in the next game.
That game will reintroduce the bright spotlight, with Dallas traveling to the currently 3-0 Pittsburgh Steelers for a Sunday Night Football matchup that will surely reinforce the Cowboys’ narrative in one direction or the other.
Prescott will beg his teammates to stay level among the crowds. He will also know how difficult that is.
“If guys want to read about themselves on this team, hopefully it’s all positive,” Prescott said. “Keep their trust high and just allow it [them] build momentum. [I’ve] played on a number of different teams, and some just get heated when you get started. That’s what we want to do.
“Getting warm at the right time, building.”
He hopes a Thursday night visit to New York will be the start of that, even though beating the Giants has become an expectation for the Cowboys.
“F***, give credit,” Prescott said. “Not everyone always beats the Giants.”
