Giants/Cowboys Thanksgiving Recap

    Written by: William Petersen •

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    The second helping of Thanksgiving Day football made its way to AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas for a NFC East matchup between the struggling (2-9) New York Giants and (4-7) Dallas Cowboys. Both teams have had difficult seasons filled with injuries and poor play at the quarterback position. The Cowboys made Dak Prescott the highest-paid player in the league and now have him on injured reserve after Prescott got season ending hamstring surgery after partially tearing the tendon on November 3rd against the Atlanta Falcons. Since this injury the Cowboys struggles have only been exacerbated, having their worst season since Prescott became the starting quarterback in 2016. The Giants have had their own quarterback struggles after poor play from Daneil Jones forced Brian Daboll to bench the $40 million per year player and then cut him last week. Tommy DeVito was unable to play today due to injury, bringing in Drew Lock as the man who will lead the Giants offense on Thanksgiving Day. This was the 126th regular season meeting between these two teams but only the third meeting all-time between these two on Turkey Day. The last time these teams met on Thanksgiving was 2022 where the Cowboys won 28-20. The Cowboys would walk out of AT&T Stadium with an almost identical win as 2022 with a 27-20 win over the Giants.

    The New York Giants came into the season with hopes that Daniel Jones would return from his injury the season prior with new life and better play. This did not happen the first half of the season as he is now the backup quarterback to Sam Darnold and the Minnesota Vikings after the Giants decided to part ways with the sixth overall pick of the 2019 Draft last week. Drew Lock seemed to give the Giants a jolt of life after leading them on a 13 play, 70 yard scoring drive that was capped off by Tyrone Tracy Jr, a fifth-round pick in the 2024 Draft who has done a decent job of replacing Saquon Barkley. Following their opening drive touchdown, the Giants held the Cowboys to a field goal that was immediately tailed by a Drew Lock pick-six to DeMarvion Overshown who snatched any momentum away from the Giants as well as recording his first career touchdown. The first half would end as uneventful as New York’s season has with a score of 13-10 in favor of Dallas.

    The momentum shift following Overshown’s “do it himself” pick-six bled over into the Giants first drive of the second half after a Drew Lock fumble that set up the Cowboys to take a 20-10 lead early in the third quarter. The Giants continued to stall out on offense and show why they only have two wins in a season that most were not expecting to be pretty. The second half of this game was nowhere near a sight to see for the Giants as the Cowboys continued to do whatever they wanted on offense and forced the Giants into punt after punt as the luster of Drew Lock’s first drive dwindled into the distance. Lock managed to make it somewhat of a game after he ran in a touchdown that capped off a eight play, eighty yard drive to give Giants fans a sliver of hope before the Cowboys iced the game in the victory formation. Lock finished with 178 yards passing going 21/32 with an interception but did contribute with the rushing touchdown on top of four rushes for 57 yards. Standout rookie wide receiver finished with eight catches for 69 yards in a game where the Giants fed their star but couldn’t support him enough to pull out the win. The Giants now move to (2-10) and are poised to finish the season with a top five draft pick which they should use on a quarterback.

    After spending the money Jerry Jones did this offseason on CeeDee Lamb and Dak Prescott, many Cowboys fans believed this could be the year you see “America’s Team” in the Super Bowl. This fantasy came crashing back to Earth quickly after the Cowboys started 3-2 and then went on a five-game losing streak that then led to Prescott going on IR. Since then the Cowboys have now won two straight after upsetting the Commanders in Week 12 and handling business at home on Thanksgiving in Week 13. Stand-in quarterback Cooper Rush played a productive game, finishing with 195 yards and a touchdown pass, completing 21/36 throws. Rico Dowdle was the star of the second Turkey Day game, 22 rushes for 122 yards and a touchdown that fueled the Cowboys offense after star receiver CeeDee Lamb got banged up in the third quarter. Overall this win for the Cowboys is more of a moral victory rather than a strategic one as the Cowboys need to continue to lose games in hopes of acquiring a solid draft pick given they will most likely not run the table and make the playoffs. Jerry Jones will eat his Turkey with a happy complexion tonight but this win for the Cowboys is pointless given their now 5-7 record and schedule ahead.

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