All night long, you knew it was going to come back to haunt the Giants, and it actually happened.
We missed a chance on offense. Again and again and again…and some more.
The Giants' offense got into a good flow.
Quarterback Daniel Jones was passing with precise touch.
His receivers were getting open and making big plays.
Unfortunately, the Giants were unable to cross Dallas' goal line, ending a long offensive possession where they settled for a field goal.
The final result of Thursday night's NFC East showdown at MetLife Stadium, 20 points for the Cowboys and 15 for the Giants, reflected a missed opportunity by the Giants.
The good news is that Giants fill-in kicker Greg Joseph made all five of his field goals in place of injured Graham Gano.
The bad news was that Joseph's field goal wasn't good enough, not when the Cowboys were fighting back with a touchdown.
“We were able to throw the ball, but at the end of the day we've got to score and score touchdowns,” receiver Wan'Dale Robinson said.
“We moved the ball well and drove, but we just couldn't finish,” Jones said. “[It’s] It's very frustrating. We are expected to score touchdowns and score points. We didn't execute anything in the red zone and we couldn't drive it. So it's frustrating. ”
The first missed opportunity came on the Giants' first possession, when Jones couldn't convert after a 39-yard third-down pass to dynamic rookie receiver Malik Nabors, resulting in a five-leg from 53 yards remaining. -It was when Joseph made the first of his field goals. 3-0 lead.
After the Cowboys took a 7-3 lead, the Giants ran 55 yards in 11 plays but stalled at the Dallas 22 before making a 41-yard Joseph field goal to make it 7-6.
Dallas took a 14-6 lead on a 55-yard scoring pass from Dak Prescott to CeeDee Lamb, and this time the Giants offense went 52 yards in 15 plays in 8 minutes, 10 seconds, but still missed the goal line. could not be divided. .
This time, wasting a clutch fourth-down conversion from midfield, they made a 38-yard Joseph field goal to cut Dallas to 14-9.
The big play that wasted that possession was a drop pass in the flat to Robinson, who had acres of green grass in front of him.
If he had caught the pass, he might have scored.
The Giants continued their disturbing trend of the night on the opening possession of the third quarter, driving the ball 77 yards in 11 plays in 6 minutes, 18 seconds, but stalled again, this time in the red zone.
Facing a fourth point from the Dallas 3-yard line, Joseph made his fourth 22-yard field goal of the game. Jones went 6-for-6 for 75 yards on the drive, including five first downs.
The Giants' offense picked up steam again in the fourth quarter, this time with a gutsy fourth-down call by head coach Brian Daboll and a wasted conversion on a Jones pass to Nabors on a fourth-and-3 from the Dallas 47.
Five plays after the fourth-down conversion, the Giants converted a 42-yard field goal by Joseph, cutting Dallas' lead to 17-15 with 11 minutes, 11 seconds left.
After the Cowboys took a 20-15 lead with a field goal with 6:54 left, Jones and the Giants had one more chance but missed.
There were a lot of good things about the Giants' offense, but it still wasn't enough.
The only result that matters is that with this loss, the Giants fall to 1-3 and remain in last place in the NFC East.
“We just missed some things,” Daboll said. “The result was disappointing, but I thought it could be improved.Last week, we got the result we wanted. [a win in Cleveland]I was hurt because that wasn't the case this week. it hurts. It hurts. ”
