Giants grades for Week 3 vs. Dallas Cowboys
OFFENSE: D
D for the duress that Daniel Jones was under almost the entire game. The quarterback absorbed 12 hits from the Cowboys and was sacked six times, three of them by a player in DeMarcus Lawrence who left the game with an injury early in the third quarter. Jones did the best he could under the circumstances, running for 79 yards on nine carries, most of them scrambles rather than designed runs. He even had six first downs rushing the ball. It wasn’t enough to overcome the overall failures of the unit, though. Other than Saquon Barkley’s 36-yard touchdown there wasn’t much happening.
DEFENSE: C
Leonard Williams missed the first game of his career but the Giants clearly missed him more. The Cowboys were able to run up the middle with regularity against the Giants without Williams on the line to stop them. The Giants continued to do pretty well on third downs (the Cowboys were 5-for-13), but that 1-for-1 on fourth downs is what led to the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter. The debuts of Kayvon Thibodeaux and Azeez Ojulari never manifested in any pressure on Cooper Rush, the former Giants practice squad quarterback who is now 3-0 as a starter in the NFL with two straight wins since Dak Prescott needed surgery on his thumb.
SPECIAL TEAMS: B
Graham Gano continues to be the most consistent player on the team. A week after kicking the 57-yard game-winner against the Panthers, he added two more 51-yarders Monday and a 42-yarder as well. His 47-yard attempt on the opening drive was blocked with pressure coming up the middle. The only other special teams breakdown came on a fourth-quarter punt which KaVontae Turpin returned 28 yards to set up the field goal that made it 23-13.
COACHING: C
The Giants basically have two players who make big plays – Jones and Saquon Barkley – and the offense is essentially a decision on who gets the ball in their hands from down to down. The staff needs to respond to players in distress earlier with solutions such as when Evan Neal was struggling at right tackle against Lawrence. Defensively, Wink Martindale couldn’t figure out how to put pressure on Cooper Rush. The Giants had just two quarterback hits. The toughest challenge for Daboll and Co. will be getting the Giants to refocus in time for Sunday’s game against the Bears.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
