Cowboys defeat Giants

By Elwyn Henderson

The 4-7 Dallas Cowboys held their annual home Thanksgiving Day game at AT&T Stadium Thursday when they hosted the 2-9 New York Giants. Dallas came into the game after a surprise road win over the Washington Commanders last Sunday. The felt good about pulling off a win against the hapless Giants and they did just that, notching a victory.
New York won the coin toss to begin the game and elected to defer to the second half. Graham Gano kicked away to the end zone for a touchback.
Cooper Rush led Dallas on the field for their first possession of the day. Rush led the team methodically down the field against a very weak New York defense. The offense stalled at the Giants 6 following two consecutive incomplete passes and Brandon Aubrey came in and booted a 23-yard field goal with 9:43 left in the first quarter, putting the ‘Boys on the board first, 3-0. The drive was 11 plays, 64 yards and took 5:17.
Aubrey’s kickoff sailed into the end zone and Drew Lock came in at quarterback at the 30 for the Giants first possession of the day.
Lock led the visitors down the field 70 yards for a TD with 3:06 left in the opening quarter. The score came on a 1-yard run by Tyrone Tracy Jr. Gano added the PAT and the Giants took the lead 7-0. The drive was 14 plays, 70 yards and took 6:37 off the first quarter clock.
Gano’s kick after the score went out of the end zone and Rush and company began their second drive at their 30.
The drive stalled at the Giants 15 and Aubrey came in on a 4th and 6 and kicked a 33-yard field goal to pull Dallas to within one point, 7-6. The drive was 13 plays, 55 yards and consumed 6:22.
Lock was moving his team and then DeMarvion Overshown tipped a pass and hauled it in, returning it for a 23-yard pick-6 with 11:29 left in the first half. Aubrey’s point after was good and Dallas took their first lead of the day, 13-7.
The ensuing Aubrey kick resulted in a touchback and the giants were back on the offensive at their 30. Lock moved the team to midfield but he was sacked back at his 37 on a third down play, bringing Jamie Gillan who punted the ball to KaVonte Turpin who was downed immediately at his 14 and Rush brought the offense back on the field.
Mike McCarthy gambled on a 4th and 1 from the Dallas 44 and the ball was marked short of the line to gain and the ball turned over on downs.
The Cowboys defense forced a three-and-out and Gillan punted the ball down to the Dallas 1 where it was downed. It was a quick three-and-out and after a Bryan Anger punt the ball was returned 22 yards to the Dallas 29 and the Giants were in great position to reclaim the lead before the halftime break.
It was not to be tho

PHIL SIMMS with ELWYN HENDERSON

ugh as the defense forced a three-and-out and Gano came in for a 46-yard field goal with 3:21 left in the half. The kick as good and New York closed the gap to 13-10. The drive was 4 plays, 1 yard.
The next Gano kick resulted in another touchback and the Cowboys took over on their 30.
The offense was not able to get a drive going and after an Anger punt the Giants took over on their 14 with 1:50 left in the half. The visitors promptly went three-and-out and Gillan punted the ball back to Dallas. The kick went out of bounds at the Cowboys 34 and Rush came in with two time outs and 1:29 to work with to try to add to the lead before the half came to a close.
The offense was aided by a 15-yard roughing the passer call against defensive standout Kayvon Thibodeaux, but Rush couldn’t get anything going and Anger had to punt the ball away again. The kick was downed at the Giants 14.
Lock brought his unit back on the field. The Giants picked up one first down and the half ended with Dallas leading 13-10.
Aubrey’s kickoff to begin the second half was a touchback and Lock and his offensive partners set up at their 30. They were moving the ball up the field but on a 3rd down Lock was hit and fumbled and the Cowboys recovered at the Giants 37 with 13:40 left in the third quarter.
Rush led the ‘Boys the 37 yards into the end zone for their second TD of the game when Rush hit Brandon Cooks on a 2-yard scoring pass with 11:37 left in the quarter. Aubrey nailed the extra point and Dallas had their biggest lead of the day, 20-10.
The next Aubrey kickoff led to yet another touchback and Lock and company set up on their 30 hoping to get points and get back in the game. Dallas forced a three-and-out and Gillan punted again. The kick traveled to the Dallas 30 and the offense went back to work.
The offense was in sync and moved the ball down the field. Rush hit Jalen Tolbert on a long pass down the left sideline down to the Giants 15. The drive was capped off by a 4-yard TD run by Rico Dowdle with 4:23 left in the third quarter. Aubrey was true on the extra point kick and Dallas pretty much put the final nail in the coffin of the Giants, leading 27-10. The drive was 9 plays, 70 yards and took 4:59.
The Giants managed a field goal on their next possession. They moved 41 yards in 10 plays over 5:49 and the possession ended with a 47-yard Gano field goal with 13:34 left in the game, making the score 27-13 in favor of Dallas.
After a return of Gano’s kickoff the Cowboys began at their 20. They were forced to punt and New York got the ball back with 9:51 left in the game. The defense held their ground and forced a three-an-out and after the Gillan punt and a fair catch by Turpin, Rush led the offense on the field again at their 39 with 6:59 left in the game. The offense failed to move the ball and Anger had to punt once again. The ball went into the end zone and Luck came on the field again at his 20 hoping to get into the end zone and have a chance for an onside kick and possibly tie the game up before the clock ran out.
They accomplished part of their goal as they moved the 80 yards into the end zone for a TD with 2:18 left in the game. The score came on an 8-yard scamper by Lock. Gano added the PAT and the Giants were within 7 at 27-20. The drive was 7 plays and took 2:07.
Surprisingly, Gano kicked off deep and Dallas got the ball at their 30 after the touchback. The Cowboys picked up a first down and ran out the clock and got their first victory at home, 27-20. With the win Dallas moves to 5-7 on the year and with the loss the Giants drop to 2-10.
A very happy but anxious to get home after the big win was asked what it was like in the locker room after winning two games in four days.
“Just really focused on answering some quick questions and getting the hell out of here. 
because it’s Thanksgiving. That’s where my focus is. No, I mean, you know how I feel about that. I think that, and I’ve done this a long time, I’ve said this a long time: you really waste your time talking about narratives that are really hypotheticals. You never talk about that until you get to 10 wins. But if that’s the path to it, then that’s the reality of where we are. Yeah, we’ve just done a really solid job of staying focused on what’s up next. Having the experience of playing in a Thanksgiving game each and every year is important. I am proud of the way they prepared; proud of the way they played. We had a number of guys go down today. There were injuries on both sides of the ball. There was a lot of ebb and flow, up and down, to that football game. I think that complimentary football – really, started with our defense with the big turnover, the pick-six, what an incredible play. It really got the crowd going and I felt like the whole atmosphere changed after that. So, I’m just proud of the way they’re staying after it. It’s one game at a time.”

When quarterback Cooper Rush met with the media after the win The Mirror asked him what it has been like shaking the rust off and getting comfortable as the starter for the rest of the season due to Dak Prescott being done for the year following hamstring surgery.
“It definitely didn’t start great versus Philly and Houston wasn’t the result we wanted, but we did some things fundamentally that I was proud of. Just trying to take care of the ball. Trying to run the ball well the last couple of games and our defense keeping us in the game early allows us to keep running it. It’s a great team win. Guys are stepping up on both sides of the ball.”

The ‘Boys will now have a mini-bye as they are off until Monday, December 9th when they will host the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday Night Football.