The wait between last Sunday and last night felt like an eternity as the Dallas Cowboys reeled from back-to-back defeats against the Saints and Ravens. Last night, the wait to get back on the field came to an end with a Cowboys win over the Giants.
It was far from pretty, and many issues we’ve seen in previous weeks reared their heads again, but a win is a win and this one was crucial.
DANIEL JONES INTERCEPTION
COWBOYS WIN.
(via @NFL)pic.twitter.com/F3Va7fiVh0
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 27, 2024
Perhaps even bigger than the win itself, we saw breakthrough performances from a couple of key players that ended up carrying Dallas to victory.
On both offense and defense, a few guys ended up being the reason the Cowboys scraped by the Giants in this one.
All the talk this week was about how the players needed to simply play better, and the three guys we’ll discuss here certainly did that.
And so, let’s talk about the three players that propelled the Cowboys win against New York last night.
Mazi Smith Shines For The First Time
For the very first time since the Cowboys drafted Defensive Tackle Mazi Smith a year and a half ago, the former Michigan Wolverine looked like a first-round-worthy player, and boy was it fun to watch.
From the jump, Smith was pushing the pocket, resetting the line of scrimmage, and making plays in the backfield that we’re not accustomed to seeing from him.
The Dallas run defense went from allowing 274 rushing yards against Baltimore, to a mere 26 on 24 carries against New York, and Smith was a huge reason why.
He only showed up in the box score with 3 tackles, but his impact was huge.
PFF's highest-graded player from Thursday Night Football:
Mazi Smith. pic.twitter.com/RgTCsnMCJA
— Tom Downey (@WhatGoingDowney) September 27, 2024
PFF graded Smith as the best performer of the night between both the Cowboys and Giants as he registered an 88.4 grade.
That’s right; the best player on the field last night was not Malik Nabers, or CeeDee Lamb, or Brian Burns; it was Mazi Smith.
The big man carried the run defense for Dallas, just as they’ve been hoping he could since they drafted him.
Whether this was just a mirage or a sign of things to come, we don’t know, but what we do know is Smith has the talent to do this.
Now, it’s just about doing it consistently.
Dak Prescott’s High-Percentage Night
After throwing an incompletion to start the game, Dak Prescott then proceeded to not miss a single pass until his last of the first half. He ended the half going 14/16 with 164 passing yards and two touchdowns.
While the big numbers did not grow too much in the second half, he still ended up completing 8/11 passes with no turnovers in the half.
Overall, Prescott completed 81.5% of his passes, a new high for him on the season.
Dak Prescott from a clean pocket last night:
🔹 19/21
🔹 195 passing yards
🔹 2 TDs
🔹 86.4 PFF grade pic.twitter.com/Iv375N4Yzu— PFF (@PFF) September 27, 2024
In short, it was a very high-percentage night for the highest paid player in NFL history, as he sliced and diced the Giants defense on crucial third downs time after time.
The New York Giants did not have an answer for his needle-threading throws all night.
This continued Prescott’s dominance against New York, as he has now won his last 13 games against Big Blue dating back to his sophomore season.
His performance also proved another thing: The Cowboys’ early season struggles are not his fault.
Despite a very clean and strong showing, Dallas still struggled to get by.
Dak Prescott was perhaps the biggest reason why this was a Cowboys win in the end. Don’t let anyone tell you anything different.
DeMarvion Overshown Put On A Tackling Clinic
On a night where the Cowboys defense once again missed far too many tackles, second-year Linebacker DeMarvion Overshown was one of the few exceptions.
The former Texas Longhorn bounced back from a massive decrease in snaps the last two weeks as he came out with his highest snap count yet this season at 86%.
With this increase, Overshown took advantage, registering eight key tackles.
Overshown was flying around the field, making huge stop after huge stop with his game-breaking close-out speed. Simply put, he was great fun to watch.
Overshown’s Closing speed is different. pic.twitter.com/tIUEuv3thW
— (Foots The King) (@FootsDaKing) September 27, 2024
It was also a major improvement from last week, when he struggled to make a difference. At times against Baltimore, he would be swallowed up by bigger offensive linemen and tight ends, or he’d take a wrong angle that cost him a tackle.
Last night was a completely different story for Overshown.
He was one of PFF’s highest graded players on the night and came up with a huge goal-line stop that was purely because of his incredible speed and range.
Overshown is a true sideline-to-sideline linebacker, and Dallas needs him on the field as much as possible. He is young and coming off an injury that cost him his rookie year, so there will be bumps along the way, but his athleticism and talent outweigh them.
He was a key part of the Cowboys win last night, and if Dallas is smart, they will keep feeding him snaps.
