In a crucial Week 2 matchup after a season-opening loss that had more twists and turns than just about any game, we finally saw a Dallas Cowboys win, as they took down the Giants 40-37 in overtime.
From the jump, we saw some of the sloppiest football you’d ever see. New York opened the game up with a slew of penalties, and the Cowboys threw in their own mixture of undisciplined, mistake-filled play.
As the game dragged on, the sloppy play subsided to some degree, but this was never a clean game of football.
In the end, it cost New York more, resulting in a huge loss to fall to 0-2. For Dallas, it’s a potentially season-saving victory. It is nearly impossible to make the playoffs after starting the season with back-to-back divisional losses.
With this one in the books, let’s take a closer look with a recap of all four quarters, and overtime. Buckle up, this one gets crazy!
1st Quarter: Flag Here, Flag There, Flag Everywhere
I have never seen an opening drive like this game had.
The Giants, receiving the ball first after Brian Schottenheimer deferred to take the ball at halftime, totaled over 100 yards while only scoring three points.
Four consecutive penalties by New York’s left tackle, James Hudson, kept setting Big Blue back as they were picking up chunks on Dallas’s defense. Before he was benched, Graham Gano knocked a field goal through for the first score of the game.
That opening drive took eight minutes and forty-nine seconds, while the Cowboys’ sole drive of the quarter was three plays and about a minute long.
New York tacked on a second field goal before the quarter ended, making this a 6-0 game.
Talk about an eventful opening quarter.
2nd Quarter: Offensive Life & Killer Mistakes
The second quarter started the same way it ended for the Cowboys offense: a three-and-out. They tried to go for it on fourth, but Dak Prescott snapped the ball too late, and they were forced to punt.
That was just an ounce of the total mistakes we saw from both teams today.
In total, this quarter had way more action; both teams scored touchdowns, starting with the Giants dicing up the Cowboys’ passing defense; KaVontae Turpin responded by catching the first Dallas passing touchdown of the season.
The points came in, but mistakes continued to as well. Matt Eberflus’s defense forced a stop, and the Cowboys could have had a chance at a last-second field goal, but squandered it with bad clock management.
We went into halftime with the Giants leading 13-10.
3rd Quarter: Turning It Over, & Taking The Lead Back With One Offensive Drive
How did the Cowboys open the third quarter?
In perhaps the single worst way possible. Prescott launched an unnecessary pass for an early interception; it was clearly his worst moment of the day in an otherwise stellar showing.
The Giants failed to capitalize in a major way, however, turning it over on downs instead of kicking a lead-extending field goal.
In response, we had what looked like the start of the real Cowboys offense. A six-play, 90-yard drive ended with a fantastic 30-yard touchdown run by Javonte Williams. He continues to look like a hidden gem in this offense.
New York inched back before the quarter ended, kicking yet another field goal to make it a 17-16 game.
4th Quarter: Surgical Showing By Prescott & Aubrey, Atrocities On Defense
I think we’re all still trying to process the mayhem that was that fourth quarter, so forgive me if I don’t perfectly capture that absolute chaos.
That said, I think we’ll all know what I mean in saying this: Brandon Aubrey started and ended this quarter. An 11-play drive concluded with a 44-yarder from the All-Pro kicker, which started a 41-point quarter between both times.
Chronologically, it went like this: Cowboys field goal, Giants touchdown, Cowboys touchdown, Giants touchdown, Cowboys touchdown, Giants touchdown, Cowboys field goal. Simple, right?
The meat and potatoes of the quarter came down to the final three drives, as Dak Prescott surgically led Dallas down the field for a game-leading score, before Russell Wilson turned back the clock with a bomb to Malik Nabers.
It looked like game over, until Dak worked his magic again, and Aubrey had a legacy moment with a game-tying 64-yard nuke to send us to overtime.
That’s a doozy right there.
Overtime: Offenses Fall Apart, Aubrey Finishes The Job
We all thought these offenses were unstoppable, until they weren’t.
With the new overtime rules, both teams get a shot with the ball, but it seemed like nobody wanted to score. Dallas was forced to punt after a terrible Jalen Tolbert drop, and I thought that was a wrap.
Then, somehow, the Cowboys got a stop after Wilson “fumbled” a pump fake.
The next possession was about as crazy as it could be for Dallas, as Prescott got body slammed into a sack, and George Pickens came through with a huge play to make up for it. That was until the refs called it back on a very close offensive pass interference call.
Williams then saved the day again, giving Dallas a shot after a huge second-down run, before Tolbert again failed to pick up the first down.
It became clear then that the Cowboys’ best chance at not losing was with a tie.
UNTIL… We had plot twist number 765 of the game! Wilson, inexplicably, bombed a “heat check” type of pass directly to Donovan Wilson down the field, and Dallas got yet ANOTHER opportunity to win this crazy game.
Dak Prescott, taking the ball back with the game on the line, delivered a beauty of a ball to Pickens for a huge chunk, and then took off to set Aubrey up perfectly for the potential game-winner.
From there, the cherry on top and grand finale of this was Brandon Aubrey setting up for and NAILING his final kick of the day, as Dallas won it 40-37.
The team moves to 1-1 in the craziest way possible, and Schottenheimer comes out with an electrifying first win as the Head Coach of the Dallas Cowboys.
How about that one?
