The 2025 Dallas Cowboys season is officially in the books, as a 34-17 loss against the New York Giants capped off a 7-8-1 record for the team. This one featured both familiar issues for Dallas and brought some hope for 2026.
We saw fresh faces get chances they normally wouldn’t, while also seeing some players who absolutely should not be brought back next season.
Dallas had been eliminated from playoff contention far before this game kicked off, but the record concluding under .500 is awfully fitting. It’s the first time in Dak Prescott’s career that he played the entire season and finished with a losing record.
Additionally, this very likely marked the end of a very poor one-year tenure for Defensive Coordinator Matt Eberflus with the Cowboys. All reports indicate he is likely to be fired, which will spark the search for yet another defensive leader on the sidelines.
Here, I’ll cover both halves of football from today’s season finale to recap what went down in Dallas’s final showing.
First Half: Blue Running All Over — On Both Sides
To start this game, Dallas was the favorite to win, though that changed fairly quickly.
The Cowboys’ defense started the game off with a stop on defense, though that was 50% of their stops for the entirety of the game; put more simply, the Giants scored on all but one drive after that. Woof.
Prescott and the offense took over, and fumbled the drive away, literally, on a snap.
https://twitter.com/SNYGiants/status/2007878652957216984
New York’s next few drives went as follows: field goal, field goal, field goal, touchdown. Bend but don’t break, sure, but the chunk plays defensively were brutal.
The offense did score 10 in the first quarter, but they were shut out in the second, which was the beginning of the end in this one. Really, the story here was Big Blue running all over the field, and Jaydon Blue doing the same.
Dallas’s rookie running back, getting his first start, had a huge day that mainly popped off in the first half. His 14-yard touchdown was the Cowboys’ sole 7-point score until the 4th quarter.
Second Half: Defensive Disaster Class To Cap Off Season-Long Struggle
Moving to the second half, we saw the defense really unravel. They allowed 18 points in the third and fourth quarters to Jaxson Dart’s unit; he had a lights-out performance, all things considered.
Tyrone Tracy also had a big day, rushing for 103 yards and reeling in eight catches for 56 yards and a touchdown.
New York dominated time of possession in the second half, with Dallas only possessing the ball twice; those two drives ended in a punt and a missed field goal from Brandon Aubrey. The All-Pro kicker has proven human in recent weeks, though the miss was from 57 yards out.
They did begin the fourth with a touchdown, however, as Phil Mafah ran one in to begin the quarter.
Joe Milton, who took over for Prescott in the second half, didn’t continue the offensive success of that start. He was intercepted on the first play of the next fourth-quarter drive.
The offense finished things off with another punt to conclude their 2025 season.
Defensively, Eberflus’s unit allowed two more scores in the fourth, which extended the total points to 34; this was the fourth time in five games that their opponent allowed more than 30 points.
In Totality, A Fitting End To A Disappointing Season
Offensive inconsistency in the second half, defensive issues for all four quarters, and some special teams issues mixed in were a very fitting game for Dallas.
Blue’s showing was impressive, and Milton’s legs flashed as well, though we all saw a good share of his flaws.
Going into 2026, Dallas has lots of questions to answer, and they’ll likely start getting answered tomorrow with the expected firing of Eberflus.
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