Cowboys evened their record but serious questions remain

The Dallas Cowboys got back to .500 on Thursday night with a less than stellar road win over the Giants. The victory snapped a two-game losing streak.

Dallas even got a little help to move into a tie for second in the NFC East when the Eagles were routed in Tampa Bay on Sunday.

But for all the good news, the Cowboys’ week wasn’t all rainbows and sunshine.

Dallas faces the loss of both of their edge rushers to leg injuries. Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence will both miss multiple weeks.

A Week Seven bye will help mitigate that setback somewhat.

However, with Sam Williams already out for the year, the Cowboys will be relying heavily on rookie Marshawn Kneeland to take up the slack. That’s a big ask for a rookie.

The Cowboys’ secondary is also banged up, although DaRon Bland might be able to return for next week’s game against the Steelers at Pittsburgh.

The offense finally started scoring touchdowns instead of field goals in the first half. But they settled for two field goals in the second half and let the Giants stay in the game.

A running game would probably help and that’s something the Cowboys simply don’t have. Nor should anyone be looking for Dalvin Cook to ride to Dallas’ rescue.

With neither Rico Dowdle nor Ezekiel Elliott tearing it up, if Cook were ready to come in and do damage, he’d have already been elevated off the practice squad.

That he hasn’t been called up tells you all you need to know about his status.

Thursday’s win was the seventh-straight for Dallas over the Giants, and fourth-straight in New York. The Cowboys are now 76-47-2 overall against the Giants, 35-26-1 when playing at New York.

The victory also improved the Cowboys to 34-24 all-time in the fourth week of the season and 17-15 when playing on the road.

Tyler Guyton’s Bad Game

The Cowboys’ first pick of last spring’s draft had his worst game in his young career. Tyler Guyton drew several flags on Thursday night.

Nor was he terribly pleased about those calls.

The only problem is they were all legitimate calls.

Guyton voiced his frustration with the calls after the game. He really didn’t have a case.

As a rookie, he isn’t going to get away with some of the things a seasoned vet can.

Guyton’s best bet going forward is to watch the tape, learn from it, and then get ready for the Steelers. Because you know T.J. Watt is going to put Guyton to the test on Sunday.

Scoragami Update

After two straight weeks of posting first-time final scores, Thursday night’s 20-15 was just the second time Dallas ended a game with that score.

The first time was a Cowboys’ home victory in the 11th week of the 1993 season. They defeated the then Phoenix Cardinals, who were still an NFC East foe that year.

Karma Comes For Lane Kiffin

There’s nothing in the rules that prevents it, although hopefully that will change after Saturday’s Kentucky-Mississippi game.

Ole Miss had the ball and head coach Lane Kiffin decided his offense needed to stop the clock without calling a timeout.

xr:d:DAEnMWEZbps:2578,j:36635524790,t:22092911

The quarterback looked over at the running back, pointed to the ground and tapped his leg.

A second later, the running back suddenly dropped to the ground like he had been shot while grasping at his leg.

It was the Immaculate Cramp-ception.

It also stopped the clock. Just like any soccer player, despite being mortally wounded only seconds before, the running back was able to rise to his feet and walked off the field apparently pain-free,

He even came back into the huddle after a play.

Again, there is nothing in the rules that prevents it, but there certainly should be. A fact that the play-by-play announcer, Sean McDonough, pointed out.

Some suggestions I’ve seen is that a player who does this needs to be barred from returning to the field for the remainder of the possession.

Frankly, something as egregious as what happened on Saturday, should draw a 15-yard penalty and a loss of down.

But there was one field judge that took a hand. Karma rolled in and saw to it that Kiffin and Ole Miss was upset by Kentucky.

It couldn’t have happened to a better guy.