The New York Giants couldn’t quite close out a win over the Dallas Cowboys in Week 2.
They had plenty of opportunities to do so despite giving up 160 yards in penalties. There were eight scoring plays over the course of the fourth quarter as the score rocketed from 17-16 to 37-37 in the span of 15 minutes of game clock. By rights, the Giants’ 48-yard touchdown pass from Russell Wilson to Malik Nabers with :25 left should have been a game-winning dagger.
Teams just can’t plan for the third-longest field goal in NFL history being successful as time expired.
“That was a tough one. Battled back and forth and the guys left it all out on the field. Tough result,” Giants’ head coach Brian Daboll said after the game. “I mean, you’re going to hurt for 24 hours, that’s for certain. The guys put a lot into it, They left everything out on the field. I respect them a great deal for that.
“Credit to those players,” he added. “You want to get the results that you hope for. Came up short. Let it sit for 24 hours and then you move on.”
The Giants and Cowboys have played many, many memorable games, but this one was an instant-classic — even with the loss. It was a truly wild ride with twists and turns as the game pivoted on a dozen (or more) little moments. A fouth-down drop by Cam Skattebo, a fantastic open-field tackle by Dru Phillips, Wan’Dale Robinson proving he can be a deep threat, then failing to run to the open field in overtime, penalties that were, or weren’t called, all played their roles.
“I think there’s two types of penalties,” Daboll said. “There’s jumping off sides and false starts, and then there’s aggressive penalties. I think you have to be smart, whether you’re putting a guy down on the ground. … After-the-fact hit the quarterback late. Again, we’ll take a look at some of those and see what they are, but it’s a lot of penalties that we had.”
He added “Obviously that’s too many and we’ll work to correct it.”
The Giants’ penalties are one of the big stories of the game, as it felt like the Giants should have been up about 28-3 at halftime if it wasn’t for those penalties.
The play of Russell Wilson, however, is even bigger. Wilson reminded the NFL world just what he’s capable of when the offense has the confidence to let him attack the defense.
Wilson was accurate and precise to just about every part of the field and dissected the Dallas defense.
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The 36-year-old quarterback turned in his most prolific performance since 2017 just a week after calls sounded from the media and fans alike for him to be replaced by rookie Jaxson Dart.
“I don’t really think Russ worries about that, to be honest with you,” Daboll said. “I think he’s done this for so long, you know, it’s going to come with the territory being the quarterback in this league. It was business as usual for him during the week. He was preparing and studying, doing all the things at practice. The other stuff that comes with it, I don’t he focuses on that.”
For his part, Wilson responded in the manner to which we’ve become accustomed since becoming the Giants’ quarterback.
“I don’t need outside praise or criticism to convince me of what I’m capable of,” he said. “It’s not me, it’s really just the grace of God for what’s he’s given me. I thank Him for the ability to be on this platform every day, every time and the highest of highest best moments and some of the tough ones. One of my favorite scriptures is James 1:2 – consider it pure joy through the trials and tribulations. Sometimes, you go through some stuff and it’s just pruning you to be a better and tougher, to have that mental toughness, to be able to be neutral amidst the praise and the criticism and all the other stuff that comes around with it. Much is given. Much is required. So, you just to keep answering the bell.”
Wilson also took the opportunity to praise his teammates for how they played through adversity and kept answering.
“We kept responding,” he said. “We kept answering. I thought that Malik (Nabers) played an incredible game. I mean, this guy is special. The plays that he was making…Wan’Dale (Robinson) had a tremendous game. (Darius) Slayton made some big plays for us when we needed it. The line did a tremendous job giving me time. Credit those guys. You know, we needed one more play, one more moment to make a big play.
“But I just think the fashion in which we fought… you know, I love sports. I love watching greatness. I love watching people be relentless,” Wilson said. “I love watching boxing, for example, we’re in a 17 round fight. We battled in the first round and second round. We’ve got more to do. So, I was just proud of how we needed to be able to answer the way we did. I’ve been a part of a lot of crazy games. I don’t know if I’ve ever been part of one that crazy with that much grit.”
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