New York Giants: Three takeaways from 35-17 loss at Dallas
By Ed Stein
Sunday afternoon in Dallas, the New York Giants got their tails kicked. They were soundly beaten on both sides of the ball as they went down 35-17. Here are our three takeaways from the game.
The New York Giants got off to a fast start in their season opener at Dallas on Sunday. Big Blue forced Dallas to punt on the game’s first drive. The team then took possession on their own nine-yard line, drove the field in nine plays and 4:07 to take a 7-0 lead almost eight minutes into the contest. From there it all fell apart for the G-Men.
Dallas scored on their next three possessions to take a 21-7 lead as time wound down in the second quarter. Cowboys QB Dak Prescott was able to move the ball at will and the Giants couldn’t stop him. The lead got as high as 35-10 in the third before Big Blue scored a garbage-time touchdown late in the fourth quarter. This one was so out of reach, when the G-Men got the ball for their final possession, rookie first-round pick Daniel Jones replaced Manning. He eventually fumbled on his fifth play to end the day.
Aside from the possible need to go on anti-depressants, here are our three takeaways from the game.
The receivers will be ok
Contrary to popular belief, Big Blue could complete passes both short and downfield without Odell Beckham on the field. Eli Manning had a pretty good day statistically. The New York Giants quarterback completed 30 of 44 pass attempts for 306 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions. Seven different receivers caught passes, led by tight end Evan Engram who caught Manning’s TD pass as part of an 11 catch, 116-yard game.
Starting wideouts Cody Latimer, Sterling Shepard, and Bennie Fowler were very involved in the offense. The trio combined for 14 receptions. Many of them were quite good such as Latimer’s nifty deep catch down the right sideline on the first play of the second half. Fowler also had a nice one-arm grab with a defender draped all over him.
There were fewer drops than expected and the receiving corps, as a whole, was in-sync with their quarterback. It’s an encouraging start. The group should take a huge step up once Golden Tate returns from his suspension for game five.