ARLINGTON — Giants head coach Brian Daboll was seething after the Dallas Cowboys cooked the Giants’ turkey on Thanksgiving Day within the “Odell Bowl,” 28-20, at a rowdy AT&T Stadium.
“Yeah, I think we missed some opportunities,” an offended and terse Daboll stated. “We’ve got to do a better job. It starts with me.”
The actuality was on Daboll’s face and in each phrase he and his gamers spoke inside a dead-quiet locker room: This second loss to their hated NFC East rivals hit the toughest of their 4 defeats up to now.
“Yeah. I think it is a tough loss,” quarterback Daniel Jones stated. “It’s a divisional game and a game where we didn’t play our best. That’s always disappointing. You’ve got to give credit to Dallas. They’re a good team. But we didn’t do what we needed to do to win the game. That was the difference, and it’s frustrating for all of us.”
The Cowboys (8-3) humbled the Giants (7-4), who’ve misplaced three of their final 4. And Dallas inched one step nearer to profitable the Odell Beckham Jr. free agent sweepstakes.
But the Giants’ major supply of concern is that Saquon Barkley, the engine of their upstart season, has stalled out.
Barkley dropped a 4th and 1 cross from Jones with 4:07 left within the third quarter on the Giants’ 44-yard line, snowballing Dallas’ robust second-half begin into an avalanche.
And Barkley was bottled up for 39 speeding yards on 12 carries. That offers him a complete of 61 speeding yards on 26 carries within the Giants’ previous two video games for a 2.34 yards per carry common.
Barkley was accountable and pissed off with himself. He took duty for the fourth down drop.
“I gotta make that play,” he stated. “That’s it. I just gotta make the play. [Daboll] trusted us to go for it on 4th and 1 and make the play, and I didn’t make the play there for us. I gotta be better.”
Barkley additionally stated enhancing the operating recreation’s enchancment begins with him.
“I gotta do a better job,” he stated. “When the run game’s not working, it starts with the running back. So I gotta be better there, too. I view myself as a dynamic player. And that’s the type of player I want to be and I’ve got to be for this team.”
Jones contended he was at fault for placing that cross low and behind Barkley.
“Just a bad throw,” the quarterback stated. “I gotta get it out in front of him. Bad throw. Can’t miss that.”
But Daboll additionally had solely 10 offensive gamers on the sector for that pivotal play. Coaching is also in charge.
“Can’t happen,” Daboll stated.
Daboll’s resolution to make use of prime nook Adoree Jackson as a punt returner final week towards Detroit definitely has backfired, as properly.
Rodarius Williams and Julian Love each intercepted Dak Prescott in Thursday’s first half. But the shorthanded secondary had no reply for Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb and three touchdowns by Dallas tight ends, together with two for Dalton Schultz.
“Unacceptable,” Leonard Williams stated of the protection’s efficiency towards the run, on third downs and within the pink zone.
It doesn’t assist morale that the Cowboys utterly personal the Giants proper now, both.
The ‘Boys have received 11 of their final 12 conferences with the Giants and 16 of the final 21 relationship again to Oct. 2012. Prescott has a 10-2 report towards the Giants in 12 profession conferences, together with 10 straight wins.
“I was very aware I had those two losses my rookie year,” Prescott stated. “I’ve kept that in the forefront of my mind since.”
Cowboys defensive finish DeMarcus Lawrence even trash-talked the Giants’ sideline previous to the pivotal 4th and 1 within the third quarter like a schoolyard bully who knew he had the higher hand.
Lawrence had his fingers out saying “bring it on.” And the Giants didn’t convey it.
Now they don’t have any selection however to convey it the following three weeks towards Washington, the Eagles and the Commanders once more, in a string of NFC East clashes that can outline their season.
Jones stayed optimistic that the Giants nonetheless management their very own destiny and stated getting wholesome can be key throughout this nine-day break.
“We put ourselves in a real good position,” he stated. “Gotta heal up and take advantage of this long week. But we’re still confident. We’re 7-4 and we have a lot we still need to accomplish.”
And but, if Barkley’s not going, the Giants know they are going to discover it tough to beat something.
“Every time you lose, it sucks,” Barkley stated. “You get that nasty feeling within the pit of your abdomen, particularly when there’s a variety of issues you’ll be able to return and in the event you change it, you’ll be able to change the result of the sport. But hats off to them.
“They were the better team today.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com