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New York Giants: Why the Giants lost to Dallas

By Michael Stewart

The New York Giants opened the 2017 season with a very disappointed lost to the Dallas Cowboys 19-3. The Giants were totally outplayed by the Cowboys in every way. Not sure a healthy OBJ would have made a difference, unless he could play the OL and block. Below are my top reasons why the Giants lost:

Top reasons why the Giants lost

  1. Lack of a running attack: The Giants had a grand total of 35 yards rushing for the game against a Dallas defense that at best will be ranked in the middle of the league. If this continues to be an issue, the Giants will be in for a very long season.
  2. Time of Possession: The Cowboys controlled this game by keeping the Giants defense on the field for too long for nearly 35 minutes. Long sustaining drives slowly wore down a Giants defense that really didn’t play bad at all.
  3. Battle in the trenches: As noted in my preview, the Giants needed to win the battle in the trenches and control the line of scrimmage on both sides. They did well respectfully on the defensive side of the ball, however; the offensive line failed to show up.
  4. No OBJ, no help: If game 1 is going to be an indication of what the Giants offense will function without a healthy OBJ, expect to be selecting in the top 10 of the 2018 draft. Brandon Marshall was the best example of this as he was totally non-existent with only 1 catch for 10 yards.

Hero: Ezekiel Elliott rushed for 104 yards and was used as a decoy on many play action plays which resulted in the Cowboys only TD to Jason Witten.

Goat: Brandon Marshall was signed to be the big target to compliment OBJ and the Giants offensive attack. Instead Marshall was a big dud and didn’t show up at all.

Final Thoughts: The OL problem of the Giants has been noted many times in the past and it continues to be a major concern for this team. Most notably the play of OT’s Ereck Flowers and Bobby Hart looked over matched at times against the Cowboys DE’s who are at best above average in talent.

Head Coach Ben McAdoo needs to address this issue immediately with personal changes to shake things up.