Last Sunday, the New York Giants entered a boisterous, antagonistic environment, in an 0-3 hole for the third season in the last five, for a game with so much on the line for both themselves and the opposing New Orleans Saints. Kudos to complete composure on the offensive side of the ball, they left the Bayou with an incredible 11-point comeback in the fourth quarter and overtime to steal their first win of the season.
Coming into Week 5, the Giants had another game on their docket carrying an enormous amount of significance–a divisional matchup with arguably their most hated rival, the Dallas Cowboys. Unfortunately this time, they found themselves departing AT&T Stadium on the wrong side of history, and with a ton of difficult questions left to be answered that go beyond the X’s and O’s on tape.
Three hundred sixty-four days to the day of his season-ending ankle injury against the Giants in Week 5 of 2020, Dak Prescott showcased the remarkable results of his year-long recovery, completing 22 passes for 302 yards and three touchdowns as the Dallas Cowboys torched the Giants, 44-20. The win improves Dallas’ record to 4-1 atop the NFC East, awarding them a fourth straight victory and their fifth straight against the Giants at home dating back to 2017.
While one will typically look towards the stat sheet for the numbers that defined the Giants’ performance, the real story could instead be found on the team’s injury report. The Giants entered Sunday without four of their eleven starting offensive players from Week 1, and after sixty minutes in Dallas they lost another four to devastating injuries and a fifth to a late game ejection.
Star running back Saquon Barkley was one of the walking, or hobbling, wounded in the brutal loss. Barkley, just weeks removed from returning to the field after a year-long ACL recovery, exited the game with about 6 minutes left in the opening quarter after rolling his left ankle on the foot of Cowboys defensive back Jourdan Lewis on an incomplete pass play.. Early medical evaluations ruled him out with an ankle sprain that team doctors believe has no ligament damage or breaks, but more tests are to come on Monday.
Already left quivering at the sight of Barkley’s inflated ankle, the Giants’ injury woes got even worse from there.
With just over three minutes left in the first half, ball on the Cowboys half-yard line on 3rd and goal, Daniel Jones rolled out left on a quarterback keep, attempting to beat the Dallas defenders to the goalline for the game-tying touchdown. Instead of crossing the plane, he was met helmet-to-helmet at the 1-yard line by Cowboys linebacker Jabril Cox, enduring a brutal hit to the head that briefly left him on the ground before walking woozily towards the sideline. Jones was taken out on a cart by team medical staff and evaluated for what later was diagnosed a concussion.
The buck didn’t stop there either, as the Giants returned from the halftime break without wide receiver Kenny Golladay who was ruled out with a knee injury, and defensive back Rodarius Williams who suffered the same injury.
Head coach Joe Judge was unable to offer much of an update on the statuses of his injured players, but he did say that Jones was at least alert and conversive following his concussion.
“I’m not going to go into any medical diagnosis. I saw him in the locker room afterwards right there, just checked on him. In terms of next week, I’ll answer for you right now. We’ll see where he goes. Obviously, we’re all hopeful that he’ll be back and that he’ll be healthy.”
“He was able to speak.”
Jones finished his outing with 5 completions on 13 passes for 98 yards, and it took the efforts of backup running back Devontae Booker on the next play to cap off the 12 play, 78-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run on 4th and goal to tie the game at 10-10.
The Cowboys would respond back with an 8 play, 75 yard drive ending in a 24-yard touchdown catch by Amari Cooper to regain the lead, 17-10, at halftime.
With the Giants having to forget about the disastrous initial thirty minutes and return to the field to try to win a football game, Jones’ departure meant the first regular season appearance of his Giants’ stint for backup quarterback Mike Glennon. Last starting in the final five games of the 2020 season for the Jacksonville Jaguars, the nine-year NFL veteran with 27 career starts to his resume commanded the Giants’ offense in the second half with complete composure, and for the early part of the third quarter kept them hanging around.
Glennon completed 16 of his 25 passes for 196 yards and a touchdown, and despite two awful interceptions, one of which was clawed out of the air on a deep ball by Cowboys corner Trevon Diggs in the third quarter, helped orchestrate two 10+ play drives that prevented the Cowboys from running the score up even higher.
On the second of those two drives, Glennon capped a 11 play, 75-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Devontae Booker to cut the Giants’ deficit to 34-20 in the fourth quarter. The score was Booker’s second of the game, and he became the first Giants running back since Ahmad Bradshaw in 2012 to score a rushing and receiving touchdown against Dallas in a single game.
“Mike does a good job of preparing,” said Judge about Glennon after the game. “I thought in terms of the eyeball test that him getting out there today, there were a lot of things he did well, a lot of positions he put us in with a chance to have success. Mike’s had a lot of experience. In terms of how he comes to work to prepare every day as if he’s going to take every snap, I thought that showed up on the field today in terms of how he performed.”
If the Giants find themselves having to play Glennon for a second consecutive game next Sunday at home against the LA Rams, Judge is confident that his backup can uphold the team’s game plan and lead the offense.
“Mike can run the offense. It’s as simple as that. Our deal is when a guy gets in, we’re going to go ahead and stick to the game plan as much as we can, because there’s always maybe a curve ball here or there for a specific player. Yeah, there’s things within the game plan you kind of pencil in for a certain receiver, tight end, running back, maybe even the quarterback. But I’d say, in terms of Mike, the plan would be for him to just go out there and run the offense.”
Finding a truly positive storyline from Sunday’s demolishing loss is very difficult, however one would be remiss to neglect the breakout performance of rookie wide receiver Kadarius Toney. Even before the injuries to his teammates began, Toney, already improving his stat sheets over the past two games, tore up the Cowboys’ defense that had no answers for him the entire game. As Glennon tried to explain in the postgame, the first round draft pick played like he was a human joystick.
“Man, he’s special,” said Glennon. “I think he showed what he’s capable of doing…You just don’t see that at the NFL level often, making guys miss like that. He’s got a unique skill set that we’re all finally seeing.”
Toney led all Giants receivers with 10 receptions for 189 yards, and his nifty footwork was a huge factor in extending his completion yards and the Giants’ offensive drives in the second half. His longest reception of the game was marked at 38 yards, and his average was 18.9 yards each.
Due to the way he was dominating in the second half, Toney became the centerpiece of the Giants’ playbook. On 3rd down and goal from the Dallas 9-yard line in the early fourth quarter, Toney became a wildcat quarterback, taking the direct snap and running it for seven yards before being wrapped up just outside the endzone. The next play, however, he missed an open look on 4th down in the endzone that was questioned for pass interference yet stalled the Giants from getting another score on the board, meaningless or not.
Toney’s performance even broke the Giants’ single game rookie receiving record, previously held by Odell Beckham Jr. Then, like Beckham, he had to add an element of drama to the story and leave a scar on his day.
Following a 15-yard reception that ended with him being thrown down somewhat extracurricularly by Cowboys safety Damontae Kazee, Toney stood up and made his first rookie emotional miscue, punching Kazee in the helmet during a scuffle that ensued after the play, Both players were penalized for their actions, but Toney’s night would end short of 200 receiving yards as he was ejected from the game with around 6 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
“Look, there’s a pretty distinct line in terms of competing and doing the things we’re not going to condone as a team that put us behind. That’s not going to be accepted. It’s not going to be condoned,” said Joe Judge about Toney’s ejection.
In terms of what Judge learned about Toney’s performance before the punch.
“He’s a very talented player. I’ve said for a number of weeks, especially at that position, the
receiver position, it takes some time to learn. There are a lot of differences coming from college to the League for those positions.”
“He’s building a lot of technique, a lot of savvy. He’s really understanding what the
other teams are giving him. He’s making plays. He was highly productive for us today in terms of making plays, getting down the field.”
Outside of Prescott’s dominance on the Cowboys side, running back Ezekiel Elliott likely frustrated the Giant fan watching at home with his 21 carry, 110 yard and one touchdown performance, which he encapsulated with a high-step dance move as he ran into the endzone for his other receiving touchdown in the third quarter.
A 45-yard interception return by Anthony Brown late in the fourth quarter all but put things on ice in AT&T. Brown became the first Giants opponent to score a defensive touchdown since himself back in 2020 when he scored on a 29-yard fumble return in MetLife Stadium on Oct. 11th.
Safety Logan Ryan and linebacker Tae Crowder led the Giants defense with eight tackles each, with Ryan credited for six solo stops and Crowder with five.
While the Cowboys have strengthened their grip on the NFC East leaderboard, it’s the Giants who get sent home 1-4 with a cast of walking wounded and a lot of uncertainty. To make things more daunting, their upcoming game features a visit from the red hot Los Angeles Rams (4-1) and Matthew Stafford who’s been having an MVP-caliber season thus far.
The Giants upcoming five games also feature bouts with the Panthers (3-2), Chiefs (2-3), Raiders (3-2), and defending Super Bowl champion, Tampa Bay (4-1). I would love to be the optimist in the room, but even the most faithful are searching desperately for a possible win in that stretch.
The first game, if not two, of that stretch may have to be played without Daniel Jones, Saquon Barkley, Kenny Golladay, and Sterling Shepard, who’ve only played 17 total snaps with each other since the season began on Sept. 12th.
Still, the Giants are going to maintain their next-man-up mentality heading into work this week, and Coach Joe Judge believes there are positive things for the “next guy” to take away from his performance should his name be called to start next Sunday.
“There were some things we did well in the game, some things we were encouraged by. Obviously, it wasn’t good enough to come away with the results we wanted right there.”
“Our guys are going to keep playing. That’s not even going to be a question. We’re going to play for 60 minutes. You don’t want anybody to get hurt. You don’t want your teammates to get hurt. You don’t want the other team to get hurt, either. I say it all the time but that’s just the truth…
In terms of the next-man-up mentality, well, there’s a lot of good examples today in the game. We had guys stepping up, taking on different roles, being productive, making plays.
“I expect whoever’s in the game to play. I expect the entire team to come down here ready to go. I tell the guys all the time whoever’s in the game, I expect to play and I expect to be productive.”
Who’s going to be the productive player for the Giants in Week 6? Stay tuned to find out.
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