The Cowboys were the stuffing and the Giants where the green bean casserole of the Thanksgiving meal. It was a long, hard wait, taking six attempts and nearly three months of the season, but for the first time in 2024, the Dallas Cowboys are winners at home in ‘Jerry’s World’.
Dallas confused and agitated New York Giants quarterback Drew Lock, who just found out he was starting Wednesday night, in a 27-20 Thanksgiving win on Thursday.
The victory was the start of a winning streak, two in a row, for the Cowboys in a season filled with disappointment and injuries to key players. It was the first win at home after going 0-5 at AT&T Stadium. It comes against a Giants team in turmoil (2-10) that is in the depth of a worse season than the Cowboys.
“We just needed that one last week, kind of get the ball rolling, felt that victory feeling in the locker postgame last week,” Rush said of the wild 34-26 victory at Washington. “Everything’s kind of coming together, feeling good about it.”
Lock got his first start on Thursday since signing a one-year, $5M contract with the ‘G Men’ to back up Daniel Jones in the offseason. Things did not go his way at all. Jones was released last Friday because the organization did not want to be on the hook for the $23M it would have cost them if he got injured.
“This is one of my first times to be able to come in and play a full game with these guys and show them what I can do,” Lock said. “Minus the turnovers and a few things, it was up and down. Some good. Some bad.”
DeMarvion Overshown broke up a screen play in the first half and intercepted the tipped ball for a pick 6 for the Cowboys’ first touchdown of the afternoon.
Embed from Getty Images“I was thinking, ‘Hey, this is a good time to have those afterburners going,’” said Overshown, who missed his rookie season with a knee injury. “I was able to kick in some nitrous, and we were dancing in the end zone after that.”
The Giants had an opportunity to tie or take the lead on their first possession of the third quarter but Lock turned the ball over again on a strip-sack by Eric Kendricks. Overshown was ‘Johnny on the spot’, who has a great nose for the ball, got the turnover and jumped on the loose ball for the fumble recovery.
Six plays later, running back Rico Dowdle got into the endzone for a 4-yard touchdown run, his first score of the season, to extend the Cowboys’ lead to 20-10, and the game was over right then and there for all intent and purposes. A touchdown pass from Rush to Brandin Cooks extended the Dallas lead to 17, 27-10, and ‘America’s Team’ had a strangle hold on the contest and was in control late in the third quarter.
A field goal and a late touchdown scramble by Lock trimmed the lead to one possession and put a little semblance of pressure on the Cowboys in the game’s final minutes. But there was no Giants rally in the cards on this day, not even with Tom Brady in the building and the Cowboys secured the win to improve to 5-7 on the season.
“I don’t like the results,” Giants coach Brian Daboll said. “Nobody likes the results. But again, I have confidence in the people. Just got to do better.”
The Cowboys got to Lock and brought him down six times. They forced one pick and a forced fumble. Lock finished the day completing 21 of 32 passes for 178 yards with no passing touchdowns and the pick-6.
On the offensive side of the ball, the Cowboys controlled the game on the ground and got 112 yards and a touchdown from Dowdle. Rush completed 21 of 36 passes for 195 yards with a touchdown and no turnovers.
The W does little to improve the Cowboys’ long-shot chances of making the playoffs as they play the final handful of games on their schedule without injured starting quarterback Dak Prescott. But it was certainly better than the alternative, which would have been another embarrassing loss at home in front of their fans, against an inferior team on the Thanksgiving stage.
The Giants’ season goes from bad to worse with the loss. Lock is New York’s third quarterback to start this season after the benching and release of Daniel Jones. Tommy DeVito, aka “Tommy Cutlets” started last week in a blowout 30-7 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Neither provide hope of making the Giants competitive or even respectable. New York’s 2-10 record is the worst in the NFL.
The Giants host Derek Carr and the New Orleans Saints at home on December 8.
The Cowboys have a mini-bye plus a day before the Cincinnati Bengals come to town on December 9 for Monday Night Football.
