ARLINGTON, Texas — Finally, the Dallas Cowboys got a win in front of the home crowd at AT&T Stadium by beating the New York Giants 27-20 on Thursday.
The annual Thanksgiving game was a joyous one for the Cowboys, who had struggled to play in front of their fans this season, but that was not the case in the win.
The Cowboys have now won three straight Turkey Day games, all against NFC East opponents, and have started their second winning streak of the year. At 5-7, the playoff hopes are still alive for a team that many had left for dead.
In a battle of the backup quarterbacks, the Cowboys were favored to beat the Giants, who were playing their third QB in three weeks. That didn’t stop New York from taking the lead on their first possession to cast doubts on whether or not Dallas would be celebrating the holidays at home.
Dallas had a strong drive to open the game themselves, but couldn’t put the ball in the end zone and settled for a Brandon Aubrey field goal. The Giants answered with a 13-play, 70-yard drive where they scored their first touchdown on their opening possession since Week 2. Early in the game, it felt like most of the other home contests for the Cowboys, who have now given up touchdowns on the first series in five of their six home games.
However, it didn’t take long for Mike McCarthy’s team to settle down and take control in this one. After a second promising drive ended with another three points, the defense turned back the clock to look more like the unit from the last three seasons when Dallas was averaging 12 wins per season.
Linebacker DeMarvion Overshown made the play of the day when he bullied running back Devin Singletary by running through him, knocking Giants’ QB Drew Lock’s screen pass in the air, intercepting his own deflection, and returning the INT 23 yards for the score.
In a season that hasn’t had many bright spots, Overshown continues to show that he’s a player that Dallas can build their defense around. There won’t be many better plays than the one that the second-year LB made to put the Cowboys up 13-7.
The oft-maligned Cowboys’ defense didn’t stop there, either. The Dallas pass rush went on to have six sacks on the game, tying their season high. Edge rusher Micah Parsons led the charge with 1.5 sacks and had six more pressures on Lock, who was ineffective when throwing.
That’s back-to-back impressive defensive performances from Mike Zimmer’s group, a sign things might be starting to click.
On offense, meanwhile, it was another efficient game with Cooper Rush under center. Rush only threw for 195 yards, but he was smart with the ball and tossed a big touchdown to veteran wide receiver Brandin Cooks to give Dallas a 20-10 lead and help ease some of their season-long third quarter issues.
On the score, McCarthy brought back a play that was successful for the offense last year when they used Cooks on a drag across the field and he made the catch near the back pylon. That play can only work if your offensive line can pass block long enough for Cooks to hit his spot, and the offensive line held up.
The OL is also improving as the year wears on, and they were good again against a Giants defense that was fifth in the league in sacks. Rush wasn’t sacked in the victory and the offensive line opened holes for running back Rico Dowdle to run through.
Dowdle, in more of a featured back role, ran for 112 yards and a touchdown, giving the veteran runner his first 100-yard rushing game of his career, and the first 100-yard game for a Cowboys’ RB since Week 3 of last year.
The Cowboys have been telling everyone for the past few weeks not to quit on them, and they’ve answered the bell two weeks in a row. This was a game that Dallas had to win to build some momentum, and they had the opportunity to beat a bad team to give fans some hope that the season isn’t over. That’s exactly what happened, after an early slip up, the Cowboys easily handled the Giants and remained in the NFC playoff picture.
The holiday contest displayed exactly the way that the Cowboys must win games. If Dallas can get efficient QB play from Rush, avoid mistakes, lean into the running game, and play good defense, they have a chance. It was the formula to beat the Commanders last Sunday, and it was on display again in the win over the Giants.
The Cowboys might not be all the way back just yet, but they are playing much better and it had to feel great to earn a home win to get that monkey off their backs after not tasting victory in their building since a win over the Detroit Lions back in Week 16 of last season.
There’s more work to do but beating the Giants was another step in the right direction. For the first time this year the Cowboys enjoyed the home cooking, and appropriately, it came on Thanksgiving.
Do you think the Cowboys have turned the corner after their second win in a row over NFC East opponents? Share your thoughts with Ben on X (formerly Twitter) @BenGrimaldi.
