The Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants game was everything that I expected. I knew we would see a hard-fought battle by both ball clubs and that the outcome would ultimately be determined in the final few plays.
That just seems to be the way things go when these two teams face off against one another. Unfortunately, things just didn’t go the Cowboys way this time.
In all honesty, I think the Cowboys should have probably won this game, and that has nothing to do with how things ended with Terrance Williams in the final seconds of the game.
A lot of people will lay the blame on what Williams did at the end of the game, but the truth is the Cowboys offense had several opportunities to get in the end zone instead of having to settle for field goals.
It isn’t really fair to lay the blame on one individual player when you take into account that this is a team sport. The fact of the matter is the Cowboys had their opportunities they were just unable to capitalize when it mattered the most.
Having said all of that, let’s take a look at who’s stock is up and who’s is down after the loss to the New York Giants.
Who stock is up?
Dan Bailey
The Dallas Cowboys have a tremendous weapon in Dan Bailey. He was the sole reason why the Cowboys were in a position to win the game at the end.
How many teams are in the league would love to have a kicker like Bailey?
Someone they can send out on the field to attempt a 56 yard field goal and have the faith that it is pretty much a guarantee that he will make it.
That is exactly what the Dallas Cowboys have in Dan Bailey and the sole reason why they had a chance at the end if there would have been even a second left on the clock.
Cole Beasley
When it comes to making clutch plays in key situations, it seems that’s when offensive coordinator Scott Linehan dials up a play that puts Cole Beasley a best position to convert.
Beasley is a mismatch problem for just about any defensive back in the NFL that has the unfortunate task of covering him out of the slot. His quickness and route running ability makes him virtually unrecoverable, which makes him the quarterback’s best friend.
I previously wrote an article about who benefits most with Dak Prescott at QB,in which I explained why Cole Beasley is the answer.
Beasley made some key third-down conversions and should of had a walk-in touchdown if not for an overthrow pass by Dak Prescott. I expect more of the same from Beasley for the rest of the 2016 season.
Dak Prescott
Dak Prescott did everything in his power to help the Dallas Cowboys come away with a victory Sunday afternoon against the New York Giants.
He was able to put together several long clock eating drives against the Giants defense, but was unable to finish them off with a touchdown.
He showed the poise in the pocket of a veteran QB and was able to work through his progressions finding the open receiver.
He did have a few overthrown passes, but was pretty accurate for the majority of the night.
Prescott seems to be the real deal and didn’t make any rookie mistakes. That’s good news for the Dallas Cowboys organization. He gives them a chance to win ball games and could possibly be the future franchise quarterback once Tony Romo calls it quits.
Who stock is down?
Dez Bryant
Was it just me or was anyone else confused by the way Dez Bryant was used in this ballgame?
I would’ve thought that the coaching staff would have gotten Bryant involved early with may be a few short passes to help set the tone for the offense, but that didn’t happen.
He was only targeted a handful of times and those were mostly deep passes that put him in a jump ball situation. Normally, he’s able to make those contested catches, but unfortunately things didn’t go his way against the Giants.
That’s why Bryant’s stock is down. I don’t know if it’s that he still a little rusty or the fact the coaching staff failed to put him in more favorable situations.
It is something that is definitely worth paying attention to as the season progresses.
Terrance Williams
Terrance Williams makes this list because the only time he really showed up in the game was the reason why a lot of Cowboys fans were left screaming at their television yesterday.
Mistakes happen in the NFL, but unfortunately Williams’ mistake might have cost the Cowboys a win yesterday in the final seconds of the game against the Giants.
It looked as if Williams had enough room to make it to the sideline and stop the clock, thus giving Dan Bailey the opportunity to kick another 50+ field goal. For some reason or another he thought he had enough time to get up the field and gain a little bit more yards, but unfortunately that just wasn’t the case.
Who knows what was running through his head? He made a split-second decision and unfortunately it was just the wrong one.
Ezekiel Elliott
It was fairly obvious that the New York Giants were going to do their best to take Ezekiel Elliott out of the game, but I was really surprised that they would be so effective.
It’s not entirely Elliott’s fault, but I think his stock is down slightly more due to the fact that Alfred Morris looked like the better of the two running backs Sunday afternoon.
Honestly, I think Scott Linehan could’ve put Elliott in better situations to showcase his skill set, but that didn’t happen, thus Elliott’s stock falling a little bit.
Hopefully, things will come together and we will see improvement for the rest of the 2016 season.
Do you agree or disagree with the Dallas Cowboys players on this list?
Please feel free to use the comment section below to share your thoughts and opinions on this topic.
The offensive coordinator was bad didn’t put the team in position to win
Thanks for commenting Timothy. I agree with you, I think Scott Linehan did a poor job of using all of the weapons at his disposal to create mismatches with the Giants defense. The fact that Dez Bryant wasn’t utilized more often was perhaps the biggest disappointment. Then, they continued to call running plays designed to go right at the strength of the Giants defense. They’re not going to win very many games if they continue like this.
I think you miss the mark when you say Dez is down because you were confused by how he was used. It is safer to say he was down because he bobbled a catch in the end zone he historically would make. He has no control over how he was used. You say Cole Beasley is up after missing a sure TD catch? I disagree. He was one reason they lost the game. I would say the coaching staff was down for having a flawed game plan in too many check down throws, not enough deep passes and esp. no real use of Brice Butler (remember him???) they ran the ball with Elliott right up the gut, they failed to use Dunbar or Elliott on screens, Church wasn’t really a factor and Byron Jones was late helping on the deep Odell pass. Also the O line got physically abused by NY’s front 4. They should have been embarrassed. Why no Doug Free???
Ethan, Beasley had a really good game and converted a lot of third downs that allowed the Cowboys to continue a lot of their drives. The pass he failed to catch that would’ve been a walk-in touchdown was a poorly thrown ball that was both high and behind him. If it would’ve been a more accurate pass he would have walked in easily. And I believe I mentioned that Dez was down because of the way he was utilized. I thought it was strange that they didn’t try to complete any short to intermediate passes to him. But I agree with you that the coaching staff, Scott Linehan in particular, failed to come up with a better game plan against the Giants defense. They simply fell to use all of the weapons they have at their disposal and instead continued to run plays that played to the strength of the Giants defense.
I believe in all honesty that, except for the wrong decision by Terrance Williams , you are Down Stocking players when in reality it was the Coaching Staff bad decisions.. Just saying…
Ramiro, I don’t disagree. I think I based this list more on the impact they had on the game than individual results. The coaching staff certainly didn’t do Dez Bryant any favors by only targeting him five times.