To be frank, it wasn’t good. In case you are not aware, the New York Giants played the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday. It was the first Sunday Night Football game of the year and there was a large amount of anticipation. Some story lines coming in to the game were Ezekiel Elliott, the Cowboys star running back, and his suspension. As well as the status of Giants star receiver Odell Beckham Jr. In the preseason it seemed likely that Beckham Jr. would play and Elliott would not. However, just the opposite of that happened. Elliott filed a lawsuit delaying his suspension to take place until after the Cowboys week one game. Beckham Jr. on the other hand, warmed up but it was decided that his ankle, injured during the preseason, was not ready to go. So even before the game the Giants suffered a loss and the Cowboys gained perhaps their best player.
The Game:
Dallas received the opening kickoff and was forced to punt shortly there after. I remember thinking at this point that I was not particularly worried about the defense. However I was very concerned about how the offense would perform, especially missing one of its top weapons in Beckham Jr. My concerns soon materialized as the Giants went three and out. Eli being sacked on third down, leading me to my next thought. The defense was one of the best in the league last year. Led by the likes of Landon Collins and Damon “Snacks” Harrison. The offense coming into this year had promise. Steady, but aging Eli Manning at the helm of the ship. With weapons like running back Paul Perkins, who showed spurts of promise last year, a solid receiving core of Beckham Jr., Brandon Marshall and Sterling Shepard in the slot, and a new weapon in tight end Evan Engram. However there was and is a glaring weakness in the Giants offense. The offensive line. It seems the past few years this unit has been weak. However, this year it is clearly evident as it seems the offense should do well. Eli has plenty of weapons to choose from but he often doesn’t have time. Some of the running game woes can surely be attributed to the struggling offensive line. Ereck Flowers, the left tackle, had a rough rookie year. But he reportedly trained very hard in the off season. He appeared to be making some progress on Sunday. The other side of the line right guard John Jerry and right tackle Bobby Hart appear to be struggling the most. On the Giants third offensive play the Cowboys ran a stunt and beat Jerry and Hart for a sack. The Cowboys ended up with three sacks on the game. The offense gained only 35 yards rushing and 198 yards passing. Ending up with a meager 13 first downs. Another key stat was time of possession. At the end it was rather even 25:46 for the Giants and 34:14 for the Cowboys. However, in the early going the Cowboys were dominating T.O.P, due to the Giants offense or lack there of, likely tiring out the Giants defense. So all of this combined lead to certain defeat for the Giants, losing 19-3. The Giants play the Detroit Lions on Monday. The Lions had a good comeback win against a solid, although less so now because of the David Johnson injury, Cardinals team.
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There will be another post later in the week previewing the Giants vs Lions.
Until then thanks for reading feel free to leave any comments.