Dallas Cowboys Getting Closer to NFC East Crown After Victory Over New York
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There was nothing on the line for the New York Giants when they hosted the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, going on to lose to their NFC East rivals with a 21-6 final that could’ve been so much worse for them. Having won the coin toss and opting to receive, which was a curious plan, to say the least since something like that doesn’t seem to play out well for Dallas—then again it never does. Dak Prescott and the Cowboys’ struggling offense were off to a strong start on the opening drive but saw it killed by a penalty, leaving the field without any points and leaving the defense to give that spark they needed.
For the Cowboys, that’s what they needed, and that’s exactly what they got. DeMarcus Lawrence hit Mike Glennon and forced an errant pass that was reeled in for yet another interception by Jourdan Lewis. Even though things didn’t look too great on New Yorks’ end, the Cowboy’s didn’t need much firepower to take over to complete the season sweep of New York, something that’s becoming very consistent in this little rivalry.
Now that the Cowboys are sitting at 10-4 on the season while pushing the Giants down 4-10, it’s mission accomplished for Dallas in Week 15, in a game that saw the Giants hope Jaylon Smith could somehow save the day for them against his former team with only two days after signing.
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Sunday was the day that showed the Cowboys had interceptions out of the blue, and now having moved into the No. 3 seat in the NFC Standings, by thanks to the Arizona Cardinals losing to the Detroit Lions—an ending no one saw coming— there’s plenty of leeway for Dallas to run the table to end the regular season. However the offense needs to wake up and stay awake, but they’ll have to hope for a better go at that next week, but they did reward the defense for their amazing effort with a touchdown burst from Ezekiel Elliott early in the first half of the game to set the tone, and applying some pressure on Glennon to make up for his mistake with points. And not only that, but rookie Micah Parsons made an unreal play to peel off into coverage for a pass breakup on third-and-1 that ended in a field goal.
From that point on, it was another week that the Cowboys’ defense dominated another opponent while their offense did just enough to help out. Before the second quarter ended, Lawrence made his presence felt with a forced fumble, recovered by Carlos Watkins, in a game that is seeing the former continue his All-Pro form in the return from being injured since early December. But Prescott avoided throwing any interceptions, and his struggles were exaggerated by mostly good throws, unfortunately, being dropped by CeeDee Lamb, but Dalton Schultz would shake off his poor blocking by reeling in all eight of his targets for a team-high record for receiving yards, and a marvelous touchdown that made him the ultimate steady hand in the air, while Elliot and Pollard provided everything the team needed on the ground.
All in all, the game didn’t get out of hand early on, at least not to the degree the Cowboys would’ve wanted, which hinted at the Giants at least trying to leave it all on the field with the hopes of trying to upset Dallas. But of course, it wasn’t like that, because there was little that went well for New York in any way shape, or form of the game. Which in a way, aided in the Cowboys’ favor because there was no need to light up the scoreboard on this game. The Cowboys relatively just needed to play the game and not do anything remarkable to pull out a victory.
After Sunday, the Cowboys will get ready for a rematch with the Washington Football Team on Sunday, Dec. 26th at 7:20 PM hoping to finish a victory sweep for the year 2021.
