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By Jean-Jacques Taylor
11:00 AM on Nov 5, 2019
Here are 10 truths from the Cowboys’ win over the New York Giants...
-- DeMarcus Lawrence played one of his best games of the season. They need this dude every week. A sack. Two tackles for loss. Three hits on the quarterback. Lawrence looked like a $100-million player against New York. The Cowboys need this every week.
-- Michael Bennett showed us why the Cowboys acquired him. He was disruptive inside as a pass-rusher and against the run. He’s just what the Cowboys hoped he would be. The two offsides penalties were bad, but he finished with three tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack.
-- Blake Jarwin is the Giants’ killer. In his last three games against the Giants, he has 11 catches for 200 yards and five touchdowns. In his other 20 NFL games, he has 28 catches for 269 yards and a touchdown. His 42-yard catch-and-run in the final minute of the first half might turn out to be the season’s biggest play when it’s all said and done.
-- Xavier Woods had a huge game with an interception that led to the field goal at the end of the first half that gave Dallas a 13-12 lead, and had a big hit on Daniel Jones that forced a fumble, leading to another field goal. Maybe, he was inspired by all the Jamal Adams trade talk.
-- It seemed like Tony Pollard saw his most extensive action of the season in a close game. He started poorly by stepping out of bounds with the opening kickoff. Then on the second possession, he didn’t locate the ball on a wheel route that had a chance to be a touchdown. Then, he dropped a screen that was set up nicely, leading a to a field goal. But he stopped the mistakes and finished with 21 yards on three carries and one catch for nine yards.
-- Brett Maher made field goals of 34, 52 and 28. The 52-yard kick at the end of the first half came on the right hash mark where he has struggled. But the kick was strong and would have been good from 60 yards. He is a weapon. That said, he did miss a 54-yard kick that put the Giants in position to score.
-- Michael Gallup said he didn’t really start trusting his knee until he went through practice during the bye week. Gallup, who missed two weeks after surgery to repair a torn meniscus, scored on a sensational 15-yard catch-and-run. He caught a short pass along the right sideline, hurdled a diving defender and somersaulted into the end zone.
-- This game was always going to be about the Cowboys’ defense. It was up to them to shut down Saquon Barkley, Evan Engram and Golden Tate. Barkley had 28 yards on 14 carries, though he did take a fourth-quarter screen 65 yards to set up a field goal. Engram caught six passes for 48 yards and Tate had six catches for 42 yards.
-- A lot of y’all wondered why Sean Lee was still on the roster. You saw why. He had 12 tackles and played well, as I figured he would, with a full week of practice. Starter Leighton Vander Esch missed the game with a strained neck, but there was no drop off with Lee in the game.
-- Cornerback Jourdan Lewis is a playmaker who’s going to force himself on the field even when an injured Anthony Brown (hamstring) returns to full health. Lewis returned a fumble for a touchdown in the final minute. Against the New York Jets he intercepted a pass. The ball seems to find him and the Cowboys need as many of those players on the field as they can get.
