The young and hungry Dallas Cowboys made a statement by shellacking their division rivals, the New York Giants, on Sunday. Additionally, Dak Prescott had one of his best performances ever.
The first week of the NFL regular season hasn’t even concluded, yet some of last year’s squads are picking up where they left off. The Dallas Cowboys were certainly one of them on Sunday.
For Dallas this meant beating down on the little brother of their division, the New York Giants. Putting together a 35-17 victory over a team that won just five games in 2018, Jason Garrett’s bunch managed to score five touchdowns in the first three quarters of the game.
With the ink still drying on his six-year, $90 million contract extension, running back Ezekiel Elliott was relatively quiet in his season debut. Rushing for 51 yards and a touchdown, New York’s front seven did a solid job containing one of the league’s best players. What stood out on offense for Dallas was quarterback Dak Prescott.
In search of a contract extension of his own, Prescott delivered with one of the best performances of his career. Shredding the Giants’ defense for 405 yards and tying his career-high with four touchdowns, the fourth-year field general was excellent.
He was more than willing to spread the wealth, too. Amari Cooper, Randall Cobb, Blake Jarwin and Jason Witten each had a receiving touchdown. In addition to the aforementioned quartet having success against New York, Michael Gallup kicked off his sophomore campaign with a game-high 158 receiving yards.
While Giants signal-caller Eli Manning compiled 306 passing yards, it took him 44 attempts to do so. Good for just 6.95 yards per attempt, that figure would have been sandwiched between Andy Dalton and Sam Darnold in 2018.
One blemish on Dallas’ postgame resume is how much trouble it had containing Saquon Barkley. The reigning Offensive Rookie of the Year rushed for 120 yards on just 11 carries in the game. He failed to find the end zone, though — something the Giants did just twice as a team throughout the entirety of the contest.
All-in-all, the Dallas Cowboys flexed their muscles against a far inferior opponent. Coming off a 10-6 season and a trip to the NFC Divisional Round, expectations are high in Big D. If Sunday was any indication, though, perhaps those expectations can be met.