40-0 — ARE THE GIANTS THIS BAD OR ARE THE COWBOYS THIS GOOD?!
By Ben Sullivan
The Dallas Cowboys marched into the MetLife Stadium and let the New York beat themselves on the way to a 40-0 victory.
By the start of the fourth quarter, with the rain and the home team’s performance driving the crowd away, “Let’s Go Cowboys!” chants filled the stadium.
It was the fifth time since 2007 the two teams have played Week 1 on “Sunday Night Football.” Dallas has now won in four of those instances. In the 12 times the two teams have competed to start a campaign, the Cowboys have won all but once. Dallas has won five in a row against New York and have won 12 of the last 13 against their NFC East rival.
Last night, the Giants simply could not get out of their own way, and the Cowboys were happy for that to be the case.
Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott has thrown more touchdowns against the Giants (23) than any other team in the league, and he didn’t need to add to that total in the blowout win. Contributions and scoring on special teams and defense, plus a pair of short-yardage touchdowns from running back Tony Pollard (14 rushes, 70 yards), made that possible. Kavontae Turpin also had a rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter to put the finishing touches on the 40-point beatdown.
Prescott was 13-for-24 for 143 yards, 49 of which came on a connection with CeeDee Lamb in the first quarter that set up a field goal.
The Giants drove down the field on the first drive of the game with Daniel Jones and running back Saquon Barkley moving the chains with their legs. Inside the red zone, rookie center John Michael Schmitz botched the snap and Jones fell on the ball to recover it. Graham Gano trotted out to attempt a 45-yard field goal, but Juanyeh Thomas pierced through the line of scrimmage to block the kick. Offseason acquisition Noah Igbinoghene scooped the loose ball and returned it 58 yards for the Cowboys’ first score of 2023.
