ARLINGTON, Texas — After all the miserable defeats that the Giants have suffered to the Cowboys over the past nine years of a lopsided rivalry, there couldn’t be a new way to lose, right?
Never say never. Not with the Giants.
The Giants coughed up two separate 3-point leads in the final 52 seconds of regulation and wasted a vintage Russell Wilson 450-yard passing performance Sunday when Brandon Aubrey kicked a pair of long field goals, including a walk-off in overtime, to lift the Cowboys to a stunning 40-37 victory at AT&T Stadium.
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“If my man [Aubrey] for the Cowboys didn’t have a bionic leg,” receiver Darius Slayton said, “we probably do win.”
But the Giants don’t beat the Cowboys.
The Giants have lost nine straight and 16 of the past 17 in the rivalry, nine straight in Dallas, 14 straight against Dak Prescott and eight straight in the NFC East.
“That one was tough,” head coach Brian Daboll said. “Not going to sugarcoat it.”
All the twists and turns of a fourth quarter that featured 41 combined points — 17 in the last 52 seconds alone — gave way to the NFL’s first game under new overtime rules, in which both teams possess the ball as long as the 10-minute clock permits.
Wilson was completing improbable Moon Balls all over the field for the second-highest yardage game of his 14-year career but went to the well one too many times. He threw a forced deep shot to Malik Nabers on second-and-14 that was intercepted by Donovan Wilson to end the Giants’ second possession of overtime.
“Just believing in my guy,” Wilson said. “[Malik] had an unbelievable game. There is nobody I trust more. Just a little miscommunication, but we’re all on the same page.”
The teams traded scores on the final nine second-half possessions — five for the Cowboys and four for the Giants — and when all was said and done, the Giants’ 13-10 lead had become a 37-37 tie.
Any of those series would’ve been a good time for the vaunted Giants defense — built on four high-investment pass rushers and two premium free agent additions in the secondary — to step up and make a stop.
Instead, the Giants could not overcome an embarrassing 14 accepted penalties resulting in a franchise record 160 yards as a slew of personal fouls, pass interferences and multiple-foul plays added up. Not to mention another seven flags that were either offset or declined.
The two punts forced in overtime weren’t enough when a third stop was needed to eek out a tie.
“I think we beat ourselves — too many penalties and too many mental errors today and that’s kind of what dictated the game,” Dexter Lawrence II said. “We gave them too many second chances. We had 200 yards in penalties or something like that. You can’t win like that. That’s two touchdowns, at the end of the day.”
Except that the Giants had an 87.4 percent chance to win, according to ESPN analytics, after Nabers used his straight-line speed to split two defenders and haul in a 48-yard touchdown pass to give the Giants a 37-34 lead with 25 seconds remaining and ran off the field doing the put-to-sleep celebration.
“We did a lot of stupid sh–,” Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer said.
It was the second touchdown of the game for Nabers, who finished with nine catches for 167 yards.
“When Leek scored, I was like, ‘We’ve got to be able to get this one,’ ” Wan’Dale Robinson said. “But, obviously, football is crazy.”
Robinson (eight catches for 142 yards) was a big part of the craziness.
When it looked like the Giants might be finished — trailing 27-23 and facing fourth-and-4 with less than three minutes remaining — he burned his coverage for a sliding 32-yard touchdown catch.
The Cowboys responded with a George Pickens touchdown with 52 seconds left, Nabers caught his bomb with 25 seconds left and Aubrey forced overtime with a 64-yard field goal that was just 2 yards shy of the NFL regular-season record.
“It’s just throwing punches the whole second half,” said cornerback Dru Phillips, who battled with CeeDee Lamb and had an interception but a penalty for slamming him to the ground. “That was probably the most up-and-down game I’ve been a part of. There’s times we’re like, ‘Yeah!’ There’s times like, ‘Oh!’ ”
The Giants failed to capitalize on Phillips’ interception, turning it over on downs in the red zone for the last defensive stop by either team in regulation (with 10:20 remaining in the third quarter).
The next time the Giants were in scoring territory, rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart made his NFL debut. He handed off for a 24-yard gain on an RPO on the first of his three snaps.
Prescott always seemed to have an answer for Wilson, Dart or Daboll, as he threw for 361 yards and had the 28-yard scramble that set up the winning kick in the battle of teams that started 0-1 with division losses. He absorbed three sacks and eight hits.
“It was a must-win,” Prescott said. “Not to be 0-2 in the division.”
Now the Giants are 0-2 for the 10th time in the past 13 seasons — none of which have resulted in a playoff berth.
Giants’ Russell Wilson answers ‘the call,’ stars in OT loss
ARLINGTON, Texas — Veteran quarterback Russell Wilson heard there had “been a lot of noise.” He knew he needed to play better, especially with rookie Jaxson Dart lurking on the New York Giants roster.
All Wilson did on Sunday was throw for 450 yards and three touchdowns in a vintage performance during a 40-37 overtime loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
It wasn’t just any old game. Instead, it perhaps saved the 35-year-old’s career as a starter.
“This game meant a lot to me. It was time to answer the call,” Wilson said. “So that for me was important to do that. Not for anyone else, but for myself.”
With Dart, a first-round pick earlier this year, waiting in the wings, there were a lot of outside opinions that the Giants needed to replace Wilson as the starter with Dart, if not this week, then sooner rather than later.
But that was not the Giants’ preference. Sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter this week there was “no sense of urgency” to bench Wilson in favor of Dart. The Giants prefer to continue to be patient, let Wilson play well and give Dart the time he needs to develop.
Of course, that plan involved Wilson playing well, something he admittedly didn’t do in the opener against the Washington Commanders. He completed 46% of his passes in Week 1 and the Giants didn’t score a touchdown.
His performance against Dallas was a complete 180, aside from a late interception. It should be enough to silence the critics, for now at least.
“Russ is a dog. You all know it, New York media is not forgiving,” right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor said. “You’re here and everything is dissected, and they look at everything. If you play bad here or you have a bad play, it’s just blown up because it’s New York. So, Russ coming into Dallas today and doing everything he did, it was really cool to see.”
The only knock on Wilson’s performance was the interception in overtime where he took a deep shot to star wide receiver Malik Nabers. The two weren’t on the same page on the play, and Dallas later kicked a field goal to send the Giants (0-2) home with another loss.
Wilson and Nabers had connected on several other long balls throughout the contest, including for two touchdowns. One was a 48-yard strike with 25 seconds left in the fourth quarter that looked like it would be the winning score.
One week after being asked if Wilson would remain the starter, coach Brian Daboll didn’t face any similar questions in his postgame news conference Sunday.
“I don’t really think Russ worries about that to be honest with you,” Daboll said of him silencing the critics. “He’s done this for so long. He knows it’s going to come with the territory of being a quarterback in this league. Business as usual for him throughout the week — preparing, studying, doing all the things at practice. The other stuff that comes with it I don’t think he focuses on it.”
It’s still hard to ignore how important it was for Wilson to play well. He seemingly let his guard down for a minute during his postgame news conference by insisting there had been a lot of noise.
The Giants are Wilson’s fourth team in five years. It didn’t end all that well in Seattle, Denver and Pittsburgh.
The 10-time Pro Bowler and Super Bowl winner signed a one-year deal this offseason with the Giants, who drafted Dart one month later. The rookie is already the team’s No. 2 quarterback, ahead of Jameis Winston. Dart even took his first three NFL snaps Sunday against the Cowboys in running situations.
The presence of Dart has only amplified the public pressure on Wilson one week into the season. Not that he seems surprised.
“Someone once told me the greater you are great, the more they are going to hate,” Wilson said. “I’ll never forget. My dad was on his deathbed. I was playing college football. I had a pastor in North Carolina, at NC State, tell me that one day. And I was going through a lot of tough stuff. My dad on his deathbed. I was playing well, and I was going through this and that and I was going through some of the highest moments, but also some of the toughest moments personally. I never forget he told me that. The greater you are great, the more they are going to hate.
“So, for me, I embrace the noise. I don’t run from it.”
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