EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. _ The Dallas Cowboys are at the survive-and-advance mode of their season.
They don't have to win pretty. They just have to win. Period.
Aesthetics be damned.
And with that intro, consider Sunday's 30-10 victory against the New York Giants before a largely disinterested crowd of 78,125 at MetLife Stadium.
"To me, the biggest part of this game was the finish," Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. "That's always a huge emphasis for us. Finishing plays, finishing drives and ultimately finishing the game. We knew it was going to be a 60-minute game.
"It seemed like it was 10-10 for a long time, but you just keep banging away."
It was a borefest for the better of three quarters, featuring penalties, execution breakdowns and dropped passes galore.
But for the Cowboys, it goes down as another notch on their belt in their quest to win out and keep their playoff hopes alive.
The Cowboys (7-6) have won two consecutive games after ending a three-game losing streak with a 38-14 victory against the Washington Redskins.
They still need lots of help to overcome the Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, Seattle Seahawks, Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions in the wild-card playoff chase.
But the Cowboys have hope.
They get a reeling Oakland Raiders team next Sunday before suspended star running back Ezekiel Elliott returns for the final two games, starting with a Dec. 24 match-up against the Seahawks.
But there is also much promise in the undeterred and unfazed play and presence of quarterback Dak Prescott, who passed for a career-high 332 yards and three touchdowns against the 2-11 Giants.
"We were doing some good things in the running game. We just needed to break loose a couple of times in the passing game," Garrett said. "As the game went on, we were able to do that."
The performance came after the worst month of the season for the second-year quarterback, who went from having the best rookie season of any quarterback in NFL history to a monumental November funk.
Prescott had four consecutive games for less than 200 yards and had five interceptions. He showed signs of life with two touchdowns in the victory against the Redskins, but still passed for a career-low 102 yards.
Sunday it was a matter of Prescott finally getting a little help from his receivers. He had completions of 50 yards to Dez Bryant, 54 yards to Cole Beasley, 20 yards to Jason Witten and 81 yards to running back Rod Smith.
"I thought Dak did a really good job of recognizing it (the pressure), giving Dez a really good ball, giving Beasley a really good ball and at the end of it, Rod Smith a good ball where he could catch it in stride and go make a play," Garrett said. "In each of those guys, the run after catch was huge. They made a guys and then got going."
Bryant and Smith took short passes to the end zone.
Beasley took a short pass 54 yards on a third-and-2 play to set up the touchdown to Witten, breaking a 10-10 tie with 7 minutes, 48 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
"They blitzed. We saw it. Same with Beasley. They blitzed. We saw it," Prescott said.
The flood gates would soon open for an offense that has struggled mightily over the past month.
Smith also took a third short pass to the end zone, burning a blitzing defense.
He then followed with a 15-yard touchdown run after linebacker Sean Lee intercepted an Eli Manning pass.
"We've looked for opportunities to give him a chance to play. He seems to take advantage of them," Garrett said.
Much has been made of the lack of chemistry and cohesiveness with Prescott and Bryant.
Prescott is coming off four of the worst statistical games of his career and Bryant has largely been a non-factor for much of the season.
He has 10 drops after two Sunday.
Their disconnect played out perfectly in the first half with Bryant dropping a pass on the opening drive. The Cowboys would overcome it and get as close as a first-and-goal at the 4. But they eventually had to settle for a field goal after a run for 1 and two incompletions to Terrance Williams.
Bryant has five touchdowns this season and is still a reputable red zone target. But he got no opportunities.
But it was the next time the Cowboys got the ball that proved to be most galling.
On a second-and-6 from the Giants 35, Prescott tossed a ball down the right sideline that hit Bryant in the hands then the helmet. But instead of a first and goal inside the 5, the ball fell to the ground for another drop from the team's No. 1 receiver.
Beasley dropped a pass on the sideline on the next play and then kicker Dan Bailey hit the right up right on a 53-yard field goal.
"It happens. We move forward," Prescott said of the dropped passes.
The negativity and lack energy pervaded the entire team as the Giants soon went 68 yards on eight plays to a take a 10-3 lead when Eli Manning hit Rhett Ellison for a 1-yard score with 2:07 left in the half.
Prescott remained unflappable and undeterred, completing passes of 10 yards to Terrance Williams, 11 to Bryant and 4 to Rod Smith.
Then the Bryant magic appeared. He caught a slant, broke a tackle and ran 50 yards to the end zone to make it 10-10 at halftime.
"We're staying within the game. It would be nice to get started early," Prescott said.
