The New York Giants had the doors blown off them in Arlington on Sunday, finding themselves embarrassed at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys, 35-17, falling to 0-1 to start the season.
Offensively, there were some things to like and some other things that raised some red flags, but it was somewhat encouraging overall. Defensively however, that was a completely different story.
The young Giants secondary looked as if it couldn’t keep up with a Division II college program, while the pass rush existed on only a single snap in which they pressured Dak Prescott. Outside of that, nothing.
Because of the ugly performance, it should come as little surprise that CBS Sports gave Big Blue a grade of “D” after their Week 1 shellacking.
The Giants scored first with an impressive 91-yard touchdown drive after forcing a Cowboys punt on their first possession. It was the only pleasant surprise of the day for a Giants team that showed no signs of life on the defensive side of the ball at any point before Dallas pulled their starters. The Giants suffered from blown coverages in the secondary, a lack of speed in press-man coverage on the outside, and the end result was a 405-yard passing day from Dak Prescott. The Giants allowed four passing touchdowns and didn’t force a single turnover on defense. On the offensive side of the ball, Saquon Barkley and Evan Engram did their best to prevent the Giants from getting the dreaded “F” grade. Both players are clearly the focal point of an offense that totaled 470 yards — and only one scoring drive came when the game was already over.
Comparatively, the Cowboys received an A, the Philadelphia Eagles a C+ and the Washington Redskins a C. The New York Jets were also given a D and, in case you were wondering, the Cleveland Browns landed an F.
