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While the Dallas Cowboys can elate in the 37-34 victory over the visiting New York Giants, they'll no doubt have to fight back emotions when thinking about what happened to Dak Prescott, who was lost for the game and likely the season. Off to a historic start to the year statistically, the only thing holding back the Cowboys is defense and offensive turnovers. No player in NFL history had ever done what Prescott was doing through the first four games of the season, having thrown for more than 450 yards in this last three games, but it was when he took off on a run that things went very, very dark at AT&T Stadium against the Giants. Prescott's right ankle got caught between the turf and the defender.
The Cowboys announced after the game that their star quarterback suffered a compound fracture and dislocation, and he was quickly scheduled for surgery on Sunday evening. The absence of Prescott put the game in the hands of Andy Dalton, the veteran having been signed for just such a situation, but the odds were low of them ever needing him -- considering Prescott has never missed a game in his four-year career.
Without Prescott in the lineup going forward, the Cowboys' projected win total drops from 7.4 to just 6.2, per SportsLine data scientist Stephen Oh, and their odds of winning the division suffer a massive slide from 54.5 percent to 33.1 percent. It will be up to Dalton to figure out how to use the weapons around him to rebuild his fractured NFL brand, defying the odds in the process.
While the game will be defined by what happened to Prescott, there are still other things to analyze. Like how Jason Garrett's return to Dallas turned into a mushroom cloud of offense for a unit averaging only 11.75 points per game over their first four outings. But against the historically bad Cowboys offense, they racked up 27 points (the defense adding a TD of their own), and that's usually a recipe for a loss in Dallas. That wasn't the case on Sunday, however, as the Giants defense had no answer for CeeDee Lamb early or Michael Gallup late, their secondary being put to task by the young Cowboys wideouts.
And so as the Giants fall to 0-5, and the Cowboys regain some control at 2-3, after yet another wild clash between the two.
Why the Cowboys won
Heart.
There's no other way to describe how they climbed out of a 14-3 hole and then kept pushing for victory after having seen Prescott leave with a gruesome ankle injury. The team simply never said die, and that included Andy Dalton having to overcome a lost fumble of his own to help push the rally just far enough for Greg Zuerlein to nail his second game-winner of the season. Prescott's connection with CeeDee Lamb in the first half was a torture chamber for the Giants secondary, and Dalton's connections with Michael Gallup served the same purpose in the fourth quarter -- turning the screws as the Giants coaching staff could only watch in horror at what was occurring.
It was another high-score outing for the Cowboys offense, but this time the defense did just enough to help them win. It wasn't pretty, but again, it was just enough.
Why the Giants lost
It wasn't because of Jason Garrett, that's for sure.
Garrett's return to Dallas was impressive, his usually stale Giants offense breaking out to the tune of 34 points. The former Cowboys head coach dug deep into his playbook, and there are several things you can point at to explain the loss, but nudge that bullseye away from Garrett. Daniel Jones played admirably but had no touchdown passes, which made for a hollow 129 receiving yards from Darius Slayton. The Giants won the time of possession battle, but egregious mistakes buried them time and again.
After losing by just three points, it's impossible to not mention the fake field goal attempt that worked masterfully but was called back due to a penalty. That left four points on the field. But in the end, they found a way to "outbad" the Cowboys, who simply refused to be the worst defense on the field Sunday.
Turning point
Prescott caught his first ever NFL touchdown to give the Cowboys to end the first half with a 24-20 lead, and maybe you can call it the "Arlington Special". This is the play that helped Dallas truly believe they could take the win, and they went on to do just that.
Play of the game
Michael Gallup is not a human being, and that's a fact. He made not one, but two magnificent catches to help seal the Cowboys win, and this one is just inhuman.
Wow.
JG emptied the bucket
"Jason Garrett is calling the game of his life." -- NFL insider Damon A. Salvadore
What's next
The Cowboys now face the dangerous Arizona Cardinals on "Monday Night Football", while the Giants return home to host the Washington Football Team.
Catch all the highlights and action from you might've missed in the live blog below.
