The New York Giants opened the 2019 season in Dallas to play the Cowboys at AT&T Stadium with a familiar result from the 2018 campaign, a tough defeat. The Giants fell to the Cowboys 35-17.
Even in defeat there were some positives for New York. Though there are no moral victories, the glaring issue for the team over the last few seasons looked to be under control, the offensive line.
Nate Solder, Will Hernandez, Jon Halapio, Kevin Zeilter and Mike Remmers have put together a body of work which gave Saquon Barkley the spacing and hole he needed which were not consistently open for him last season to have success.
Barkley ended up with 120 yards on 11 carries after the huge opening run along with four catches for 19 yards. But most of those yards didn’t matter much because the Giants couldn’t get the Cowboys off the field until the game was out of reach.
Like Barkley, Eli Manning benefited by the time line gave him Manning had enough protection and time to throw the ball as he was 30-44 for 306 yards and one touchdown pass to Evan Engram in the first quarter which gave New York a 7-0 lead. Engram finished with 11 catches for 116 yards.
“I think we moved the ball well, did a lot of good things,” Manning said. “Just didn’t play well enough, and just keep up with what Dallas was doing. And the second half kind of got out of hand.”
As the Giants started strong on the offensive side of the ball, The Cowboys ran through the New York’s defense as Dak Prescott had an amazing performance as he was 25-32 for 403 yards and four touchdown passes.
Prescott connected with Amari Cooper, Randell Cobb, Blake Jarwin, and a returning Jason Witten for touchdown passes. which gave Dallas a commanding lead.
After taking the early lead on Manning’s 1-yard toss to Evan Engram, the Giants defense gave up TD drives of 75, 93, 83, 75 and 89 yards on five consecutive possessions from the first through third quarters.
Wayne Gallman added a touchdown for the Giants late in the fourth quarter to give the Giants 17 points.
Big Blue hosts Buffalo next Sunday at Metlife Stadium!!
