HORNS’ DILEMMA: WHICH QB VS. USC?
With star running back freed to play, Dallas dominates rival Giants.
The Dallas Cowboys’ domination of the New York Giants in front of a crowd of 93,183 Sunday night at AT&T Stadium was slow, methodical and complete.
It wasn’t the unleashing of pent-up emotions following an offseason of turmoil, chaos and distractions because of star running Ezekiel Elliott’s ongoing saga with the NFL.
The Cowboys found out this week that Elliott would not only play in the opener, but likely play all season after a Texas judge granted a temporary injunction blocking the six-game suspension for violating the personal conduct policy until it’s decided in court.
The Cowboys approached the situation with workman-like focus during training camp and preseason and used a similar approach to wear out the Giants in a 19-3 victory in the season opener.
The Giants played without their best player, receiver Odell Beckham Jr., who remained sidelined with a preseason ankle injury, but this was also a story of a Cowboys team ready to embark on a mission they hope finally ends with a super conclusion.
This was a Giants team that beat the 13-3 Cowboys twice last season and had won three consec- utive games in the series.
But it’s the Cowboys who open the season 1-0.
The Cowboys got started on the victory Friday when they found out they would have Elliott on the field Sunday as likely all season.
Elliott had 24 carries for 104 yards and five catches for 36 yards.
He had seven 100-yard games a year ago when he led the NFL in rushing with 1,631 yards.
Quarterback Dak Prescott wasn’t perfect, but he played mistake-free, completing 24 of 39 for 268 yards and a touchdown to tight end Jason Witten.
Even more impressive was a dominating performance by the team’s maligned but feisty defense.
Quarterback Eli Manning passed for 211 yards on 37 attempts as he was constantly harassed by a defense that recorded three sacks before cornerback Anthony Brown snagged a game-sealing interception in the fourth quarter.
The defense played without suspended endsDavid Irving and Damontre Moore and injured middle linebacker Anthony Hitchens and then lost cornerback Orlando Scandrick in the first half.
The slow and methodical domination by the Cowboys started building in the first half.
They led 16-0 at halftime and
led in yardage (265-49), first downs (16-2) and time of possession (20:33 to 9:27).
The Cowboys could have been up by more if not for some questionable play-calling at the goal line that resulted in the first field goal by Dan Bailey.
A first-and-goal at the 3 became fourth-and-goal at the 3 after three consecutive passes to Dez Bryant. Elliott didn’t get one opportunity to run it.
The Cowboys were forced to settle for a second field goal and a 6-0 lead early in the second quarter because of a holding infraction on right tackle La’el Collins and a sack of Prescott.
Bailey was good from 48 yards out.
Yet the Cowboys were able to move the ball against a Giants defense they couldn’t crack a year ago.
The dam broke for the Cowboys with 1:41 left in the second quarter when Prescott hit Witten with a perfect strike for a 12-yard score, capping a 65-yard drive.
After a quick three-and-out by a supposedly maligned defense, which allowed only two first downs in the first half, Prescott showed his maturity, confidently moving the Cowboys 51 yards in 1:14, setting up a 42-yard Bailey field goal with 5 seconds left.
Defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence was dominant in the first half with a sack, a couple of pressures and a team-high-tying four tackles.
The Giants opened the third quarter with a field goal, but credit a sack by defensive end Charles Tapper for keeping them out of the end zone.
The Giants never threatened again and while the Cowboys would muster only a field goal late in the fourth quarter, the game was never in doubt. NFL files appeal on Elliott ruling: The NFL is moving quickly in hopes of reversing a federal judge’s decision that blocked the league’s six-game suspension of Dallas running back Ezekiel Elliott in a domestic violence case in Ohio.
The league on Monday asked the judge who ruled in Elliott’s favor to stop the preliminary injunction that cleared last year’s NFL rushing leader to play while the case is in court. A notice of appeal was also filed with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
The NFL’s latest filings came about 12 hours after Elliott rushed for 104 yards in the Cowboys’ 19-3 win over the New York Giants at home Sunday night.
Elliott had already been cleared to play in the season opener when U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant granted a temporary restraining order and injunction blocking the suspension Friday.