Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Cowboys roll to victory
ARLINGTON, Texas — Odell Beckham Jr. was a scratch. Brandon Marshall was too, but in a different and more concerning way.
Marshall actually was on the field for the Giants in Sunday night’s 19-3 loss to the Cowboys at AT&T Stadium, though it was hard to tell. While Beckham was inactive due to his ankle injury, Marshall did not catch any passes until the final play of the game with 13 seconds left.
The free-agent acquisition and former Jet was supposed to be one of the keys to an improved offense. They were supposed to be more diverse. With more talented weapons. And a new emphasis on moving the ball and scoring after never reaching 30 points in any games a year ago. Nope.
Aside from one drive to open the third quarter, the Giants were unable to move the ball with any consistency and wasted a solid defensive effort. It was the fewest points the Giants scored in an opening game since they were shut out by the Cowboys, 35-0, in 1995.
The Giants’ last gasp came with 7:48 remaining when Eli Manning tried to hit Roger Lewis Jr. on a slant from the Giants’ 41. Anthony Brown picked the pass off and the Cowboys gobbled up the next 5:53 before Dan Bailey kicked his fourth field goal to make it 19-3.
The effect of being without Beckham showed. The Giants scuffled through the first half, going three-and-out on their first two possessions, and managed just 4 net yards in the first quarter before finishing with 49 in the first half. They never came close to reaching Cowboys territory.
Beckham tested his sprained left ankle in a pregame workout, running a few routes and catching passes from Manning along with other receivers. He never appeared to hit top speed, though, and the Giants decided to make him inactive.
Late in the 31-minute test drive, coach Ben McAdoo put his arm around Beckham, spoke through Beckham’s hoodie into his ear for a few moments, and then gave him a pat on the backside. That seemed to be the moment when the Giants told Beckham he would not be playing.
Marshall might as well have been inactive too for most of the game. Manning didn’t attempt a pass in the direction of the big free-agency acquisition until there was 1:27 left in the second quarter and it was incomplete.
The Giants’ defense made a pair of decent stands to keep the game close in the early going, holding the Cowboys to a field goal after they reached first-and-goal at the 3 and then another after they penetrated to the Giants’ 19 early in the second quarter. The volume of plays, though, seemed to gas the unit as they allowed 10 points in the final 1:41 of the half.
The first ones came on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Dak Prescott to Jason Witten. Had the Giants’ offense been able to generate even a first down on the ensuing possession they likely would have gone into the locker rooms trailing 13-0. Instead they went three-and-out for the third time in their first five possessions, eating up just 22 seconds of clock. That left the Cowboys with time to get into field-goal range — an 18-yard scramble by Prescott got them there — and Bailey kicked a 42-yard field goal that made it 16-0 with :05 left in the half.
The Giants opened the second half with a sustained drive. It began with a 22-yard pass to Lewis on third-and-11, included a series of passes to Sterling Shepard, a third-down conversion pass to rookie tight end Evan Engram, and an 8-yard screen pass to Shane Vereen to reach the Cowboys’ 4. Manning, though, was sacked on second-and-goal when left tackle Ereck Flowers whiffed on Charles Tapper, and after a short completion 0 — 3 3 — 19