Because the Cowboys suddenly can’t win at home anymore, a trip to MetLife Stadium and a game against the Giants just might be the well-timed cure for their ills.
All the preseason tension that was supposed to disappear after quarterback Dak Prescott and receiver CeeDee Lamb signed contract extensions worth a combined $376 million has instead only been amplified entering Thursday’s turning-point game between two teams trying to avoid the early-season basement in the NFC East.
The Cowboys’ 16-game regular-season home winning streak gave way to back-to-back home losses to the Saints and Ravens in which the defense allowed nearly 500 total rushing yards under new coordinator Mike Zimmer.
Suddenly, a fourth straight 12-win regular season – after the last three were deemed not good enough because of playoff failures – feels less automatic to a restless fan base.
“I feel like [as] a competitor, at some point you’ve got to be prideful enough to say, ‘I’m not going to allow this to happen to me,’” linebacker Micah Parsons said. “I just feel like some people are just allowing them to keep getting smacked in the face. Like, when are you going to stand up?”
Tensions appeared to boil over when Prescott and Lamb had a sideline spat against the Ravens. Prescott then told some displeased fans to “jump off” the bandwagon right after the loss.
To up the sense of desperation, Thursday marked the quickest-ever turnaround (NFL standard four days) into a road game for the Cowboys.
“We understand the urgency,” Lamb said.
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The panic button will really sound Friday if the Cowboys’ most reliable frontier of dominance – beating the Giants – evaporates.
The Cowboys have won 13 of the last 14 meetings, including a personal winning streak of 12 by Prescott and six of the last seven in East Rutherford.
“The start of the season hasn’t been great. It’s been humbling,” Parsons said. “This is our test because without a test, there is no testimony. I still have dreams and aspirations of going as far as I can into this year and obviously reaching that Super Bowl.”
The Giants expected a highly motivated opponent.
“There’s not going to be anything easy about it,” running back Devin Singletary said. “They’re hungry. It’s a division game, they are on the road, they just lost two games. They are going to try their best to come in here and go 1-0 and we’re going to have to play our ‘A’ game and keep it rolling on our end.”
The Cowboys did not lead in either of their back-to-back losses, falling behind 14-3 after the first quarter both times.
Playing catchup minimizes their strengths (dynamic pass rush, ball-hawking defensive backs) and emphasizes weaknesses (the NFL’s worst-ranked rush defense and a lack of complementary receivers to Lamb).
The Cowboys also have strayed from their run-first identity, with just 221 rushing yards through three games – third-lowest total in franchise history – using an uninspiring Ezekiel Elliott-Rico Dowdle combination.
“I think we have a chance to improve on this, and that’s the big thing,” owner Jerry Jones said on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas. “We’re not hitting on all cylinders. If we were, that’d be real concerning.”