ARLINGTON, Tex. — Dropping a wild, 77-point NFL sport requires shattering the file books in each the most effective and worst doable methods.
That’s precisely what Russell Wilson and the penalty-ridden Giants did in Sunday’s rollercoaster 40-37 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
Wilson turned the primary NFL quarterback to throw for 450 yards, three touchdowns and a 73% completion proportion because the Cincinnati Bengals’ Joe Burrow in Oct. 2022.
His 450 passing yards, the second most of his profession, tied Eli Manning (Sept. 2013) for the fourth-highest whole in franchise historical past. His 153 passing yards within the first quarter have been essentially the most by a Giants quarterback since 1978.
And the Giants (506 yards) surpassed the 500-yard mark on offense for the primary time since Daniel Jones and Pat Shurmur put up 552 yards at Washington in Dec. 2019.
“I think he showed he’s resilient,” prime Giants receiver Malik Nabers stated of Wilson’s response to the Giants’ six-point Week 1 loss to Washington. “To me after that first game he didn’t look back, stayed in the same mindset, stayed putting everybody up with high hopes.”
Dropping a sport when a quarterback places up these sorts of numbers is troublesome to do, however by no means rely out the Giants on the subject of getting in their very own method.
The Giants have been penalized 14 instances for 160 yards as a group, with expensive and killer errors taking place on each offense and protection.
“It’s hard to win a game when you have that many penalties with that many yards,” large receiver Wan’Dale Robinson stated.
The Giants’ 160 penalty yards have been essentially the most in a sport since they incurred a franchise-record 177 on Oct. 9, 1949.
Their 14 penalties have been essentially the most since a 2005 sport in opposition to the Seahawks, once they Giants had 16 penalties accepted in opposition to them.
Defensive deal with Dexter Lawrence insisted the Giants’ protection performed “well” outdoors of expensive penalties that did them in.
“Penalties. Too many penalties,” Lawrence stated. “I don’t now what you’re attempting to fish out proper now [with a question about the defense]. In case you watch the sport, you noticed how the sport went. We received too many penalties in crucial downs. That’s simply the way it went.
“I think we was playing well,” he added. “I don’t think we played bad. I just think we had too many penalties. You watch the game, we was playing well. We had some good stops. We just gave them too many chances.”
The protection dedicated 4 go interference penalties and three roughing the passer penalties.
Paulson Adebo, Dru Phillips, Jevon Holland and Deonte Banks all have been tagged with flags in protection. Phillips and Adebo every interfered with George Pickens on 20-plus yard beneficial properties to arrange Cowboys scores within the second half.
Roy Robertson-Harris (twice) and Bobby Okereke accounted for 3 roughing the passer calls whereas hitting Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott.
The Giants set the tone as a group firstly of the sport, although, for his or her traditionally undisciplined day.
Linebacker Swayze Bozeman’s holding penalty negated Gunner Olszewski’s 67-yard opening kickoff return. Then left deal with James Hudson III’s 4 penalties on the sport’s opening drive turned the Giants’ first quarter right into a circus act.
Hudson price the Giants 40 yards on that possession alone with two private fouls for pointless roughness and two false begins. That compelled the Giants to kick a area aim as a substitute of getting a main alternative to open the sport with a landing.
Daboll’s solutions on Hudson have been weird.
He stated he “just told [offensive line coach] Carm[en Bricillo] and James [to] keep an eye on it” when he took Hudson out, which is the understatement of the century — to not point out that holding Hudson disciplined is Daboll’s job first, not simply Bricillo’s.
Daboll additionally referred to Hudson winding up and smacking Cowboys edge rusher James Houston within the head as “the one where the guy slipped and he hit him in the head.” And the coach stated he didn’t take Hudson out throughout that drive as his left deal with melted down as a result of “we were moving the ball.”
It wasn’t simply the penalties that did the Giants, clearly.
The protection hemorrhaged yards and factors within the fourth quarter. Wilson and the offense turned the ball over on downs within the purple zone after a 3rd quarter Phillips interception of Prescott.
And Wilson had a brutal fumble for damaging yardage and the back-breaking interception in additional time.
“I thought he played well, made some plays, attacked certain things we wanted to attack,” Daboll stated. “The 2nd and 3 [overtime fumble] kind of slipped out of his hand. That pushed us back there… Other than that, [took a] deep shot and then communication [was the issue] … This one’s tough.”
Nonetheless, Nabers (167 yards) and Robinson (142 yards) turned solely the fourth Giants duo to file 140-plus receiving yards in the identical sport and the primary since Sterling Shepard (167 yards) and Odell Beckham Jr. (143 yards) at Atlanta in Oct. 2018.
And the Giants’ offense had eight performs of 20 or extra yards for the primary time since Tommy DeVito and the Giants did it in opposition to Washington on Nov. 2023.
Groups anticipate to win video games when their offense performs that method, particularly once they rating a go-ahead landing with 25 seconds remaining within the fourth quarter just like the Giants did with Wilson’s 48-yard bomb to Nabers on Sunday.
“When Malik scored I was pretty much like we gotta be able to get this one,” Robinson stated. “But obviously football’s crazy.”
Soccer is loopy, however the Giants may have restricted the loopy in opposition to Dallas in the event that they’d confirmed some self-discipline to help Wilson’s historic afternoon.
