The Giants defeated the Cowboys for the second time with Sunday’s lackluster 10-7 victory, raising their record to 9-4 and leaving Dallas fans with the uneasy feeling that Big Blue is eventually going to end the Cowboys’ season.
Two losses for Dallas on the year -- both to the Giants, who last week looked like a middle school team -- say the Rams? -- in getting steamrolled by the Steelers. The Giants’ offense was largely MIA again in Sunday’s win over Dallas, with Eli Manning tossing for fewer than 200 yards for the third straight game and Rashad Jennings and Paul Perkins matching each other for mediocrity -- both with 15 carries for 45 yards. Luckily for the Giants, the team also has a defense -- and it’s really good -- because the offense is really playing uninspired ball.
There were plenty of heroics, insanity and ineptitude in this game, so let’s hand out the honors for Hero, Nero and Zero.
Hero: Janoris Jenkins.
A few weeks ago after the Giants beat Cleveland -- a game in which former quarterback Terrelle Pryor had six catches for 131 yards in the Browns’ loss -- Jenkins wrote in a postgame tweet that Pryor sucks and only had a great outing because the Giants were playing zone.
It was ugly, juvenile and cringe-worthy.
After Sunday night’s defeat of Dallas -- a game in which Jenkins had an interception and stripped Dez Bryant of the game-deciding fumble --Jackrabbit kept his opinions of the opposition to himself.
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Olivier Vernon has been getting most of the press lately among the Giants’ big free agent additions, but Jenkins was the biggest difference maker in the close victory over the Cowboys.
Nero: Ben McAdoo.
Mike Sullivan is the Giants’ offensive coordinator. Ya know what that job entails? Neither do I, since head coach Ben McAdoo continues to call the plays off his laminated Arby’s menu. It’d be one thing if the Giants’ offense was doing as well as it was last year when McAdoo was offensive coordinator and calling the plays for Tom Coughlin’s team.
But they’re not.
The offense is ranked 27th overall and only ahead of offenses led by the likes of Brock Osweiler, Colin Kaepernick, Robert Griffin III, Sam Bradford and Jared Goff. Their only reliable weapon is Odell Beckham Jr., who caught a 61-yard touchdown in the win over Dallas.
The team has a Super Bowl-level defense, as it proved in picking off Dak Prescott twice, forcing the game-deciding fumble by Bryant and holding Dallas -- the fifth best offense in the NFL -- to a a season-low seven points. The offense has the potential to be as good as last year’s. But it also has the potential to be bad enough to keep this team from postseason success.
McAdoo needs to swallow his pride and hand the playcalling duties over to Sullivan. Enough is enough. You're hurting your team.
Zero: Faith in Ereck Flowers.
Right after McAdoo fires himself as offensive coordinator, he needs to fire Ereck Flowers as starting left tackle. Let’s face it, the guy is struggling. I’m sure he’s a nice person and all (when he’s not shoving ESPN reporters), but Flowers has been terrible this year. He’s among the league leaders in holding penalties and in the Dallas game allowed Benson Mayowa to run right around him to strip Manning for a fumble that Dallas recovered.
