The Giants led the Cowboys 13-7 at the half Thursday, and unfortunately, the game was never again as close as it seemed; Dallas scored touchdowns on each of their first three second-half possessions to make it 28-13, and the Giants had very few chances.
There was one, however, they squandered: that fourth-and-one play where Saquon Barkley couldn’t corral Daniel Jones’ pass, giving the ‘Boys the ball at the Giants’ 45-yard-line.
It was a play that was doomed from the start, beginning with a maybe-questionable play call given the spot, the time left (4:11 in the third quarter), and the score (14-13 Cowboys).
“I thought we needed to change a little bit of momentum for the second half,” head coach Brian Daboll said. “They got the ball and went down and scored, and we went down and took a lot of clock off. I thought it was a good chance to go ahead and get the first down, and I thought Mike (Kafka) had a good play ready to go. We had an opportunity on it. I thought it was the right thing to do, but we didn’t get it.”
Call aside, the first problem on the play itself: there were only 10 men on the field for the Giants, something Daboll said he knew the reason for but wouldn’t elaborate.
“Guys, we didn’t convert it,” a clearly exasperated and unusually short head coach said.
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The second problem was that even with the shortage, the route was wide open, but Jones just couldn’t make the right throw.
"It was just a bad throw. I've got to get it out in front of him. Bad throw. Can't miss that,” Jones said.
And then, the final blow was that even with the bad throw, Barkley got a hand on it, but he fell to the ground trying to corral it and the ball dropped, ending the drive with a thud.
"I tried to get down and secure the catch and I didn't make the play,” Barkley said bluntly. “He trusted us to go for it on fourth down and one, and for us to make the play, and I didn't make the play there for us – and then they went down and scored.”
Was that the play that changed, or perhaps even ended, the game for the Giants?
"I know outside looking in, you can point to one play and you're like, that can be the play. I try to stay away from that mindset,” Barkley said. “As you are playing, you don't want to drop it obviously. It sticks in your head a little longer. But we still had an opportunity to go down and make more plays. And there were so many more plays throughout the game that we didn't capitalize on, too. I'm sorry I didn't capitalize on that. But I will continue to do better in other situations for the team."
They had a second fourth-down try later in the game, this time in a situation where they had to go for it – fourth-and-9 from the Dallas 37, down 15 with 3:17 to go – and failed to convert that as well, but those, Jones says, are the situations a team wants to be in.
“You want to be in those situations. You want to have the opportunity to convert those and make the play,” he said. “We've got to do a better job executing that and I've got to do a better job."
And, there was one play, right at the start of the fourth quarter, where the Giants faced third-and-nine at midfield and threw a short pass - one Daboll admitted was an attempt to get as much as possible, knowing they were in four-down territory.
"I would say there were a few times in there where we definitely knew we were in four-down territory, so there's an element of having something short," Daboll said. "If we need it, we'll go for it on fourth down. Try to make it, instead of fourth-and-nine, a fourth-and-four, fourth-and-three, with the opportunity to still get it. I'd say that happened a few times towards the end of the game."
Unfortunately, four second-half Giants drives ended in two turnovers on downs, one punt, and the late touchdown, so whatever the strategy was, it came up short.
"I think we missed some opportunities," Daboll said. "We've got to do a better job."
Follow Lou DiPietro on Twitter: @LouDiPietroWFAN
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