Where do I start.
Our season opener was a prime time game against the most hated team in our division...the Cowboys. Coming into this game as the clear underdogs and likely losers, the Giants came in with a "prove em wrong!" mentality, and what do the G-men do? they prove em right. The door for all the Eli Manning critics has opened with a tough loss to a good Dallas team. If things don't shape up in the next few games, the possibility of another 6 win season will begin to sink in.
Positive Game Takeaways
The O-line has definitely improved, There were a few plays when Barkley had a large hole to run through and it paid off with huge yardage plays, but unfortunately, some sloppy play ended those drives.
We saw Eli standing up right in the pocket and he didn't get sacked at all last night! Zero sacks for Eli on the night against a pretty good Dallas front is a miracle if you ask anyone who followed the season year.
Generally speaking the offense wasn't a huge concern in this game. Eli looked a little rusty rolling out of the pocket, and the pass chemistry with the WRs looked a bit under developed. the good thing is, this will get better as the season goes on. If our offense can manage improve or at least stay healthy, we might be able to make a run for the playoffs, the real concern comes with our defense.
The real concern...
As much as it hurts to admit, Dak Prescott looked good last night, but only "good". The Giants' young secondary made Dak Prescott look like an elite QB, appearing out of place and even slow at times. While there's no doubt that Dallas has some playmakers at WR, there weren't any eye popping catches, but rather a plethora of blown coverages and missed tackles. At this point in the season, the main focus for improvement is clearly the defense, and while it's a big concern, week 2 may be a great opportunity for some of those young players to learn while lignin up against a mediocre Bills offense.
We still have a chance.
While its always tough to lose against the Cowboys, its probably a good thing that we lost to the best team in our division in week 1, and now have a pretty solid point of reference on where improvements are clearly needed. We may not see another opponent of this caliber until the next time we play the Cowboys, and by then, we will hopefully have pulled off a few wins, and have improved enough to compete, and maybe, just maybe, put ourselves in a position to make a playoff run.