Brian Schottenheimer Reflects On 'Pretty Poor' Cowboys Loss To Giants

The Dallas Cowboys were embarrassed by the New York Giants 28-20 at MetLife Stadium to open the season in the worst way possible.

Everything that fans didn't want to see, they saw in the first half.

Costly penalties, the inability to stop the run as the Giants rushed for 165 yards, and John Harbaugh bullied Dallas for four quarters.

Oh, and Jaxson Dart only had six incompletions all night, as he rarely looked flustered, aside from the odd pressure from Christian Parker's defense.

All in all, it was just a horrible way for the Cowboys to start the season, as the Giants outmuscled Brian Schottenheimer's team and nearly made them wilt in the second half.

The Giants had the ball twice in the second half, going 74 yards in 15 plays to a touchdown, which took 8:01 off the clock; then, on their next possession, they went 70 yards in 16 plays and took 8:11 off the clock, before seeing out the final 5:21 minutes to finish the game.

READ MORE:  Cowboys Crushed By Giants: Recap & Takeaways From Week 1 Embarrassment

Dak Prescott and the offense had the ball just twice in the second half.

And speaking post-game, Schottenheimer wasn't as ruthless as he could have been.

“I thought overall, we were really, as a football team, we were pretty poor," Schottenheimer said. "That’s certainly not our standard. It’s certainly not how we see our identity playing. They shoved us around in the run game.”

And if the play on the field wasn't bad enough, the injury bug also hit Dallas.

Safety Malik Hooker suffered a fractured right forearm, and then linebacker DeMarvion Overshown was taken out of the game with a hamstring injury and didn't come back into the game in the second half.

So, yeah, salt into the wounds.

READ MORE:  Cowboys at Giants: 5 Keys To Season-Opening Win

In truth, it was a bad night all-round for the Cowboys, with little going right in a game where so much was expected, yet they delivered precious little.

The 28-20 scoreline is a little deceiving, as there wasn't really a time when you felt Dallas was actually in the game at MetLife Stadium.

Credit to the Giants, they fully deserved their win, but the worst part of the defeat was that they got punched in the mouth repeatedly, but didn't punch back.

Not to mention the Giants' offense running the same swing pass play three times in a row in the fourth quarter, and Dallas didn't stop it once.

Yes, it is one game, but goodness me, first impressions of the 2026 Cowboys aren't good.