Blogging The Boys
To quote Frodo, “It’s done.”
The Cowboys’ 2025 season has come to a merciful end. With no playoffs left to play for, and no opportunity to play spoiler for an even worse Giants team, the Cowboys had nothing to play for but good, old-fashioned pride. And that turned out to not be enough, as they got embarrassed defensively from start to finish.
Dak Prescott started the game despite several starters being held out, most notably running backs Javonte Williams and Malik Davis. With the single-season passing yards crown in sight for Prescott, it felt like Brian Schottenheimer was trying to help his quarterback end an otherwise disappointing year with something to hang his hat on.
That now seems unlikely, too. Prescott finished the first half with just 70 passing yards and hardly any deep shots to either of his star wide receivers. Schottenheimer then made the decision to pull Prescott for the rest of the game, sending in Joe Milton to finish things out despite the Cowboys trailing just 16-10 at halftime.
Perhaps it was the way they found themselves trailing at halftime. Jaxson Dart escaped a sack and flipped a back-handed pass to Daniel Bellinger, who seemingly evaded every single defender for a 29-yard scamper right to the endzone that felt emblematic of the horrible year this defense has had.
That play felt like a dagger in the heart for this game, and the decision to pull Prescott – along with CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens – in the second half only cemented the waving of the white flag.
Nothing went right for the Cowboys in the second half either, with the Giants dropping 18 points and seeing Donovan Ezeiruaku getting ejected after a scuffle started by a Giants player grabbing Quinnen Williams’ facemask after the play.
Jerry and Stephen Jones spent all week laying the groundwork for potentially retaining Matt Eberflus, suggesting that the defensive issues went deeper than just one person. That sentiment was underscored by the sudden release of Trevon Diggs, but the Cowboys defense would still need a strong finish to the season to justify keeping Eberflus.
Whether intentional or not, the players did Eberflus zero favors. Outside of a three-sack day for Jadeveon Clowney, the defense just had no response for a Giants offense that was playing without any of their Week 1 starters at running back, wide receiver, or tight end. Jaxson Dart pretty much did whatever he wanted, especially in the second half.
As bad as the defense was, the special teams was just about as poor. KaVontae Turpin had one 84-yard kickoff return, but he was stymied on most of his other returns. Meanwhile, New York averaged 32 yards per kick return and just over 15 yards per punt return, both strong numbers.
Brandon Aubrey continued his struggles, too. After making his first 16 field goals this season, Aubrey has missed six field goals in the last half of the season. Regression has come for Aubrey, just as it has for...
