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By Jon Machota
5h ago
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Cooper Rush was one of the first Cowboys players off the MetLife Stadium field after Monday’s 23-16 win over the New York Giants. The smiling quarterback walked up the visitor’s tunnel with teammates and coaches, ready to celebrate in the locker room.
Only he had one more thing to take care of back on the field, the postgame TV interview. A member of the team’s public relations staff had to run back and get him.
“Yeah, no one grabbed me (right after the game),” Rush said with a laugh. “I don’t know. It’s not my job to worry about that.”
Getting some national TV time on Monday Night Football is far from Rush’s top priority. Handing the Giants their first loss of the season was much higher on that list. In three NFL starts, Rush is now 3-0 with back-to-back victories this season as starting QB Dak Prescott continues recovering from a fractured right thumb.
“He doesn’t get rattled,” Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said of Rush. “He’s the same, every day. So consistent. He’s playing good football right now. I’m glad to recognize him for it. He’s giving us the boost to just keep playing on offense.”
The key drive for Rush and the Dallas offense came late in the third quarter with the Cowboys trailing 13-6. Giants star running back Saquon Barkley had just ripped off an impressive 36-yard touchdown run, getting the majority of the 79,445 in attendance on their feet and momentum firmly in the home team’s favor.
But Dallas answered right back with a nine-play drive that covered 75 yards and took just more than five minutes off the clock. After a first half that looked like neither team would score a touchdown all night, Rush marched the offense down the field, completing all five passes for 64 yards. Running back Ezekiel Elliott then scored on a 1-yard run to tie the game.
The Cowboys’ defense responded by forcing a three-and-out and Rush picked right back up where he left off, this time completing 7 of 8 passes on an 11-play drive that went 89 yards. Rush found Dallas’ No. 1 wide receiver CeeDee Lamb in the back left corner of the end zone for a remarkable one-handed grab that gave the Cowboys the lead for good with 8:30 left.
It was another impressive drive for Rush, but it was even bigger for Lamb, who had an extremely costly drop with 4:35 left in the first half. Rush put a perfect pass on Lamb’s hands that could’ve gone for a 52-yard touchdown, but at least would have been a 45-yard gain. A frustrated Lamb was encouraged by several teammates on the sideline after the play. In a game that was 6-3 at the time, it didn’t appear there would be many more big-play opportunities like that one.
Credit to Lamb for putting it behind him and finishing with a game-high 87 yards on eight catches.
“I kept thinking about it,” Lamb said of the drop, “and all the guys kept preaching to me to let it go, ‘We still have more game left.’ Fourth quarter, when I kept hearing my number being called, I knew it was my opportunity again, so I had to step up.”
Rush said he never felt he needed to say anything to Lamb.
“You know he’ll be fine,” Rush said. “CeeDee’s the guy you don’t really worry about that type of mentality with him. He’s a big-time player, he’s going to make plays. The ball’s coming his way some more, so he knew it, I knew it, we all knew it, and he was fine.”
“CeeDee has that 88 (jersey) on for a reason,” Elliott said. “CeeDee is a superstar. He had a hell of a game. He had that one drop early, but he responded and had that big drive, that big touchdown catch. CeeDee is a hell of a player and he’s only going to get better.”
Another key to Dallas’ offensive success was that Rush was kept relatively clean in the pocket. Matt Farniok again started at left guard, but 40-year-old Jason Peters made his Cowboys debut with a limited number of reps also at the position. Rush was never sacked and only hit twice. Tony Pollard and Elliott combined to rush for 176 yards, nine more than a Giants team that came in as the NFL’s top rushing attack.
While Rush was completing 21 of 31 passes for 215 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions, Giants QB Daniel Jones was rarely comfortable, completing 20 of 37 passes for 196 yards, no touchdowns and one Trevon Diggs interception. Jones was hit 12 times and sacked five times, including three by Cowboys DE DeMarcus Lawrence, his first three of the season. Lawrence also had three QB hits. Safety Donovan Wilson, LB Micah Parsons and DE Dorance Armstrong each had two.
“We were chipping, we were slamming,” Giants coach Brian Daboll said. “We were doing a lot of different things. That’s a good defensive line. And they got the better of us.”
Added Jones: “They’re a good front. They’re a good defense. They play hard. They play fast and you got to give credit to them. … They’ve gotten pressure on every team they’ve played.”
In three games, the 2-1 Cowboys have allowed only three touchdowns, one in each game, and they’ve totaled 13 sacks, tops in the NFL. Their 312 yards allowed per game is ninth-best in the league. Their 17.3 points allowed per game is eighth. Only three teams have allowed fewer passing yards than Dallas’ 176 per game.
“Defense travels,” Diggs said. “We have to make sure that we’re always on our stuff. (Defensive coordinator Dan Quinn) puts us in the right schemes, making the right plays, and everyone is just playing defense and executing their job. We just have to keep it up every week, one week at a time.”
Dallas has now won 10 of its last 11 against New York.
A reporter jokingly asked McCarthy after the game if the Cowboys have a QB controversy, referencing Cowboys owner Jerry Jones saying last week that he would gladly welcome one because that would mean that Rush was playing so well that Dallas was winning a lot of games. McCarthy shut down any such talk last week, declaring that Prescott is the franchise’s QB.
“Hey, everybody, safe traveling home,” McCarthy responded, which was met with laughter.
Rush was asked during the ESPN MNF postgame interview what he wants.
“I want to keep winning,” he said. “As long as I’m in there, let’s just keep winning, playing smart, trusting each other on each side of the ball and we’ll be all right.”
Injury updates. Cowboys TE Dalton Schultz and WR Michael Gallup both did not play Monday night. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said the final decisions came down to what the players thought was best. Both have a good chance to return next week against Washington. Rookie WR Jalen Tolbert made his debut, playing in place of Gallup. Tolbert, a third-round pick, was targeted two times, making one catch for four yards. Rookie TE Peyton Hendershot got more opportunities in the passing game with Schultz out, catching all three of his targets for 43 yards.
“I think we all recognize this sport and just the physical nature of it,” McCarthy said when asked about Gallup after the game. “There’s some things that he needed to go through. I thought the padded practice was a huge day for him. He had some contested catches, two vertical plays on the boundary that were Michael Gallup-esque going up on deep balls. We just feel like he needs a little more of that. Just didn’t quite cross the finish line.”
Lawrence exited in the second half with a left foot injury, however, he was able to return after getting his foot examined and re-taped. He was moving well after the game. It doesn’t appear to be a significant injury. Diggs exited late in the second quarter after colliding with Giants WR Sterling Shepard. Diggs was given a cognitive evaluation and returned to play the entire second half.