DOWN X DOWN › week 1 › Cowboys at Giants
Updated Nov 2, 5:48 PM ET
2026

Week 1 · Sunday 8:20 PM ET · MetLife Stadium

DALvsNYG

Cowboys offensevsGiants defense

Season numbers through Week 8: 8 games for Cowboys, 7 for Giants. Ranks are out of 32; #1 is the best offense or the stingiest defense.

How it played out · win probability, snap by snapFinal · DAL 20 · NYG 28

The Giants won 28–20; their low point was 38% at Q1 14:54. The Cowboys had been 61% favorites at kickoff. The game turned for good at Q2 0:40: J.Dart pass deep left to M.Nabers ran ob at DAL 38 for 16 yards (45% → 54%). The biggest single swing came at Q2 0:25, 13 points for the Giants.

At kickoffDAL 61%DAL by 3 on the line
NYG low point38%Q1 14:54 · tied 0⁠–⁠0
Swings past 50%9times the favorite changed
Biggest swing13 ptsNYG · Q2 0:25
NYG wins50%DAL wins
Q1Q2Q3Q4

The plays that swung it

  1. 1Q2 0:25NYGJ.Dart pass short right to I.Likely for 15 yards, TOUCHDOWN.56% → 69%+13
  2. 2Q2 9:57DALD.Prescott pass incomplete deep right to G.Pickens (G.Newsome) [B.Burns]. PENALTY on NYG-G.Newsome, Defensive Pass Interference, 38 yards,…34% → 45%+11
  3. 3Q1 9:38NYGJ.Dart left end ran ob at DAL 37 for 22 yards (D.Overshown). PENALTY on DAL-D.Overshown, Unnecessary Roughness, 15 yards, enforced at DAL 37.46% → 56%+11
  4. 4Q2 0:58NYGD.Prescott pass deep right INTERCEPTED by J.Holland at NYG 45. J.Holland ran ob at NYG 45 for no gain.40% → 50%+10
  5. 5Q2 2:00DALT.Tracy left end to DAL 21 for 8 yards (Q.Williams). FUMBLES (Q.Williams), RECOVERED by DAL-S.Revel at DAL 19. S.Revel to DAL 16 for -3 yards…49% → 58%+9
  6. ★Q2 0:40NYGJ.Dart pass deep left to M.Nabers ran ob at DAL 38 for 16 yards.turning point45% → 54%+9

Win probability is nflverse's model, which starts from the betting line and updates before every snap with the score, the clock, down, distance, field position and timeouts. A swing is the change in one team's chance across a play, in percentage points. The turning point is the play after which the winner never fell to 50% again.

Box score · every offensive player who touched the ballWeek 1

D.Prescott led the Cowboys at +11.3 EPA (22 of 34 for 175). J.Dart led the Giants at +25.6 EPA (23 of 29 for 230).

DAL Cowboys

PassingC/AYdsTDINTSkEPA
D.Prescott100%22/3417521+10.4
RushingCarShareYdsTDEPA
J.Williams71%1267%411+1.4
D.Prescott100%211%14+0.9
E.Demercado9%211%7-0.3
C.Lamb81%16%0-0.8
H.Luepke26%16%7-0.1
ReceivingTgtShareRecYdsTDEPA
C.Lamb81%827%5441+5.6
G.Pickens84%620%328+0.6
J.Williams71%517%5311+1.6
R.Flournoy71%413%222+2.5
J.Ferguson76%27%26-0.2
B.Spann-Ford22%27%214+0.5
K.Turpin14%13%18+0.9
L.Schoonmaker22%13%112+0.9
J.Mingo19%13%110+1.0

Defense C.Downs 1 sack, J.Bullard 0.5 sacks, D.Ezeiruaku 0.5 sacks

NYG Giants

PassingC/AYdsTDINTSkEPA
J.Dart100%23/2923032+21.9
RushingCarShareYdsTDEPA
C.Skattebo61%1849%811-0.7
J.Dart100%1130%54+3.7
D.Singletary36%616%16-1.0
T.Jr.3%25%14-2.7
ReceivingTgtShareRecYdsTDEPA
M.Nabers52%931%669+5.0
I.Likely49%828%8782+11.0
D.Singletary36%414%4221+3.5
M.Fields72%414%225+0.5
D.Mooney57%27%227+2.4
P.Ricard54%13%00-0.5
T.Johnson46%13%19+0.9

Defense J.Holland 1 INT

Each player's line for this game from nflverse's weekly stats; the percentage beside his name is his share of the offense's snaps. Share is his part of the team's carries or targets in this game. Defense lists sacks and interceptions; kicking lists field goals.

Keys to the game · from the season numbers, not this game alone4 reads
01
Biggest edge

Clean pockets

Cowboys take a sack on 4% of dropbacks (2nd). Giants get home on 4% (30th). League average is 7%.

02
Opportunity

Short middle is open

Giants are worst against short middle throws, allowing +0.46 EPA per attempt. Cowboys send 15% of their throws there.

03
Watch out

Checkdowns go nowhere

Giants give up 21 yards a game to running backs (5th), against a league average of 32. Cowboys' running backs produce 17 (30th).

04
Wash

Success rate

Call this one even. Cowboys succeed on 47% of plays (9th) against a defense that allows 43% (12th).

The series · Cowboys and Giants since 1999, and this season's records56 meetings

The Cowboys lead the series 32–24 since 1999. The Giants have won the last 2. This game is the latest meeting.

Cowboys at home18–10the Cowboys' record
In New York14–14the Cowboys' record
Most pointsCowboys 49 · Giants 412023 · 2010
Biggest winCowboys by 40 · Giants by 302023 · 2002
Playoffs0–1the Cowboys' record

The last 5

2026 · Wk 1DAL 20 at NYG 28
2025 · Wk 18DAL 17 at NYG 34
2025 · Wk 2 · OTNYG 37 at DAL 40
2024 · Wk 13NYG 20 at DAL 27
2024 · Wk 4DAL 20 at NYG 15

2026 records

CowboysGiants
Overall3–54–2–1
Division2–11–0–1
Conference2–42–2–1
Other conference1–12–0
Home1–33–1
Away2–21–1–1
Last 5WLLWLWWTLW
StreakLost 1Won 1
Points a game27.4 – 26.623.3 – 23.0

Every meeting since 1999, regular season and playoffs, from nflverse's game list, which starts in 1999; the all-time series goes back further. Franchises that moved count as one team (the Raiders, Chargers and Rams). Home and away are from the Cowboys' side. Records are this regular season.

Head to head · DAL offense against NYG defense
StatDAL DAL offFavors DAL · Favors NYGNYG NYG def allowsNFL avg
Overall
EPA per play
+0.09#7
+0.01#16+0.00
Success rate
47%#9
43%#1244%
Yards per play
5.4#20
5.4#155.4
Explosive play rate
7%#29
10%#189%
Passing
Pass EPA per dropback
+0.15#7
-0.01#13+0.03
Sack rate
4%#2
4%#307%
Running
Run EPA per carry
-0.02#10
-0.07#21-0.08
Yards per carry
3.7#24
4.5#244.1
Money downs
3rd down conversion
50%#3
40%#1341%
Red zone TD rate
68%#10
83%#3161%
Targets by position
WR yards per game
207#2
127#7147
TE yards per game
32#28
45#855
TE targets per game
5.8#26
8.1#247.6
RB receiving yards per game
17#30
21#532
Where the ball goes · EPA per throwDeep is 15+ air yds

Cowboys: EPA per throw

Left
Middle
Right
Deep
+0.297% of throws
+1.213% of throws
+0.457% of throws
Short
+0.2732% of throws
-0.1715% of throws
+0.1835% of throws

Giants: EPA allowed per throw

Left
Middle
Right
Deep
-0.3118 throws
+0.627 throws
-0.0516 throws
Short
-0.1570 throws
+0.4632 throws
+0.1375 throws

Green gains more than expected, red loses value. Cells with fewer than 5 throws are grayed out.