what was that?

 

    The long-awaited first Sunday of the 2023 NFL Season concluded last night with a division rivalry game between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants. The Giants being a surprise playoff team from last year had a lot of buzz going into the game looking to knock off Dallas for the first time since 2021. But that dream died pretty quickly for the G-Men on Sunday Night. 

    The game actually started quite promising for New York.  They put together a very solid drive getting all the way down to the Dallas 8-yard line by a combination of the legs of Saquon and Daniel Jones. An Andrew Thomas false start and a bad snap from the rookie center set the Giants up for a field goal that ended up being blocked and returned for a touchdown. And it just snowballed from there. On the following drive, a tipped ball of the hands of Barkley was picked off and also returned for six. From that point on the Giants couldn't get anything going on offense and Dallas was able to take advantage of a Giants defense that seemed to be on the field the whole second half. The rainy mess of a game ended in a 40-0 route of the New York Giants.

    There are so many things that went wrong for the Giants but even if you watched one play of this game, one problem was the most obvious. The offensive line. As a Giants fan, I have seen some really poor O-line play the last ten years, but this is about as bad as it gets. Micah Parsons, Demarcus Lawrence, and co absolutely dominated the Giants upfront. Daniel Jones was running for his life all game long; he was sacked 7 times and pressured on 62% of his dropbacks. Letting Dallas get all of this pressure forced Jones to make poor decisions which led to two interceptions. In addition to that the slippery conditions and lackadaisical play resulted in 5 forced fumbles as well. 

(Picture via Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports)

    So what does this mean for the 2023 G-Men? Is the season over? Well, I still have hope. Although there were zero bright spots from last night's game, it's only week one. They got outcoached and outplayed in all three facets of the game and got their butts handed to them. But that doesn't necessarily mean that's who they are. 

    For fellow Giants fans who are looking for something positive to make you feel a little better this morning here is what I'll say. If you are able to somehow think past all the poor play and remember the first drive of the game you can realize what this offense has the potential to look like. NY ran the ball with ease and was able to create holes for Saquon. That opened the pass game up a bit and when receivers couldn't get open Jones was able to take it himself. This is very similar to what helped Big Blue succeed last year and it was working until it wasn't. The Cowboy's two lockdown corners made it difficult for the Giant's mediocre receiving core to get open and when you are down 16-0 in the first quarter you kind of have to throw. Plus, Dallas has an elite Super Bowl-level defensive line and will dominate against most teams this year, and while we clearly struggled against them I don't foresee the O-line being that large of an issue going forward. The Giants won't get shut out every game, DJ won't throw 2 picks every game, and they won't let up a blocked FG TD and a pick-six every game. They'll be okay. With that said, I don't want to make more excuses. They were absolutely horrible and need to be better. But it's only week one and in the words of NFL Network's Kyle Brandt, "Week 1 is a liar. Always has been."