The Dan Quinn Report - Week 1 - At NYG
The Defensive Destruction of the NY Giants was thorough and nationally televised.
Wow.
There is no other way to properly and concisely describe what the defense did to that optimistic team from New York on Sunday Night.
Imagine the levels of excitement that got squashed: a young team prepares for a new season after coming off a playoff victory the year before. The Giants got their guys signed, had a draft and offseason full of smart additions (including one of the scariest tight end weapons in the league), and pointed to the Week 1 date with those hated Dallas Cowboys to make the first bold strike of 2023 against a rival.
The game starts and a march right down the field commences on the opening drive. Your newly extended QB and RB both take turns running the football right at the Cowboys. Ten straight runs – some designed, some scrambles – takes the ball down the field efficiently without a single pass attempted.
The Giants start feeling themselves and see that their plans are starting to work. They proceed all the way to the Cowboys 8-yard line.
3rd and 2 and the end zone is starting to appear reachable. But, that is when the avalanche of mistakes begins and dreams turn into nightmares.
False Start on 3rd-and-2, Andrew Thomas jumps vs Micah Parsons.
Poor snap sends Daniel Jones falling on a live ball for loss of 14 yards as Parsons arrives.
Field goal team must come on, only to have Juanyeh Thomas block the kick and Noah Igbinoghene runs it back for a touchdown.
Micah Parsons destroys your next drive with a sack.
Another sack begins the next drive and suggests there is no blocking Dallas.
A fairly innocent dump-off pass on 3rd-and-19 turns into a Trevon Diggs hit of Saquon Barkley that amazingly becomes a Daron Bland Pick-6.
With just 2:30 left in the 1st Quarter, roughly less than seven minutes after the false start, the game has already ended, 16-0.
This is the equivalent of a sudden first-round knockout or that famous Ron Burgundy GIF.
To say the Dallas defense sent a message to the rest of the NFL on Sunday Night would be an understatement as well as a fairly unnecessary exercise. The NFL already knows that this defense is a problem. Sure, there are weaknesses to attempt to exploit – New York opening the game determined to run the ball every play is probably something we should get used to – but, nobody is looking forward to trying to get their passing game going against this front.
Dallas had seven sacks, three takeaways, allowed 171 yards, and allowed zero points against a team that was playing their new and improved offense and coming off a playoff road upset of the 13-win Minnesota Vikings.
It was as close to a perfect game performance from Dan Quinn and his crew as anyone could ever imagine. In fact, as you look at the data box below, is there anything that stops you calling this a perfect game?
You know what I do when I see a game play out like this. I immediately want to go through the historical archives to see if the Cowboys have ever had a game before that was quite this dominant.
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