TNF Recap: Cowboys at Giants

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Yeah, I lost my first two games against them my rookie year.

And after that,

I forgot that.

So, yeah, just a great matchup for us.

Love coming to New York, playing the fence, travel well, great atmosphere.

Want to keep it going.

There he is, Dak Prescott.

Now, 13 consecutive wins over the New York Giants.

That is not a rivalry.

That is a one-sided butt-kicking

after a 20-15 Cowboys win over the New York Giants at the Meadowlands MetLife Stadium, a game in which Dak and the Cowboys' offense started out hot.

The defense held the fort.

And the biggest questions around the Cowboys and the Giants are about injuries after Micah Parsons and Malik Neighbors both went out late in this game.

Dan Hans is here, along with Mark Sessler, He'd in that call, and Mark, you know, they're not all going to be diamonds.

I thought we were going to lose Al in this game.

Al was not here for the penalties.

Al's damn near, I don't know, I think he's over 80 years old, and he ain't here to see laundry all over the field on a Thursday night.

So that's the other concern for me: that Al's a treasure.

A lot of sloppiness in this game, but the Cowboys come out of it with a dub.

It is,

like, just as a bit of a diversion, like, I find find it intriguing when Al becomes so annoyed by anything at all that is elongating the game because you know that he's already in his world begun to dial up a list of like steakhouses and taverns to go to after the game.

And so when you've got the, you've got like a Dallas team that had 11 penalties for 89 yards.

The Giants much cleaner.

But Dallas, this, you're right, this was a sloppy game.

And it's, I think I'm all right with this with Thursday night football, just understanding that we're not going to get a lot of questions answered about the deep nature of teams on Thursday night.

You're going to get the team that's better at just grinding it out.

But I think the biggest news of the evening is you've got Micah Parsons getting carted off.

late in the game.

You've got DeMarcus Lawrence hurt.

And while Mike Zimmer is wearing a very unusual baseball cap along with the head coach, like he did, he had a nice evening as the defensive coordinator after last week.

But that's, for me, the biggest situation.

If you lose these players or if you lose them for any amount of time, the Dallas Cowboys are a completely different operation.

Right.

And we did not get any details from Mike McCarthy and his presser about the severity of the Micah Parsons injury.

He went out late in the game

when

let's see who it was.

It was Giants guard Greg Van Roten landed on the back of his leg.

He went into the blue tent and very quickly popped out, had his socks off, had his his cleat off, and hopped on a cart and was taken back to the locker room.

You know, the Cowboys get 10 days off now, or at least 10 days before their next game, so there is time for turnaround, as long as this isn't a serious injury for Parsons.

But yeah,

you hold your breath there.

DeMarcus Lawrence also ended this game

on the sideline with an injury.

And one other big injury, Mark Malik Neighbors,

at the end of that game on the fourth down attempt near the sideline, got shaken up, was down, he kind of landed like face mask first at a high rate of speed.

So that was ugly, but hopefully he'll be okay because he had another huge game for the Giants

who have really decided, like, and Brian Dayball has decided that if we are to win any games, it's just going to be throwing at this rookie wide receiver.

as much as possible.

15 targets for Malik Neighbors, 12 catches for 115 yards.

So another big performance.

He is off to a pace.

Like we saw Puka Nakua Mark last year break all those rookie records.

Neighbors, as long as he stays healthy, is going to smash all those marks because this is what the Giants, this is what they're built to do.

They had a horrendous, horrendous game running the football.

24 carries for 26 yards in this game.

And in addition to Neighbors,

Wandale Robinson is getting targeted 14 times in this game.

So the coverage's pretty bare around Daniel Jones, but he has a very special young playmaker in Neighbors, and get used to it.

That's all I'll say.

It does seem that Neighbors makes Daniel Jones a more efficient passer, like two games in a row.

Like his numbers tonight, like he threw 40 passes by the end, but he was like 21 for 23 at some point.

I think Neighbors left.

I think it was a head injury that he left with.

So we'll see what goes down with that.

I think you're exactly right.

Like,

the Giants' journey is concerning to me because you're in the third year of this and there are major deficiencies personnel-wise.

And in terms of like, you come out of a game like this and you can barely run the ball and you are reliant on one player.

And that's where they are right now.

And

like Neighbors is an absolute star.

Like, I really just think he's the kind of person that's going to light up the league for, you know, seven or eight years in a row.

But it's not enough for the Giants.

And the Giants, to me, feel a little planless, a little organizationally drifting away and they're not a relevant team at this point and the Cowboys came in and took care of business but like am I meant to come out of this and I think most people like you know you're tracking Twitter like most people are just like oh cool the cowboys won here all right but like there's not a lot to take away from the Dallas effort either.

It's like you went and took care of business.

Dak was relatively clean.

But they also seem like a team that struggles to run the ball.

It was like late in the third quarter and their leading rusher was CeeDee Lamb with 10 yards.

So it's like this is a team that also, like, if you want to get into the dark, deep darkness of the, of the season, into the, you know, that when the weather gets rough and stuff, I don't trust Dallas to be any different than an average type of team.

And they're, this, this tonight is like, you'll win this game, but then like you're going to be challenged a week from now.

What do you, what resources do you have to get out of trouble?

Yeah, I think style points are not necessary on Thursday.

I understand it.

It's like,

the way that the league has set up this schedule.

These players are just grinding through it.

And if you could survive it without losing half your roster

and the Giants and the Cowboys are both holding their breath with some of their star players,

you consider it a victory.

I think, yeah, we'll see about the Cowboys.

I certainly am not here for any takes in the morning about how the Cowboys have fixed their defense or whatever.

Yeah, they held the Giants to five field goals, but this is the Giants team that we just told you.

It's very limited in terms of the scope of their offense and the ways that they can beat you.

So the Cowboys still have a lot of questions to have answered as things move forward.

But it was good, I thought, in terms of what was progress for the Cowboys.

Yes, the...

The defense did keep the Giants out of the end zone.

That's progress after the grisliness of the last couple of weeks on that side of the ball.

They made some big plays in the secondary finally, including the game icing interception, which, by the way, I hated, hated that last Giants drive.

Let me just get into that a second.

So, Brandon Aubrey, shout-out, unbelievable, again,

is an absolute assault on the record books and what we thought a kicker was capable of.

He hits his first two kicks in this game

from 40, and then he bangs a 60-yarder.

And it's like hitting a 60-yarder in the Meadowlands, an outdoor venue where the wind is known to swirl.

He just cuts right through everything, splits the uprights, but he does miss a 51-yarder in the final minute, and the Giants are set up at that point, and I just hated the way that last drive played out.

Let's see,

three plays, they could take over.

I know, there's only 28 seconds, and

there's no timeouts left.

So obviously they're up against it.

It's a five-point game.

Weirder things have happened.

Put it together.

Yeah, they're at their own 41, absolutely.

They're at their own 41.

Daniel Jones shotgun drops back.

Wandell Robinson, kind of, it's a little bit of a Minneapolis miracle scenario where

the cowboy in coverage, Nealand, kind of got out of position where he's going out for an interception.

And Robinson, just not very competitive on the route.

A better wide receiver.

Malik Neighbors makes that catch, put it this way.

But Robinson not making that catch.

Second down,

it's a bad kind of desperation heave on the right side, incomplete.

And then on third and 10, just like

a long, lofted interception down the right sideline.

I know they were in trouble, but how about a couple bing, bing, bing receptions that get you on the other side of the field and make that interesting?

There was a hopelessness, I thought, even to that last stretch.

It was like, man, the Giants are going to be hard to watch this year.

I think that's well said.

It's like, again, it's like, I always thought that the Brian Dayball experience would be similar to buffalo where you've got a mobile quarterback and daniel jones i know he's not josh allen but you've got two or three offseasons to build around him and here we are and there's very little hope at the end of that game that new york's going to do anything or that they're going to mean anything and They can't get out of their own way.

They're a field goal offense.

They have been.

If you look like this entire, like in three of their four games, they have been a completely field goal offense.

And I'm not sure what vision is involved in that.

I'm really not.

And I think like, you know, you're making things easy for a Dallas team that against a better opponent tonight would have been vulnerable.

They would have been vulnerable, but the Giants don't present that kind of a problem.

No,

the best news, I would think, from a

waking of a Giants scenario, I would say, is CeeDee Lamb, who, you know, we talked about it a lot

last,

during the past week about how Lamb kind of took himself out of that last game against Baltimore and actually acknowledged that leading into this game.

And it actually, and he blew up in this game.

He had nearly 100 yards, had a long touchdown.

And it did remind me of last year we were doing the old show.

And I remember on the show imploring CeeDee Lamb to wake up and be the guy that I know he could be.

And then he followed that, a bad loss in San Francisco where he was pouting on the sideline with six straight games with at least 11 catches

and

seven games with more than 100 yards.

So, is that the beginning of a big CD run?

Because as he goes, that offense goes.

So, that's a positive thing.

And then Justin just sent this along from

Mike Garifolo of NFL Network.

Micah Parsons spent some time icing his ankle on the Cowboys training table, limping a bit, but no indications here in the locker room.

He suffered a significant injury.

So, obviously, great news there.

The only concern you have if you're a Cowboys fan, I would, if I'm like, hopefully it's not a high ankle sprain.

And we know how that could jack up a season.

If it's a mid or low ankle sprain, then he should be good to go by the time the Cowboys are back on the field.

So yeah, these

mark these Thursday night games are, they could be wars of attrition.

And I think that's what we watched tonight.

Yep, they've got the Steelers next in Pittsburgh, tough defense.

Detroit after that.

Then they're by, and so that can heal things.

But then the Niners and the Falcons.

So like, it does not get easier for the Cowboys.

I'll say one thing about the Giants before we go.

Like

this is sort of what annoys me.

They get down to the Dallas 3 and it's fourth and three and they're within, you know, they're down by less than a touchdown.

And they kick a field goal and it's like, what is Brian Dable?

Because I would have assumed they're more aggressive.

I would have assumed that they're like,

this is what we kill teams for week after week.

It's like that app, like every bot and everything is saying, you go for it from there.

Who are you?

What is your identity?

And you kick a field goal and it's like,

when when will the New York Giants want to be reborn?

Is something that seems even semi-important to me.

Like, if you're going to put them on Thursday night football in this situation, like

matter, go for it.

Take a risk.

Change your season.

And I feel like in this game tonight, Dallas, totally milquetoast, was almost handed the game by a Giants team that doesn't know how to,

in these situations, be the equal.

And

I'm an old school, East Coast guy like you.

The Giants were like my second team, and I found myself piqued by what I saw tonight.

We have got a lot of Giants friends, and it's like, what are you, and who are you?

Yeah, they are a team searching for an identity.

Neighbors is the closest thing to establishing them as something very watchable.

I'm seeing here that he...

He left the game with a concussion.

So

that's something now to keep an eye on.

And he became the first player of this per ESPN in NFL history with at least 25 catches and three touchdowns in his first four career games.

So, you know, obviously a really special start, but they're going to need more.

They're going to need more than

neighbors

to make this a team that's contending on any level or is even watchable because I wouldn't say they were very exciting in that regard.

You know what it was, though?

Like, I love that it's 2024.

And as we get to the end of the game here, they are promoing the JCPenney post-game show.

Like, what?

Like, like,

I know that store

still exists

in our society, but, like, JCPenney does a post-game show at this point.

Like, that's just sort of is the.

I don't really have a JCPenney take.

Isn't that like a major retailer?

I mean, it feels, yeah, I feel like it's like, hey, the only place you can go find JCPenney is in a mall that's like half shut down in like Paramus, New Jersey or like central Iowa.

Yeah, no.

That's the company that's like, you're right.

Is it a hot?

It's not a hot take or anything.

It just like seems like a bit of an antiquated sponsor type item.

But I didn't think we'd be talking JCPenney tonight, but it wasn't a great game.

Speaking of the Amazon coverage, can you pull up a tweet I had earlier tonight?

You know,

you've not been a fan of this show first.

I mean, let's count them.

We got one,

two,

three,

four,

five, six people

at this desk.

Totally average.

Or Amazon for the coverage, the pre- and post-game and halftime coverage.

How is anyone able to have a conversation?

Now,

we do a show.

You and I, Mark, and Justin is in, and sometimes Connor's on the show.

And like our Thursday preview show, which you can check out right now, Mike and Jordan Rodriguez join us.

Four is a lot, right?

I'll never forget when Chris Mad Dog Russo, we met him for the first time at Radio Row.

And it was when Chris was still with us.

And after we wrapped up,

we were just making small chat with Mad Dog.

And he famously, of course, did the radio show with Mike Francesa, Mike and the Mad Dog.

So he, and they broke up, and there was an acrimonious breakup there.

And he was like, there's four of you, huh?

Oh, that's hard.

Yep.

Good for you.

Four, huh?

Now, six people.

How can anyone have a conversation when there's six people on that desk?

I just

totally, it's it's um it's rubble.

It's totally absurd.

And like, I, yeah, my, my mind goes to the same place because we, we did owner's meetings.

That's terrible.

Yeah, we did owner meetings chats.

I remember we had like Andy Reid in once, and it was like, we've got eight and a half minutes with Andy Reid, and there's four of us.

And, you know, not all four of us are going to speak equally.

We know that how the show works.

So it's like, you are literally wrestling psychologically with the people on your own show to get even a word in.

And so there were episodes, there were like interviews where like I remember one where Wes didn't even speak.

Like that's just how it works.

So it's like the idea that six people are going to have a functional conversation with like Dak Prescott at the end of the night.

Like can you prove to me, can you prove to me that Tony Gonzalez opened his mouth today?

Like, could you actually prove it to me?

I don't know if anyone is paid more to, and I'm not, like, I, like, he does what he does, and he is

an all-time player.

And I, like, he he does quality work, I'm certain.

But I don't remember anything he said in the last 15 to 20 years.

But

he is getting paid a lot of money to simply sit there as a beefeat human.

I guess that's the job.

I'm not sure what the job is.

Is that the job?

I don't know.

There's just a lot of people on that desk.

No,

it's packed.

All right.

By the way, Justin.

Where's Gravedigger?

Gravedigger, come on, bud.

Grave digger.

Don't we have something we want to share with the audience?

I want you to jump in.

We do.

We did it.

And by we, I mean you guys, the listeners, the audience, maybe the viewers, actually, because if you're on YouTube, I mean, maybe you're just listening to me.

What is this higher register you now speak in?

Something has changed since the last time that you were with us.

It's my excited and proud of the audience voice.

Oh, higher register.

That's sweet.

You guys got us clear of the 10K mark before we taped the Thursday preview show which was the goal that we put out on wednesday which wasn't a lot of time to get to 10k but you guys did it and we forgot to mention it on the thursday preview show but here we are still on thursday recording and uh shout out to the listeners the viewers the audience for pushing us over the 10k mark but guess what we're never satisfied so let's get to 20k now Yeah, I have a goal in mind that our next goal is to have more subscribers than our former home had.

That's just what, and we could look that up and see what that is.

But let's just keep building on it.

Let's build.

Let's chop wood, sest dog.

Yeah, can I like, well, A, congratulations to everyone who, you know, clicked a button.

Like, I appreciate that too.

But can I, can I go, like, I'm not going negative, but can I be a little stern?

Okay.

Well, no, but if we need, if you need to be verbally reminded by us

to subscribe to our, to the channel, then it's time to up your game.

Like, you don't need to be disciplined by us.

And now I'm very proud of you at the same time.

It's a little

cat and string theory.

Well, no, just like I appreciate you, but also if I need to tell you to do it, let's get in sync.

Okay.

Very nice.

And here is hashtag 48.3.

That's the new goal.

I like that.

Actually, make it 48.4.

That's the new goal.

So let's go for it.

Again, plenty of content for you guys as we edge into the weekend.

Tomorrow morning, we will have the latest draft up for the flagship program.

I believe Justin Graver had the first overall pick, so see how he did with that.

So you can get that on patreon.com slash heed the call, where I have all sorts of content over there.

Now, you have the week four preview with Mike and Jordan right now sitting in your device of choice.

And then, yes, Sunday, we will see you for the flagship program.

So thank you to everybody for, in all sincerity, Mark.

I don't know what that was.

It was almost a little bit of a jab of the audience, or you were challenging them, or I don't know

what it was, but I am very thankful to have the support that we have.

The people, we say, please get us to 10.

Bang, we get 10.

So, next is what, Justin?

Hashtag it.

Hashtag 48.3K?

No, no, 48.4.

48.4.

Sorry.

I was going to think earlier when you said it.

No, you're right.

That's the goal, Mark.

Support them.

We support them because they support us.

I don't not support them.

But it's good cop, bad cop.

You need a little bit of both.

Like, it can't just be like, you're so wonderful.

Like, let me put socks on you and comb your hair.

It's like, I want you also to

understand that there's another region we can get to as a group, and we need to be serious about this.

Okay.

But I appreciate your approach too.

But like, together we create the right approach.

I hear you.

you.

You can praise them and tell them that you know that you think about them.

And I'll say what I say.

Okay.

Why do you have Levi on tonight?

Where are you going?

You doing something tonight?

Take it easy, bro.

Just.

Nowhere.

Like, no.

It's just come on.

It's week four.

We got a lot of season ahead of us.

You got a sex addiction?

You got a problem with sex?

No.

You're addicted to sex?

Sex addiction or something?

No.

I am staying home this evening and, you know,

just turn on like a Titans game from week two or three and grind through that tape.

All right, thank you to everybody.

That's a great idea.

Thank you to everybody for listening.

Until next time, heathic call.

Football

is not a good night, not for me,

not for Giants fans all over the world.

This is what happens

when Eli Manning

and Odell Beckham take the night off, let the kids play.

Clearly, it wasn't my ten out there.

Clearly, that was Jones.

And we all know who was catching that rock.

It wasn't Odell, no.

It was neighbors.

A talenting guy.

But he's no Beckham.

A slogfest is what they call it.

I once did a slogfest, a Shakespeare play,

a little

off-Broadway thing I did back in 1972.

I'll nude.

Except for me, I refuse.

It's a little something about me, no one knows.

I'm a never nude.

Anyway,

Giants, 15.

Cowboys, 20.

Disappointment abounds and wrecks the big apple tonight.

Back to you, Dan.

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