N.Y. Giants: Defenseless at Dallas

From the desk of: DO IT FOR THE DUKE

HIDE THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN

THIS IS GONNA GET UGLY

WEEK ONE

New York Giants    17

Dallas Cowboys     35

FINAL

Cowboys Breach Giants Defenses

WEEK ONE REACTION

I'm not pleased with Eli throwing 44 times.  Nor am I agreeable with limiting Saquon Barkley to just 15 touches.  However, Eli connects 30 times for 306 yards and a touchdown with no INT's, and Saquon rushes for 120 yards and catches four passes for another 19 yards.  Evan Engram is targeted 14 times and makes 11 receptions for 116 yards and a touchdown.  Meanwhile Eli is sacked just once and is harassed on six other occasions.  It's an otherwise decent day at the office for this newly constructed offensive line.

How, then, do the Giants come away from Sunday's game with more plays from scrimmage, more first downs; more total yards rushing; and 470 total yards; yet come away with only 17 points and lose time of possession by almost five minutes?  Two lost fumbles, a turnover on downs, and going 2/11 on third down conversions would do the trick. They better straighten that out quickly because the longer they keep their defense off the field, the better chances they'll have of winning a game.

This is what I said about their defense in my Sunday picks:

I knew heading in the Giants defense would be terrible.  On Sunday we got out first glimpse of the disaster that is to come.  The secondary gets torched.  Receivers Michael Gallup and Amari Cooper alone account for 264 yards.  Randall Cobb and Blake Jarwin account for another 108 yards.  Ezekiel Elliot understandably only rushes 13 times.  Dallas generates 492 yards of offense and Dak Prescott throws for over 400 yards with four touchdowns.  The Giants keep the Cowboys under 100 yards on the ground but generate no turnovers, record no sacks, and touch the quarterback only twice.

How does Elliott rush more times than Barkley?