The Cowboys (2-1) defeated the Giants (2-1) for the 10th time in their past 11 meetings, ending their unbeaten start to the season in the process; watch Thursday Night Football - Miami Dolphins @ Cincinnati Bengals - live on Sky Sports NFL, 1.20am, Friday
Tuesday 27 September 2022 19:12, UK
Cooper Rush passed for 215 yards and one touchdown and Tony Pollard rushed for 105 yards as the Dallas Cowboys notched a 23-16 victory over NFC East rivals the New York Giants on Monday Night Football.
Rush completed 21 of his 31 pass attempts to guide the Cowboys (2-1) to their second consecutive win with him starting in place of regular quarterback Dak Prescott, who is out with a fractured right thumb. Rush threw the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter to CeeDee Lamb, who caught eight passes for 87 yards.
Ezekiel Elliott also rushed for 73 yards and a TD, while on the defensive side of the ball DeMarcus Lawrence matched his career-high of three sacks as Dallas defeated the Giants (2-1) for the 10th time in their past 11 meetings, curtailing their unbeaten start to the season in the process.
Daniel Jones connected on 20 of 37 passes for 196 yards, with one interception, and added 79 yards on the ground, while New York's star running back Saquon Barkley rushed for 81 yards and one touchdown.
Dallas took a 20-13 lead late on courtesy of Rush's goal-line TD toss to Lamb with eight-and-a-half minutes remaining. The pair had teamed up for a 26-yard pass play prior to the one-yard score.
The Cowboys defense then forced the Giants to punt, and KaVontae Turpin's 28-yard return placed the ball on the New York 35-yard line. The return set up a Brett Maher 44-yard field goal that made it 23-13 with six minutes left.
The Giants moved back to within seven courtesy of Graham Gano's 51-yard field goal inside the final four minutes but, though they'd get the ball back on offense one last time, Trevon Diggs intercepted Jones and Dallas took over at the New York 29-yard line and ran out the remainder of the clock.
After a cagey first half containing only field goals, Barkley had earlier given the Giants a 13-6 lead when he scampered 36 yards for a touchdown midway through the third quarter. But Dallas answered straight back with a crisp nine-play, 75-yard drive capped by a goal-line score from Elliott.
Rush and Lamb's link-up in the final quarter then separated the teams and the Cowboys held on for a crucial divisional victory.
Giants wide receiver Sterling Shepard, their longest-tenured player and one of the key leaders on a young team, suffered a torn ACL in his left knee on New York's final offensive play of the game.
Shepard, who took a pay cut to come back to New York this year and caught a touchdown pass after recovering from an Achilles tendon injury late last season, had to be carted off the field.
"It was heart-breaking," Giants offensive tackle Andrew Thomas said. "Shep worked really hard to get back and to see him go through something like that again, I feel for the guy. He loves the game, he works hard.
Head coach Brian Daboll had no immediate information on the extent of the injury but he was clearly worried, saying: "Guys work their butts off to get back from injuries, and if this is something that he's out for the whole season - which we'll probably know tomorrow morning or maybe even tonight - you hurt for those guys because they put everything into it.
Running back Barkley added: "He's one of my best friends, if not my best friend. So to see him go down, we've all got his back."
The 29-year-old Shepard has 362 catches for 4,038 yards and 22 touchdowns in 75 games (72 starts) over seven NFL seasons, all with New York.
Giants
Week Four in the NFL kicks off with the unbeaten Miami Dolphins (3-0) travelling to the Cincinnati Bengals (1-2) to take on the reigning AFC conference champions on Thursday Night Football. Watch it live on Sky Sports NFL from 1.20am on Friday morning.
As for the Cowboys, they host another NFC East rival, the Washington Commanders (1-2), on Sunday at 6pm, while the Giants welcome the Chicago Bears (2-1) into New York at the same time as they look to get back to winning ways.
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