Game recap

Cowboys @ Giants

2026 Wk 1 · NYG 28, DAL 20

Third down is where drives end, and an offense that converts nine of ten almost never has to give the ball back: four of the Giants' seven possessions reached the end zone and the last one ran the clock out. The 2025 baseline makes the number stranger, not more expected, because this was a middle-of-the-league third-down offense a year ago. For Dallas the same table reads as a defense that got off the field once in ten chances, and that is the direct reason a plus 0.561 EPA per play second half from its own offense was not enough.

FanIQ Research · September 14, 2026 · 7 facts, every one from the play-by-play

Nine of ten on third down: only the sixth offense since 1999 to miss at most once on ten or more tries

Anomaly

Offenses that failed at most one third down on 10+ attempts, 1999 to 2026

Season	Week	Offense	Defense	Converted
2008	16	NO	DET	11 of 11
2012	16	SEA	SF	11 of 12
2020	15	TEN	DET	9 of 10
2021	4	KC	PHI	9 of 10
2022	1	BUF	LA	9 of 10
2026	1	NYG	DAL	9 of 10

Third downs in this game

Team	Attempts	Converted	Avg yards to go
NYG	10	9	5.3
DAL	11	8	5.5

Games where both offenses converted 70%+ on 8+ third downs, 1999 to 2026 (incl. playoffs)

Season	Week	Game	Score	Third downs
2002	7	SF @ NO	NO 35, SF 27	19 of 26
2011	18 (WC)	DET @ NO	NO 45, DET 28	14 of 20
2020	5	PHI @ PIT	PIT 38, PHI 29	21 of 29
2026	1	DAL @ NYG	NYG 28, DAL 20	17 of 21

New York faced ten third downs and converted nine. The one miss was a Cam Skattebo run for no gain on third and 2 in the second quarter, and it produced the Giants' only punt. Since 1999, 13,495 team-games have included ten or more third-down tries; six of them ended with at most one failure. Dallas went 8 of 11 on its own third downs, so the two offenses combined for 17 of 21, one of four games in the database where both sides cleared 70 percent. The whole night produced three punts; of the 7,281 games since 1999 with at least one punt, 245 (3.4 percent) had three or fewer. In the 2025 regular season the Giants converted 40.4 percent of third downs, 17th in the league.

Why it matters. Third down is where drives end, and an offense that converts nine of ten almost never has to give the ball back: four of the Giants' seven possessions reached the end zone and the last one ran the clock out. The 2025 baseline makes the number stranger, not more expected, because this was a middle-of-the-league third-down offense a year ago. For Dallas the same table reads as a defense that got off the field once in ten chances, and that is the direct reason a plus 0.561 EPA per play second half from its own offense was not enough.

The 17th-ranked offense of 2025 just produced the Giants' best success rate in any game since 1999

Comparison

2025 regular season, offensive EPA per play (pass and run), selected rows of 32

Rank	Team	EPA/play	Success%
1	NE	+0.159	48.5%
2	LA	+0.145	51.8%
3	BUF	+0.136	48.5%
5	DAL	+0.098	46.6%
17	NYG	+0.012	42.1%

2025 regular season, defensive EPA per play allowed, bottom 5 of 32

Rank	Team	EPA/play allowed	Success% allowed
28	TEN	+0.101	45.2%
29	CIN	+0.130	47.8%
30	WAS	+0.143	47.6%
31	NYJ	+0.147	45.6%
32	DAL	+0.167	48.9%

Giants offense, highest single-game success rate since 1999 (50+ pass and run plays)

Season	Week	Opponent	Plays	EPA/play	Success%
2026	1	DAL	65	+0.369	60.0%
2006	1	IND	62	+0.203	59.7%
2022	17	IND	61	+0.208	59.0%
2010	9	SEA	75	+0.318	58.7%
2012	17	PHI	55	+0.440	58.2%

New York averaged plus 0.012 EPA per play across the 2025 regular season, 17th of 32, and its best single game that year was plus 0.252 against Philadelphia in Week 6. Against Dallas it produced plus 0.369 and a 60.0 percent success rate on 65 plays, the highest success rate in any Giants game since 1999. Dallas allowed plus 0.167 per play in 2025, last in the league and 0.020 behind the 31st-ranked Jets. A Cowboys defense has allowed 0.35 EPA per play and a 60 percent success rate on 50 or more plays only three times since 1999: New Orleans in Week 10 of 2013 (+0.546, 64.1%), Denver in Week 5 of 2013 (+0.428, 63.4%), and this game.

Why it matters. The gap between the two baselines is the mechanism. A middle-of-the-pack offense does not usually become the most efficient version of itself by accident, and the opponent that allowed the most per play in 2025 is the most plausible reason it did here. Success rate is the more telling of the two numbers for that reading, because it counts how often a play kept the drive on schedule rather than how big the best plays were: 60 percent means the Giants were ahead of the chains on three plays in five all night. One game is one game; the question for New York is whether this holds against a defense that finished in the top half.

Nine games since 1999: 75% passing, 3 TDs, no picks, 50 rushing yards. Dart's is the newest.

Rare

Passer games with 25+ attempts, 75%+ completion, 3+ TD, 0 INT and 50+ rushing yards, 1999 to 2026 regular season

Season	Week	Passer	Team	Opp	Comp/Att	Pass yds	TD	Rush yds
2011	9	Aaron Rodgers	GB	LAC	21/26	247	4	52
2015	13	Russell Wilson	SEA	MIN	21/27	274	3	51
2020	4	Kyler Murray	ARI	CAR	24/31	133	3	78
2020	9	Kyler Murray	ARI	MIA	21/26	283	3	106
2021	1	Jalen Hurts	PHI	ATL	27/35	264	3	62
2021	5	Lamar Jackson	BAL	IND	37/43	442	4	62
2024	15	Lamar Jackson	BAL	NYG	21/25	290	5	65
2025	14	Josh Allen	BUF	CIN	22/28	251	3	78
2026	1	Jaxson Dart	NYG	DAL	23/29	230	3	54

Dart, 2025 regular season versus this game

Span	Games	Comp%	Pass yds	TD	INT	Rush yds
2025 regular season	12	63.7%	2,272	15	5	487
2026 Week 1	1	79.3%	230	3	0	54

Dart completed 23 of 29 for 230 yards and three touchdowns, took two sacks, threw no interceptions, and ran 11 times for 54 yards. His 2025 rookie season covered 12 games at 63.7 percent with 15 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. Across his throws in this game he averaged plus 13.4 completion percentage over expected. The nine-game cohort includes one Lamar Jackson entry that came against these same Giants in 2024, and every other name on it was a long-term starter for his franchise.

Why it matters. The combination is rare because its three parts pull against each other. High completion rates usually come from short throws that do not produce three scores, and quarterbacks who run for 50 yards are usually the ones taking sacks and forcing the throws that become interceptions. Dart hit all three in his 13th NFL game with a pass attempt, against the defense that allowed the most EPA per play in the league in 2025. The next step is the same line against a defense that does not.

Likely caught all eight targets with two scores, the fifth tight end since 1999 to do it

Rare

Tight ends with 8+ targets, every target caught, and 2+ receiving TDs, 1999 to 2026 regular season

Season	Week	Tight end	Team	Opp	Targets	Catches	Yards	TD
2014	8	Rob Gronkowski	NE	CHI	9	9	149	3
2016	9	Jimmy Graham	SEA	BUF	8	8	103	2
2018	16	Kyle Rudolph	MIN	DET	9	9	122	2
2021	1	Rob Gronkowski	TB	DAL	8	8	90	2
2026	1	Isaiah Likely	NYG	DAL	8	8	78	2

Likely, 2025 regular season with Baltimore versus his first Giants game

Span	Games	Targets	Catches	Yards	TD
2025 regular season (BAL)	12	36	27	307	1
2026 Week 1 (NYG)	1	8	8	78	2

Likely's touchdowns came from 15 yards with 25 seconds left in the first half and from 2 yards in the third quarter, both on short throws to the right side. Across all of 2025 with Baltimore he was targeted 36 times in 12 games and scored once. Two of the five entries in the cohort belong to Rob Gronkowski, and the 2021 one, like this one, came against Dallas in Week 1. Malik Nabers drew nine targets and caught six for 69 yards, so Likely was not the only option, just the one Dart never missed on.

Why it matters. A perfect catch rate on eight targets is as much a quarterback stat as a receiver stat: every throw was placed where the tight end could get it and none were forced into coverage. What separates this entry from an ordinary good day is the leverage of the two scores, one that broke a 7-7 tie with 25 seconds left in the half and one that pushed the lead to 14. Likely scored once in the whole 2025 season; his first game in a new offense doubled that.

New York ran more than it threw, and the 31 throws did nearly all the damage: +0.707 EPA per dropback

Split

This game, offense by play type (pass and run)

Team	Type	Plays	Yards	EPA/play	Success%
NYG	Pass	31	229	+0.707	71.0%
NYG	Run	34	170	+0.061	50.0%
DAL	Pass	34	175	+0.305	44.1%
DAL	Run	18	69	+0.061	50.0%

2025 regular season, EPA per dropback, selected rows of 32

Rank	Team	Dropbacks	EPA/play
1	NE	551	+0.287
2	LA	617	+0.229
3	GB	519	+0.229
5	DAL	655	+0.161
19	NYG	576	-0.008

The Giants called 34 runs and 31 passes. The runs averaged 5.0 yards and a 50 percent success rate, ordinary numbers. The passes went for 229 yards on 31 dropbacks, two of them sacks, and 22 of the 31 were successful plays. That plus 0.707 per dropback came from an offense that averaged minus 0.008 per dropback across the 2025 regular season, 19th in the league. Dallas's own passing game was productive at plus 0.305, but the Cowboys ran 13 fewer plays in total, so it had fewer chances to matter.

Why it matters. The run-heavy sequencing is the mechanism behind the passing number. Thirty-four runs at 5.0 a carry kept the Giants in short distances, an average of 5.3 yards to go on third down, and that is where a 71 percent success rate on dropbacks comes from: throws made on schedule, not throws made from behind the chains. For Dallas the split shows a defense that was not beaten on the ground, since the Giants' runs were merely average, and had no answer for the pass. One game against the offense that ranked 19th per dropback in 2025 is a warning, not a diagnosis.

Harbaugh's first Giants win, and New York's first back-to-back wins over Dallas since 2016

Milestone

Giants head-coach debuts, 2004 to 2026

Coach	Season	Opponent	Result
Tom Coughlin	2004	at PHI	L 31-17
Ben McAdoo	2016	at DAL	W 20-19
Steve Spagnuolo (interim)	2017	vs DAL	L 30-10
Pat Shurmur	2018	vs JAX	L 20-15
Joe Judge	2020	vs PIT	L 26-16
Brian Daboll	2022	at TEN	W 21-20
John Harbaugh	2026	vs DAL	W 28-20

Cowboys versus Giants, the last five meetings

Season	Week	Result
2024	4	DAL 20, NYG 15
2024	13	DAL 27, NYG 20
2025	2	DAL 40, NYG 37
2025	18	NYG 34, DAL 17
2026	1	NYG 28, DAL 20

The series by span, 1999 to 2026 (incl. the 2007 playoff game)

Span	Meetings	DAL wins	NYG wins
2017 Wk 1 to 2025 Wk 2	17	16	1
2025 Wk 18 to 2026 Wk 1	2	0	2
All, 1999 to 2026	56	32	24

Harbaugh's Baltimore debut in 2008 was also a win, 17-10 over Cincinnati, so he has now won his first game with two franchises. Three of the seven Giants head coaches to debut since 2004 won their opener, and two of those three did it against Dallas. The series had gone one way for years: from Week 1 of 2017 through Week 2 of 2025, Dallas won 16 of 17 meetings, the exception a 23-19 Giants win in Week 17 of 2020. New York has now won two straight. The last time that happened was Week 7 of 2015 through Week 14 of 2016, three in a row.

Why it matters. Debut results are noisy, but the opponent is not random: four of the seven debuts on this list came against a division rival, where roster gaps tend to show early. The series numbers are the more meaningful part. A 16-of-17 run says the gap between these two rosters was structural for eight seasons; two straight Giants wins, by 17 points and by 8, are the first evidence that it has closed. Harbaugh's Baltimore teams won 10 or more regular-season games in 11 of his 18 seasons there, which is the standard the Giants hired.

Never behind: Dallas tied it once and got within a score twice, and the Giants answered every time

Trend

Scoring plays

Qtr	Clock	Team	Play	Score after
1	6:45	NYG	Skattebo 3-yd run	NYG 7, DAL 0
2	5:48	DAL	Prescott 1-yd pass to Lamb	NYG 7, DAL 7
2	0:25	NYG	Dart 15-yd pass to Likely	NYG 14, DAL 7
3	7:04	NYG	Dart 2-yd pass to Likely	NYG 21, DAL 7
3	0:41	DAL	J. Williams 1-yd run	NYG 21, DAL 14
4	7:31	NYG	Dart 9-yd pass to Singletary	NYG 28, DAL 14
4	5:26	DAL	Prescott 17-yd pass to J. Williams, XP missed	NYG 28, DAL 20

Giants possessions

No.	Start	Plays	Result
1	Q1 12:53	10	TD, 83 yards
2	Q1 1:59	7	Punt
3	Q2 5:38	8	Fumble lost
4	Q2 0:49	6	TD, 55 yards
5	Q3 14:55	12	TD, 74 yards
6	Q3 0:37	13	TD, 65 yards
7	Q4 5:16	12	Ran out the clock

Dallas offense by half (pass and run plays)

Half	Plays	Yards	EPA/play	Success%	Points
1st	31	122	-0.010	41.9%	7
2nd	21	122	+0.561	52.4%	13

Dallas tied it 7-7 with 5:48 left in the half. The Giants' next possession ended in a Tyrone Tracy fumble at the Dallas 21, but Dak Prescott's interception six plays later gave the ball back, and Dart needed six plays and 24 seconds to make it 14-7. Dallas cut it to 21-14 with 41 seconds left in the third quarter; the Giants answered with 13 plays, 65 yards and a touchdown at 7:31. Dallas cut it to 28-20 at 5:26, with Brandon Aubrey missing the extra point wide right, his sixth miss in 135 career tries, and the Giants took the ball at 5:16, converted two more third downs, and knelt three times to end it.

Why it matters. Dallas's second half was good enough to win a lot of games: plus 0.561 EPA per play and 13 points on 21 plays. It lost because the Giants' offense never gave it the field. Four of New York's seven possessions ended in the end zone, and the one that did not score in the fourth quarter consumed the final 5:16. The missed extra point mattered at the margin, turning a 7-point game into an 8-point one, but Dallas never got another possession to find out.

FanIQ answers any NFL stats question with receipts, on your phone.

Get FanIQ free Get it on Google Play