Giants 34, Cowboys 17 — When Rock Bottom Has a Basement

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — There are losses that sting. There are losses that hurt. And then there is what happened on Sunday at MetLife Stadium—a loss so humiliating, so utterly shameful, that it will be remembered as the lowest point in a season full of low points.

The Dallas Cowboys—America’s Team, the franchise that Jerry Jones claims is worth $10 billion, the team with Dak Prescott leading the NFL in passing yards—just lost 34-17 to a 3-13 New York Giants team that had been beaten by everyone.

Let that sink in.

The Giants came into this game with three wins. Three. They were the laughingstock of the NFL. They had benched Russell Wilson after three games. They were starting a rookie quarterback, Jaxson Dart, who had never won more than two games in a row in his career.

And they destroyed the Cowboys.

Not beat them. Not edged them out. Destroyed them.

This wasn’t a close game. This wasn’t bad luck. This was a complete and utter humiliation on national television—a public execution of what little dignity the Dallas Cowboys had left.

The Numbers That Tell a Story of Shame

Let’s start with the scoreboard, because it tells you everything you need to know:

Final Score: Giants 34, Cowboys 17

That’s a 17-point blowout. Against a team that had won three games all season.

But the numbers get worse:

Cowboys were 3-point favorites. Vegas gave them the edge. The entire world expected Dallas to win this game. And they didn’t just lose—they got embarrassed.

Dak Prescott’s 14-game winning streak against the Giants? Over. Done. Finished in the most pathetic way possible.

Cowboys finish 7-9-1. Their first losing season since 2020. After all the preseason hype, after all the “this is our year” nonsense, they finish below .500 and out of the playoffs for the second straight year.

But here’s the stat that should haunt every Cowboys fan:

The Giants had won back-to-back games for the first time since 2023—when Tommy DeVito won three straight. Before Sunday, they couldn’t string together consecutive wins. And then the Cowboys showed up and gifted them victory number four.

The First Half: A Glimmer of False Hope

The game started innocuously enough. Field goals were traded. Jaydon Blue scored a 14-yard rushing touchdown to give Dallas a 10-6 lead after the first quarter.

Cowboys fans watching at home dared to hope. Maybe this won’t be so bad. Maybe we can close out the season with a meaningless win and salvage some dignity.

And then the Giants remembered they were playing the Cowboys.

With 20 seconds left in the first half, Jaxson Dart—the rookie who was supposed to be overwhelmed, the quarterback who was supposed to struggle—dropped back under pressure and flipped the ball to tight end Daniel Bellinger for a 29-yard touchdown.

Halftime score: Giants 16, Cowboys 10.

The momentum had shifted. The Cowboys’ defense—ranked among the worst in the NFL—had been exposed yet again. And the second half? It only got worse.

The Second Half: A Complete Meltdown

The Cowboys came out of halftime with Dak Prescott on the bench. Jerry Jones and head coach Brian Schottenheimer had seen enough. They pulled their starters and sent in Joe Milton to finish the game.

Translation: We quit.

The Giants? They smelled blood.

9:52 remaining in the 3rd quarter: Jaxson Dart finds Tyrone Tracy Jr. for a 13-yard touchdown. The play was followed by a bunch of flags—Quinnen Williams called for unnecessary roughness, Donovan Ezeiruaku ejected from the game. The Giants go for two and get it.

Giants 24, Cowboys 10.

The rout was on.

5:54 remaining in the 4th quarter: Devin Singletary punches it in from 6 yards out.

Giants 34, Cowboys 17.

Game over. Season over. Dignity over.

The Jaxson Dart Masterclass: A Rookie Destroying America’s Team

Here’s what makes this loss even more painful: Jaxson Dart played out of his mind.

The 25th overall pick out of Ole Miss—the rookie who had been benched in favor of Russell Wilson earlier this season—came out and shredded the Cowboys defense.

• Dart delivered explosive plays through the air
• He scrambled when needed, including a huge play where Quinnen Williams was flagged for roughness on a Dart scramble
• He showed poise in the pocket, flipping a touchdown pass to Bellinger under pressure
• He connected with Tyrone Tracy Jr. for multiple big plays, including a 13-yard TD

This wasn’t just a win for the Giants. This was Dart’s coming-out party—and it came at the expense of the Dallas Cowboys.

“It’s hard to believe, but the last time these teams met, Russell Wilson was the starter. He also had the game of his life, and was benched the next week,” one Cowboys beat writer noted before the game. “Perhaps that should have been our first clue about the state of this defense.”

And they were right. Any quarterback—even a rookie, even a third-stringer—can look like a Hall of Famer against this Cowboys defense.

The Defense: Dead Last and Getting Worse

Let’s talk about the Cowboys defense, because it deserves its own section of shame.

Coming into this game, the Cowboys were ranked dead last in run defense:

• Dead last in yards per carry
• Dead last in yards before contact per carry
• Dead last in runs of 10+ yards
• Dead last in EPA/rush

And the Giants—who had one of the worst offenses in the NFL—ran all over them.

Devin Singletary had a field day. Tyrone Tracy Jr. gashed them on the ground and through the air. And Jaxson Dart ran for chunks whenever he needed to.

This defense is a disgrace. And the fact that it couldn’t even slow down a 3-13 Giants offense is proof that this Cowboys team is fundamentally broken.

The Dak Prescott Nightmare: Leading the League in Yards, Missing the Playoffs

Dak Prescott entered this game leading the NFL with 4,482 passing yards. He added 43 more before being benched at halftime, finishing with 4,525 yards—third on the Cowboys’ single-season passing yards list.

And what does he have to show for it?

A 7-9-1 record. No playoffs. A losing season.

This is Dak Prescott’s career in a nutshell: empty stats, no results.

He throws for 4,500 yards and the Cowboys still can’t make the playoffs. He dominates the Giants for 14 straight games, and then loses to the worst version of them in a decade.

“This will go down as one of Prescott’s best seasons,” the analysts say.

Will it? Or will it go down as another year of meaningless production that didn’t matter when it counted?

Jerry Jones: The Man Who Built This Disaster

Let’s not forget the man responsible for all of this: Jerry Jones.

Jones is the owner, the general manager, the decision-maker, and the face of the franchise. And he has presided over the most disappointing era in Cowboys history.

Since their last Super Bowl appearance in 1995, the Cowboys have been to the Divisional Round exactly four times. Four. In 30 years.

And this season? They didn’t even make the playoffs.

Jones spent all offseason talking about going “all-in.” He extended Dak Prescott to a record-breaking contract. He kept head coach Mike McCarthy despite underwhelming results.

And the result? 7-9-1 and a loss to the 3-13 Giants.

Jones will stand at a press conference this week and talk about “getting better” and “building for next year.” But the truth is, this franchise is rotting from the top down.

And until Jerry Jones steps aside, the Cowboys will continue to be a punchline.

The Giants’ Perspective: Winning Feels Like Losing

Ironically, the Giants didn’t even want to win this game.

By beating the Cowboys, New York dropped from the No. 1 overall pick to No. 3. They now have no chance at drafting Shedeur Sanders or Travis Hunter—the two most coveted prospects in the 2026 draft.

Giants fans are furious. They wanted their team to tank. They wanted the No. 1 pick. They wanted hope for the future.

Instead, they got a meaningless win that dropped them in the draft order.

And yet, even in trying to lose, the Giants were better than the Cowboys.

That’s how bad Dallas is right now.

The Historical Context: Dak’s Streak is Over

For nearly a decade, Dak Prescott owned the Giants.

14 consecutive wins from 2017 to 2024. The second-longest winning streak against a single opponent in NFL history.

Only Bob Griese (17 wins vs. Buffalo) had a longer streak.

And now it’s over. Ended by a 3-13 team. Ended in a blowout. Ended in the most humiliating way possible.

The streak wasn’t broken by a great Giants team. It was broken by the worst Giants team in recent memory.

And that makes it hurt even more.

Final Thoughts: Rock Bottom Has a Basement

The Cowboys thought they hit rock bottom when they were eliminated from playoff contention before Christmas.

They were wrong.

This is rock bottom.

Losing to a 3-13 team. Getting blown out by a rookie quarterback. Watching your $60 million-per-year QB get benched at halftime in a meaningless game.

7-9-1. A losing season. No playoffs. No hope.

This isn’t just a bad loss. This is a franchise-defining humiliation that will be remembered for years.

The Cowboys aren’t just bad. They’re a joke. They’re a punchline. They’re the team that lost to the Giants when the Giants didn’t even want to win.

And until something fundamentally changes—until Jerry Jones steps aside, until the defense is rebuilt, until accountability becomes more than a buzzword—this franchise will continue to wallow in mediocrity.

Welcome to Cowboys football in 2026: Where even the worst teams can beat America’s Team.