Cowboys at Giants stock report: Mazi Smith has a breakout game for Dallas
The Dallas Cowboys won on Thursday night. A win is a win is a win is a win and we are all very grateful. Multiple things can be true simultaneously though. While we are happy that Dallas won, we can all acknowledge that there is much to be worked on if we want to have celebrations similar to this one throughout the course of the season and deep into the new year.
Pertaining to Thursday night, while there were several things that we would like to see the coaching staff adjust and amend, there were many moments from players that stood out and are cause for celebration. Our stock report following the Cowboys reaching .500 after two long weeks features more up arrows than down, and some names that are making their debut.
Let’s begin.
Stock Up: Mazi Smith
It is not hyperbolic to say that we just witnessed the best game of Mazi Smith as a professional football player. The bar is low, but wow what a showing.
From NFL Pro and Next Gen Stats:
The New York Giants had 23 designed rushing plays against the Dallas Cowboys that totaled 27 yards.
New York generated -49 rushing yards over expected, the lowest total RYOE on designed runs for them as a franchise in the Next Gen Stats era (since 2018).
On designed runs specifically, Giants ball-carriers averaged -0.1 yards before contact and were contacted behind the line of scrimmage on 48% of those attempts.
This is a neon sign that says that Mazi Smith balled out on Thursday night.
For the first time in forever (shout out Frozen) Smith was an enforcer within the middle of the Dallas defensive line. He clogged runs, stopped them entirely and put an end to many before they got properly off of the ground.
Perhaps we are at the beginning of a new era. One can only hope.
Stock Up: Terence Steele
It has been a long first month of the season for Terence Steele as we have lamented many times about how unprepared he seems to be. As the second-most tenured veteran we have a right to expect more from him.
We got more on Thursday night. Consider that Giants pass rusher Brian Burns (you know, the one they made a big trade for in the offseason) did not have a single pressure against Dallas on the 25 plays in which he rushed the passer. This was the first time in his career he was held pressure-less in games in which he had at least double-digit attempts.
Of Burns’ 25 pass rush attempts… 17 of them were met with the stone cold Steele wall that is Terence Steele. Kudos to number 78 for locking his man down.
Stock Up: Dak Prescott
Immediately after the game we noted here on the blog that Dak Prescott had a highly efficient night. Getting specific here, you should know that Dak was 13 of 14 for 143 yards and two touchdowns on passes under 2.5 seconds.
That is remarkably efficient work from the quarterback paid to have it on a weekly basis. Given that this comes just one week after Dak had his highest tight window throw percentage (35.3%) in almost six full seasons, we are seeing in different respects how difficult the circumstances around him are.
Credit to Prescott for getting it done, and doing so quick enough to where the chaos could not properly engulf him like we have seen in weeks prior.
Stock Up: CeeDee Lamb
It was fantastic to see CeeDee Lamb in the endzone once again. His first score of the season came from 65 yards out (against New Orleans) and this one from 55. He is flirting with the range that only Brandon Aubrey is comfortable from.
On a serious note, it was obviously a very long week for Lamb with all of the talk about pouting and what not during last week’s loss to the Baltimore Ravens. Burying that kind of stuff and moving on is much easier said than done. Good for him doing it.
Stock Up: Rico Dowdle
We have not exactly had many opportunities to heap praise on the running backs on this team so we are going to take any and every chance that we can get. Rico Dowdle found the endzone!
It will be interesting to see the advanced numbers and data from this game (they are not out at the time of this writing), but it seemed like a much more efficient night from Dowdle and the rest of the group. Being more matter of fact, it felt like a much less inefficient night, but baby steps.
Stock Up: Marshawn Kneeland
When DeMarcus Lawrence left the game things looked rather grim for the Cowboys from a pass rushing perspective. Losing somebody of that caliber is never an easy thing to overcome.
Enter Marshawn Kneeland who is often compared to Tank Lawrence and just like Tank himself he had an epic sack of a New York Giants quarterback. Right on.
Stock Up: Hunter Luepke
This is one of those things that I think we are all weary of completely and totally buying in on. Hunter Luepke can clearly be a legitimate weapon if utilized properly on offense and we are starting to see that utilization grow in volume.
Forget the raw numbers for a second. Consider that early in this game (the second quarter to be specific) the Cowboys were facing a fourth and short from their own side of the field. Mike McCarthy decided to roll the dice and did so with his fullback who was able to successfully move the chains.
The point here isn’t to hyper-focus on one specific play or moment in time. But it is clear that Luepke is garnering the faith and trust of the coaching staff. That is great to see.
Stock Up: Cooper Beebe
It is so incredibly rare that the player we collectively hyped up throughout training camp and what not actually lives up to expectations. One of the names we may have to be ready to inscribe on that list is Cooper Beebe. He is arriving.
We spoke about pressures up top and noted that Brian Burns was held without a single one. Consider that, according to Next Gen Stats, his teammate Dexter Lawrence only generated a single pressure. One! Dexter Lawrence!
This is the case because, once again according to NGS, the Cowboys double-teamed Lawrence on 20 of his 25 pass rush attempts. You know what is so cool about that? Giving help to a rookie against a very good player makes sense! And the Cowboys did that!
Beyond Lawrence only Kayvon Thibodeaux and Isaiah Simmons generated pressures for the G-Men giving them a total of four on the game. New York had a 14.3% pressure rate, the lowest by any team in a single game this season.
Stock Down: Donovan Wilson
Last week, Donovan Wilson bit on the move that Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Rashod Bateman put on him. That was unfortunate, but it is not uncommon for receivers to win in the NFL. To put it simply, it happens.
But Wilson will have another play that people harp on this week as he had Giants running back Devin Singletary in his view on a fourth down that New York went for. Wilson physically met Singletary well in the backfield and then was bounced off of him while Singletary ran to the outside and moved the chains. The Giants wound up scoring on the possession, only a field goal but the point stands, which was a direct result of Wilson’s missed tackle.
It is not a secret that Wilson is a hard hitter. But we are witnessing one of the worst-tackling teams in the NFL in the Cowboys and Wilson is a leader in that sense, unfortunately.
Stock Down: Andrew Booth
Rookie cornerback Caelen Carson did not play in this game which meant that the Cowboys had to rely on veteran Andrew Booth. You will recall that Dallas traded for Booth during training camp.
To say that it was rough for Booth would be incredibly kind. He struggled mightily with Giants rookie wideout Malik Nabers, and while Nabers is incredibly talented, these struggles were the kind that cannot be tolerated.
The situation got so bad that Dallas wound up benching Booth when they came out for the second half. Kudos to the coaching staff for making a change, but wow what a bad situation that was that almost really cost the team.
