Cowboys vs. Giants: The good, the bad, and the ugly from Week 12

The highs and lows from the Cowboys Thanksgiving matchup with the Giants.

It wasn’t pretty, and was often times downright ugly, but the Dallas Cowboys managed to come away with the 28-20 victory on Thanksgiving, thus sweeping the New York Giants this season. With this win they improve to 8-3 on the year and now enter a mini-bye of sorts before hosting the Indianapolis Colts in Week 13 on Sunday Night Football.

Before we move on to the Indianapolis Colts though, let’s talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly from the Dallas Cowboys Week 12 matchup with the New York Giants. As always, will identify one thing from the game for each category and discuss why it earned the nomination.

THE GOOD – The Three Amigos

Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images

No offense to CeeDee Lamb, Micah Parsons, and Ezekiel Elliott, who all had big games on Thanksgiving, but it’s hard not to be impressed with the way the Dallas Cowboys tight ends played in Week 12. Dalton Schultz turned four catches into 31 yards and two touchdowns, Jake Ferguson caught three passes for 57 yards, and Peyton Hendershot scored on his only touch of the game on an end around. As a group, Dallas’ TEs made clutch plays when they were needed the most, and on top of that, they had arguably the best TD celebration of the year.

THE BAD – Self-inflicted wounds

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After a near-perfect performance last week against the Minnesota Vikings, the Dallas Cowboys reverted to their old ways by being their own worst enemy in Week 12 against the New York Giants. When it was all said and done, they accumulated 13 penalties, many of which ended up putting them in unfavorable down and distance situations throughout the game. The good news is the self-inflicted wounds didn’t end up costing them game, but if they can’t eliminate these boneheaded mistakes it could end up being their doom later in the season or in the playoffs. Somehow, someway, they need to correct this ASAP.

THE UGLY – Dak Prescott’s first half

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Dak Prescott wasn’t his sharpest in the first half of this Week 12 matchup against the New York Giants on Thanksgiving afternoon. Many of his throws were a little off target and a little high. Fortunately for him, his receivers bailed him out with some impressive catches throughout the game. He was also extremely fortunate his two first-half interceptions didn’t end up preventing the Dallas Cowboys from sweeping their better division rival this year. Maybe the short turnaround caused him to be a little off or maybe he was just pressing too much. Whatever it was, he could definitely stand to be a little better moving forward. At least he improved in the second half and got the victory.