EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The head coach and players had talked about finishing on a high note, beating a bad Giants team to get to a .500 record, building momentum for 2026. But if the Cowboys ever want to get better — and I’m not suggesting this will happen overnight — then the 2025 season ended the only way it possibly could.
A nightmarish loss. An embarrassing defensive effort. A record-shattering performance, to be specific, and a 34-17 defeat at the hands of a team that still had a shot at the draft’s first overall pick on the final Sunday of the season. The Giants thumbed their noses at that idea, grabbed a 16-10 lead at halftime when Dak Prescott and the starting receivers were still playing, then pulled away against Joe Milton and Phil Mafah and Ryan Flournoy to win by 17 points.
The most ridiculous part came with Dallas leading 10-9 just before halftime, shortly after Brian Schottenheimer had passed on a short field goal, wasted a timeout trying to draw the Giants offside, then saw Prescott chased out of the pocket where he threw an incompletion, giving New York the ball at its own 4 with 2:49 to play.
Yes, of course, the Giants went 96 yards to score. What did you expect to happen?
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They even dug their way out of a first-and-25 when linebacker Kenneth Murray contributed what fans can only hope is his last egregious mistake, taking an unnecessary roughness penalty out of bounds to give New York a first down and new life on the drive. Moments later — on 3rd-and-16, mind you — quarterback Jaxson Dart escaped a sack and flipped a desperation backhand toss to tight end Daniel Bellinger who grabbed the pass near the line of scrimmage and ran 30 yards cross field through the Cowboys‘ defense for the go-ahead touchdown.
”I’m thinking, ‘Just find a way to get him on the ground,‘” Schottenheimer said. “Those are plays that, when you’re winning, you make the play. And we didn’t make the play.’’
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Winning? The Cowboys finished 7-9-1, a half game better than a year ago despite Prescott making 17 starts this season to eight a year ago.
Did I mention record-shattering? The Cowboys surrendered 511 points this season. That’s 30.1 per game. In all the 66 years with all the bad defenses that have passed this way (lots of good ones, too, obviously), Dallas has never allowed 30 points per game.
When Schottenheimer was asked what would be the rationale for keeping Matt Eberflus as defensive coordinator, he basically staggered through a rote answer as to how everything will be evaluated over the next two weeks. Don’t expect Eberflus to have a job for that long.
But also don’t expect instant gratification when he is, sooner or later, replaced. The Cowboys’ best defensive player Sunday, by far, was Jadeveon Clowney, and the 32-year-old pass rusher did enough this season and especially against the Giants (three sacks, four tackles for losses, a pass defensed, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery) that his price is going back up, maybe into his old $20 million range, after playing on a $3.5 million base salary for Dallas this season.
What the Cowboys will have to evaluate is not just giving up 34 points to New York. They need to ask who exactly managed all those points and yards (380) Sunday. When Dallas beat New York 40-37 in Week 2 and Russell Wilson threw for 450 yards shortly before his demotion, 17 catches for 309 yards and three touchdowns went to Malik Nabers and Wan’Dale Robinson. They were nowhere to be seen Sunday, but the Giants got 103 yards rushing from Tyrone Tracy (his first 100-yard game of the season) and 102 yards receiving on eight catches from Gunner Olszewski.
Who?
It wasn’t just Gunner’s first 100-yard game in six seasons. It was Gunner’s first 100-yard season in six seasons. It wasn’t just Gunner’s first eight-catch game. It was Gunner’s first eight-catch season.
The arrival of the Cowboys’ defense causes opponents to drool. It’s not always the elite like, say, Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs or Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert, that feast on the Dallas D. Even casual players, reserves kept around mostly as special teams tacklers, get their shot at 100-yard days in the spotlight against this defense.
It’s enough — almost — to cause Dak to go off. But the 10-year veteran is way too polite, although he stumbled once in discussing what Dallas needs.
“We’ve got one of the best offenses in the league and … unfortunately … one of the not-so-good defenses in the league or however you say that. I mean I put pressure on myself to score 30 points a game and I think this offense can score right at 30 points per game,’’ Prescott said. “It’s unfortunate we’re giving up that much, but, yeah, we need to stop that.’’
Schottenheimer bemoaned the absence of an efficient third-down defense. Again.
“I do think our third down defense was an issue again for us today,’’ he said. The Giants had an 8-for-14 (57%) success rate on third down. Dallas‘ opponents converted 47 percent on the season, putting the Cowboys in the bottom three. A team that led the NFL in takeaways in consecutive seasons with Dan Quinn as coordinator managed 12 (six interceptions, six fumbles) in 17 games.
Hoping to finish on a high note after hitting a three-game win streak through Thanksgiving that included wins over the Eagles and Chiefs, the Cowboys lost four of their last five.
“We’ve got to look at that,’’ Schottenheimer said, “see what those issues were. Any time you come up short of your goals, that’s motivation.’’
The Cowboys will be a highly motivated team this offseason. But just getting rid of Eberflus in the next week to 10 days doesn’t mean they will be any good.
On Twitter/X: @TimCowlishaw
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