ARLINGTON, Texas – The Dallas Cowboys wanted to be more aggressive offensively at the start of Sunday’s game against the New York Giants.
It may or may not have been an answer to the criticisms of an offense that produced just eight points in the season-opening loss to the Carolina Panthers, or a response to the malaise that has hung around the passing game since the second half of the 2017 season.
On the third play from scrimmage, Dak Prescott let loose with a deep ball to Tavon Austin for a 64-yard touchdown that sparked a Cowboys crowd that was not quite ready to dive in with both feet and offer up their support.
According to ESPN Stats & Information, the 38 air yards the Prescott pass traveled were the second most on a touchdown in his career.
Austin did not have a catch against the Panthers and entered the game with just two career receptions on passes thrown 30-plus yards. The last came in 2015.
“We wanted to be the aggressors,” Prescott said. “We wanted to set the tone in the running game and the passing game and make them try to defend what we’re doing.”
While the first scoring drive was the most impressive highlight of the Cowboys’ 20-13 win against the Giants, the Cowboys’ final scoring drive was more indicative of the type of style they want to play.
“I thought it was a good mix of run and pass,” coach Jason Garrett said. “We ran it different ways. We threw it different ways and made some big conversions. The plays that Dak made to keep the drives alive and keep them off balance were big in the game. And then to cash in at the end ... to be able to score a touchdown in that situation was big for us on top of taking all that time off the clock.”
The Cowboys started at their own 18 and faced a third-and-8 after an Ezekiel Elliott catch-and-run gained just 2 yards. Until that point, Cole Beasley was without a catch, but he came down with a 10-yard gain to prolong the drive while taking a hit from Janoris Jenkins.
Prescott hit Austin for 15 yards on a comeback on the next play. Four plays later, Prescott leaned in for a keeper to extend the drive. Elliott busted his longest run of the game – 19 yards – on first-and-10 from the New York 44.
Twice in the next four plays, Prescott perfectly executed the zone-read, picking up 17 yards.
“We knew they were going to give the option for the quarterback to run,” said Prescott, who rushed for a career-high 45 yards.
On third-and-2 from the Giants' 6, Elliott hunted and pecked his way into the end zone.
The Cowboys extended their lead to 20-3 with 5:45 to play. More important, they chewed up 8:23 of clock on the 14-play, 82-yard drive.
"It was icing it there," Prescott said.
The drive looked familiar to Elliott.
“It really brought me back to my rookie year when we had five of those in a season,” said Elliott, who had 78 yards on 17 carries. “That’s just the identity of this team. We’re going to be physical from Play 1 to Play 80. I think it showed in that drive how physical [the Cowboys are]. I think the Giants' defense is very good, stacked, but I think we wore them down, and it showed in that drive.”