Thursday Night Observations

It’s funny because I thought this was a get-well game for Dallas and that they’d cover the 6.5, but I picked the Giants in my low-stakes pool because it’s not worth it for me to go against them, and they covered. But only thanks to Brandon Aubrey finally missing a 50-yard FG.

• Malik Nabers suffered a concussion late, but I’d have a hard time arguing against someone taking him a 1.1 even in a re-draft league once he’s healthy. He’s a target and catch machine.

• Wan’Dale Robinson is the clear No. 2 and made some nice plays after the catch. He’s small and won’t make chunk plays, but useful.

• Darius Slayton showed up finally, and he’s a useful field-stretching No. 3, the role for which they drafted Jalin Hyatt who hasn’t shown up.

• Greg Joseph was 5-for-5 on FGs, including a 52-yarder. Even the waiver-wire guys are better than the GOATs of yesteryear. (Kicking is the one area you can compare players across eras because it’s independent of the competition level.)

• Daniel Jones played well — his INT was a last-second desperation heave. He was accurate and had some zip on his passes. The negative is when he’s pressured he still doesn’t have great feel. He only took one sack, but he rarely turns those plays into a positive. Still, this was progress.

• The Giants offensive line played well against the Dallas pass rush. Devin Singletary made a great move to turn a loss into a first down, but there’s no juice in the run game, no speed element.

• Dak Prescott was solid, took what the defense gave him, didn’t make mistakes. He also made a nice shovel pass to Jake Ferguson when under duress, the kind of thing Jones hasn’t been able to do.

• Rico Dowdle is the Cowboys starting back. He was bottled up early, but got free late. He also caught a TD. He seems like a stopgap, not the solution, but was adequate at least.

• CeeDee Lamb saw targets and production early, did little in the second half. He also had three rushes, as the Cowboys are desperate to get the ground game going.

• Jake Ferguson is healthy again and seems like the clear No. 2

• Aubrey is such a monster, drilling a 60-yarder down the middle with plenty of distance to spare. Seriously should have gone in the eighth round in the NFFC.