Stock up, down after New York Giants’ 20-15 loss to Dallas Cowboys

Rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers continued to put his stamp on NFL history books with a 12-catch, 115-yard performance in his first-ever game under the lights. Unfortunately for Nabers, he failed to reach the endzone in Week 4 and left the game late in the fourth quarter with a concussion. He took a beating on Thursday night but once again wowed his opponents and fans alike.

There is plenty of blame to go around for Thursday night’s result and the officials are not the sole reason the Giants took the loss. However, several egregious calls undeniably impacted the outcome of the game and it’s foolish to pretend they didn’t.

On the Giants’ opening offensive drive, tight end Daniel Bellinger was called for the rare offensive facemask after nearly having his own helmet ripped off. How the referees came to this conclusion remains a mystery and the NFL is likely to issue an apology.

This was far from the only blatantly bad call or no-call and it’s just remarkable how they always seem to benefit the Cowboys, especially during primetime games.

Wan’Dale Robinson’s fourth-quarter drop is the freshest play in the minds of analysts and fans but up until that point, he played a very impactful game. The argument could also be made that he was interfered with on that play but we won’t go down that rabbit hole. Robinson finished the game with 11 receptions on 14 targets for 71 yards and several very important first downs. He’s proving himself to be a valuable, clutch player… Again, with the exception of that one drop.

The Giants should have been able to run the ball against the Cowboys but that was the furthest thing from reality. Devin Singletary, Tyrone Tracy Jr., and Eric Gray rushed the ball a combined total of 19 times for 27 yards (1.4 ypc). Singletary deserves credit for his pass protection and blitz pickup, but he also nearly fumbled the ball again. Tracy did fumble the ball on a kick return, so there was a lot more negative from this group than positive.

Even in a passing league, teams can not win football games when their backs average 1.4 yards per carry and the offense averages 1.1 yards per carry. Ugly.

A week removed from missing a game-sealing 48-yard field goal, Greg Joseph rebounded with the best performance of his career. He connected on all five of his field goal attempts and accounted for the Giants’ only scoring of the game. He was good from 52, 41, 38, 22, and 42. Joseph also booted every kickoff into or out of the endzone, which was clearly by design.

Cornerback Deonte Banks is probably more deserving of this spot but quarterback Daniel Jones gets the nod for one very specific reason: An inability to connect down the field. Now, to be fair and balanced, not every downfield pass that failed to convert was the fault of Jones. However, there were several he’d like to have back; several that likely cost the Giants points. Most notable was a baffling underthrow of wide receiver Darius Slayton on a free play. As good as he was under 20 yards, the offense needs him to start connecting on some of these passes with big-play potential.