Dallas Cowboys vs. NY Giants Reaction: Dak Prescott & Mike McCarthy SAVE their season | 3 & Out

John Middlekauff breaks down the Dallas Cowboys' crucial road victory over the New York Giants, winning 20-15 on Thursday Night Football, which may have saved their season. Despite early-season criticism, Giants QB Daniel Jones delivered a strong performance without much support from the running game. John emphasizes that while Dak Prescott and the Cowboys' defense did enough to secure this win, they will need to step up against tougher opponents down the road. He also praises Dallas for their find in kicker Brandon Aubrey, who transitioned from the USFL and has been dominant in the NFL. Looking ahead, John shares concerns about the future of the Giants, especially after letting go of Saquon Barkley and with the job security of head coach Brian Daboll and GM Joe Schoen in question. He also reacts to the rising number of injuries across the league, criticizing the recent NFL rule changes for negatively impacting both fans and teams.

0:00 // Intro
2:45 // Cowboys/Giants reaction
16:14 // Injuries in the NFL
20:53 // Fugazi Friday - Zillow pics

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[Sugarnaut]

Daniel Jones has perfected the 5 yard completion on 3rd and 6.

[kirkpeacey]

John, love all your takes. I may not agree with everything you say, but you are always fair, level headed and not lookin' for "hot takes". Keep it up!

[jordangreen]

Malik nabers is a dawg bro. Hard to tell between him and marvin

[drich]

22:37 I’m in real estate in the Scottsdale area and I’m with you on the Zillow pictures 😂

[aliali-ceyf]

The GB playoff win over the cowboys looks less impressive

[allenbeckwith]

Idk what Ya’ll are talking about, that was some awesome smash-mouth football. Super entertaining, Giants were hitting the cowboys SO HARD it was fun to watch, but cowboys pulled through in the end caus of their offensive weapons. Feel bad about the injuries of course but that was brutality on full display and I loved it.

[smoovb]

Interesting take John. I just finished listening to Colin's take on the game and it is interesting to hear your view as opposed to his. I like the combination because each of your opinions are vastly different. I wish you two would do more stuff together because I would watch all of it. Strong work my man!

[kwallakw]

If the cowboys struggle with the giants they going nowhere fast

[crandonborth]

“Keep an eye on this Zillow pics…” never thought I’d hear that on a sports podcast 😂

[samrotolo]

House by me facing West if looking at house you face East. House Was listed on Zillow with Photoshop sky replacement of sunset but in real life the sky is a eastern sky.

[Izthefaithful]

As someone commented below,
I wonder if it’s equipment too. I notice not only are the pads super small but it doesn’t seem like they wrap up at all (ankles and wrists.
Although players are bigger and faster it seems like players don’t have protection like they should. Bring back neck rolls baby !

[sportsfan_]

Nabers looked like he got concussed multiple plays earlier. Couldn't believe he wasn't pulled. Hope it doesn't make it worse for him.

[vladtheimpaler]

The Cowboys were a fringe contender last year whose defense got exposed in the second half of the season and had no running game.
I don’t understand how Jerry says he’s “all-in” but you hang your coach out to dry in a lame duck year, let key veteran players walk and replace them with rookies and then make absolutely no moves in the offseason.
The Cowboys weren’t that far from contending - a few key free agents signings would have put them in the mix but instead they kept the same team and got even weaker in their weak areas.
I just don’t understand the philosophy of this franchise.

[mt_baldwin]

Players today wear tiny pads and overall less protective gear (low top shoes, less tape) and the injury rate is skyrocketing. Hmm I wonder if these two things are connected..? Naw couldn't be. Think about that, players 20-30 years ago were basically wearing suits of armor while practicing longer, playing on worse surfaces and with less rules to protect them, and they had less injuries.

[j_r_]

Injuries: The players never wear pads anymore and the pads they do wear were made for pee wee football players. It's embarrassing. You see less spatted cleats than years past. Players want more of an agility edge they can get. So less taped ankles. The shoes are overwhelming extremely low cut which tears your ankles up. 80s, 90s, 2000s players were more mid tops and hi tops. And to top it off there are tons of turf fields. Now people will combat that and say well there were more astroturf back then which is true, but the players that played on astro turf wore basketball shoes and turf trainers which was more forgiving for your knees and ankles. Cleats obviously dig further in to the turf allowing for more twist and torque. Just some observations.

[itsnujobe]

Aubrey is absolutely the best kicker in the league he is a weapon. One miss from beyond 50 in his career so far and basically automatic inside 63

[BSquaredRacing]

Something kinda funny about Aubrey. I went to Plano Senior HS with him and had no clue lol. He was a year older than me and now look where he is! Kinda cool lol!

[dercurt]

I'm glad I used Dallas for survivor last night, now I can breath easy this weekend.

[cgpapineau]

Totally agree with you on the injury issue. I think there are two components to it. First, the starters never play in pre-season and the practices don't represent true game conditions. You mentioned this and it is obvious. This also contributes to a lot of rust in the first couple of weeks of the regular season, especially for offenses. Second, players are bigger, faster and stronger than in years past. Certain parts of the human body can take only so much stress. Ligaments, concussions, etc are that much more common when a linebacker hits you and he's 50 pounds heavier than the same position player from 30 years ago. He can probably run faster than a running back from that time. Add in the grippy turf and there is no give for ankles and knees during a tackle.

[spagzs]

I think we can all agree that they didn’t throw enough flags last night 👀