Drew Lock struggles as the Giants fall to the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day

ARLINGTON, Texas – Even when they don’t play softly, the Giants still find it incredibly difficult to win.

A week after two of the team’s best players criticized a “soft” performance in a crushing home loss, the reeling Giants escaped embarrassment in front of a national audience on Thursday but weren’t quite able to keep up with the faltering Cowboys 27:20 loss on Thanksgiving.

The Giants (2-10) suffered their seventh straight loss overall – tying the seventh-longest losing streak in the franchise’s 100-year history – and dropped the rivalry for the eighth straight season.

The Cowboys (5-7) ended their six-game home losing streak before a crowd of 92,196 at AT&T Stadium, where the Giants had not won since 2016.

Quarterback Drew Lock started for the first time this season and for the first time in his Giants career in place of the injured Tommy DeVito and completed a 70-yard touchdown drive on his first touch. Tyrone Tracy hit a 1-yard touchdown after converting a fourth-and-1.

A sign for the future? Not quite.

With head coach and game manager Brian Daboll’s job security under scrutiny, the Giants totaled 70 offensive yards over the next seven possessions. Of those 140 yards, 49 came on two scrambles broken up by Lock.

Somehow that was enough power to hold on in a 27-13 hole, so a 76-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter — capped by another lock scramble from the 8-yard line — made the game close.

When the Giants needed a big play from their defense – on a third-and-3 just after the two-minute warning – to get the ball back and have a chance at an improbable comeback, Tyler Nubin and Adoree’ Jackson drained a three -Yard throw to Brandin Cooks for completion.

Just good enough to lose.

It didn’t take longer than the second possession for Lock to make the catastrophic mistake the Giants were trying to avoid when they benched Daniel Jones and passed Lock for third man DeVito.

After Devin Singletary was bounced off his chip block by DeMarvion Overshown, Lock still tried to force the screen pass to Singletary, but Overshown tipped the line drive pass into the air, caught it and returned it for a 23-yard interception a touchdown and a 13-7 lead.

The defense had its own problems.

According to Next Gen Stats, the Giants missed eight tackles on the Cowboys’ 16 plays in the first quarter alone and set a dubious modern NFL record (since 1933) by going without an interception for the 11th straight game.

The pass rush – the ostensible strength of the rebuilt squad in the post-Saquon Barkley and Xavier McKinney era – went without a sack for the third time in four games. Meanwhile, the Cowboys pressured Lock into six sacks, with little resistance from third- and fourth-string offensive tackles Evan Neal and Chris Hubbard.

The Giants took a break and did not face quarterback Dak Prescott, who has won each of his last 13 games in this rivalry but is out for the season with a serious hamstring injury.

At least it seemed that way.

Cooper Rush, who spent time as a third-stringer with the Giants in 2020 due to his relationship with then-offensive coordinator Jason Garrett, made his 10th career and fourth consecutive start.

A pressing rush almost squandered a golden opportunity when Bobby Okereke knocked the ball out of his hands at the 2-yard line and Micah McFadden fell on it in the end zone to satiate a defense starved for takeaways.

But the repeat review nullified the fumble. One play later, Rush threw a touchdown pass to the Cooks, giving them a 20-10 lead.

Rush jumped on another fumble in the red zone later in the third quarter to retain possession for another touchdown that turned the game into a blowout.

The Giants remain the only team in the NFL without a home win (0-6).

The Cowboys improved to 34-22-1 on Thanksgiving, including additional wins against the Giants in 1992 and 2022.