Drew Lock’s two turnovers doom Giants in Thanksgiving loss to Cowboys as losing streak continues

ARLINGTON — For the first time in seven games, the Giants took a lead.
Drew Lock, the third quarterback to start for the Giants in as many games, led a 13-play, 70-yard touchdown drive Thursday on his team’s opening possession against the Dallas Cowboys.
Rookie running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. finished the drive with a one-yard touchdown run, putting the Giants up, 7-3, at the 3:06 mark of the first quarter.
But from that point on, it was more of the same for the spiraling Giants.
Lock’s two turnovers — including a pick-six on the Giants’ second possession — helped feed the Cooper Rush-led Cowboys’ 27-20 victory on Thanksgiving at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
It was the seventh consecutive loss for the Giants, who now own the NFL’s worst record at 2-10 and were officially eliminated from playoff contention. They have lost eight games in a row to the Cowboys, with the last six coming under head coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen.
“I don’t like the results. Nobody likes the results,” Daboll said. “But again, I have confidence in the people. We’ve just got to do better.”
Lock completed 21-of-32 passes for 178 yards and an interception, delivering mixed results in his first start of the year. He rushed for 57 yards and a touchdown on four carries but also lost a fumble.
“I came into this excited to go show what I can do,” Lock said. “I didn’t have enough playing time in the system, like I said weeks ago. It’s one of my first times being that I can play a full game with these guys and show them what I can do. Minus the turnovers and a few things, it was up and down.”
Both of Lock’s turnovers led to touchdowns for the Cowboys, who improved to 5-7 and won their first home game of the year. The Giants (0-6) remain the only team without a home victory.
But Lock was far from the only Giant who deserved blame.
An offensive line down to backup tackles Chris Hubbard and Evan Neal struggled to protect the sixth-year quarterback, surrendering six sacks, including 1.5 to star pass rusher Micah Parsons.
Defensively, the Giants did not record a sack and have now gone an NFL-record 11 games in a row without an interception.
They repeatedly allowed extra yards, with Cowboys running back Rico Dowdle forcing a career-high 10 missed tackles, according to NFL Next Gen Stats, en route to a career-best 112 rushing yards and a touchdown on 22 carries.
And the Giants lost three defensive linemen to injuries, including Dexter Lawrence, who, with a sling on his left arm, said after the game that he dislocated his elbow and was due for an MRI.
The Giants, who committed 13 penalties, trailed by as many as 17 points before closing the gap in the fourth quarter.
The late surge allowed the Giants to avoid another lopsided defeat four days after several of their players bemoaned a “soft” performance in Sunday’s 30-7 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“I think we played a hell of a game, honestly,” Lawrence said after Thursday’s loss. “We played hard. I think we played well. Just [a] tough loss.”
Lock signed a one-year, $5 million contract in the offseason to be Daniel Jones’ backup, but the Giants gave Tommy DeVito the first crack at the starting job after releasing Jones last week.
DeVito did not commit a turnover in the loss to Tampa Bay, but the Giants were shut out until the fourth quarter. DeVito, who repeatedly took big hits against the Bucs, showed up on the injury report Tuesday with a right forearm issue and was ultimately deemed unable to play Thursday, serving as only the emergency quarterback.
Lock provided an early jolt against the Cowboys. After Dallas began the game with a 24-yard field goal, Lock converted a 3rd and 6 with a 29-yard scramble that took the ball to the 1-yard line.
Tracy’s ensuing touchdown was the Giants’ first on an opening possession since Week 2 and gave them their first lead since their Week 5 victory in Seattle.
Dallas responded with another field goal on the next drive, cutting the Giants’ lead to 7-6.
And that’s where the game unraveled.
On the first play of the Giants’ second possession, Cowboys linebacker DeMarvion Overshown exploded into the backfield, collided with running back Devin Singletary to throw him off his route, then tipped and intercepted Lock’s pass to Singletary and returned it 23 yards for a touchdown.
The Cowboys took a 13-7 lead and never trailed again. Dallas led, 13-10, at halftime, with three drops by star receiver CeeDee Lamb helping to keep the score close.
Dallas pulled away in the second half, starting with an Eric Kendricks sack on the Giants’ opening possession that forced Lock to lose a fumble.
“I thought Drew did some good stuff, but two big turnovers,” Daboll said.
“You can’t have those turnovers.”
The Cowboys cashed in on Lock’s fumble with a six-play, 38-yard drive, ending with Rush’s two-yard touchdown pass to Brandin Cooks that made the score 20-10. Dowdle added a four-yard touchdown run on the Cowboys’ next possession to extend the lead to 27-10.
The Giants, meanwhile, stalled offensively after their early touchdown, totaling 35 yards on their next eight drives and managing only two Graham Gano field goals in the second and third quarters.
Lock scored on an eight-yard scramble with 2:18 left in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to 27-20, but the Giants did not get the ball back.
Thirteen of Lock’s 31 pass attempts went to Malik Nabers, who expressed frustration Sunday after not receiving a target in the first half against Tampa. He received three targets and a carry on Thursday’s opening drive and finished with eight receptions for 69 yards, along with two drops.
Rush, in his fourth start since Dak Prescott suffered a season-ending hamstring injury, completed 21-of-36 passes for 195 yards and a touchdown to win the battle of the backups.
The Giants are now 1-15 in their last 16 games against the Cowboys.
“We didn’t get the job done,” Daboll said. “Give Dallas credit, but we competed all the way to the end and there were a few plays here or there that we needed to make.”