Cowboys vs. Giants Stock Report: A plate full of joy as Dallas wins on Thanksgiving

One week ago the Dallas Cowboys had not gone to Minnesota and recorded the biggest margin of victory that they have ever had on the road in franchise history (not to mention the biggest margin of victory that any NFL team has had this season). It goes without saying that one week ago the Cowboys had also not recovered from a sloppy first half to pull off yet another season sweep over the New York Giants, and in the process more firmly etch their names in this year’s playoff tournament (the exact spot where that name is placed obviously remains to be seen).

Needless to say a lot has happened in the last week.

We discussed everything from the Thanksgiving Day win over the Giants on the latest episode of The Postgame on the Blogging The Boys podcast network. Make sure to subscribe to our network so you don’t miss any of our shows! Apple devices can subscribe here and Spotify users can subscribe here.

After the events of the last five days, the winter months of December and January appear less intimidating than they may have otherwise thanks to two Cowboys wins. This group looks like a true and legitimate contender, and the fact that they did not give us the “of course they lost, it is Thanksgiving” moment, we do not look forward to on an annual basis is a bit of proof in that regard.

It would be lying to say that the Cowboys defeated the Giants and showed no flaws in the process. They had a poor first half where they looked a bit lackadaisical, and while you can chalk some of that up to it being a short week and all that jazz, the reality is that the Giants were down a number of important players and were not letting those things impact them as much.

So while Dallas is deserving of criticism we are going to focus on the positives here for our stock report since it is a holiday after all (the whole weekend may as well be Thanksgiving).

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Stock Up: Dak Prescott

It sounds impossible but it is very true, Dak Prescott has won 10 games in a row against the New York Giants.

It is wild to consider how successful the Cowboys are against the G-Men with Prescott under center. And while he was a part of the first half struggles, throwing two interceptions is hardly worth of a rise in stock, he was a fundamental reason that they were able to take the lead early in the third quarter and never relinquish it.

Prescott helped them to victory in the second half of the game with crisper play. In the five games since he returned from his thumb injury, the Cowboys have a point differential of +80. Pairing an elite defense with a top-tier offense is a great thing overall.

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Stock Up: Ezekiel Elliott

Coming off of a week where Tony Pollard won NFC Offensive Player of the Week, it stood to reason that he would be the one making all of the plays on Thanksgiving. Wrong.

While Pollard was hardly bad, it was Elliott who performed more admirably on the ground. Zeke finished the game with 5.8 YPC to Pollard’s 3.3 and was one of the few notes of positivity in the first half.

As has always been the case, there is room for both of them to prosper within this offense. Elliott ran hard on Thursday and was a big reason why the Cowboys won.

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Stock Up: CeeDee Lamb

It was just two weeks ago when the Cowboys had not had a wide receiver hit the century mark from a yardage standpoint in a game this season. CeeDee Lamb has now done it twice since.

Going for 100 yards is hardly something that they hand out trophies for, but the bigger point is that Lamb is starting to come into his own in a more reliable way which has been the primary issue that many have had with him. Lamb is showing much more consistency when it comes to making the big play, and just missed getting a spectacular touchdown in the game when his heel barely touched out of bounds.

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Stock Up: Michael Gallup

While Lamb deserves his props, a big reason for the team’s overall success in the air has been Michael Gallup finding his footing this season. Truth be told, this really happened for the first time last week in Minnesota. Did it not feel like Gallup was his vintage self against New York?

Gallup caught five passes for 53 yards but it was the physicality that he showed that offers a ton of promise. Coming back from a torn ACL is never an easy thing and we aren’t even 11 months out from the initial injury for Gallup. He looks as close to what we have always known him to be which is exciting.

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Stock Up: All 3 Tight Ends

One of the more underrated hurdles that the Cowboys have had to overcome this season has been Dalton Schultz’s injury. Like his 2018 draftmate Michael Gallup, he is also starting to find his form and did so to the tune of two touchdowns on Thursday afternoon.

Speaking of hurdles overcome though, how about Jake Ferguson? He had the best moment from a Cowboys tight end for the day until Peyton Hendershot scored in a jet sweep (yes, really) and authored one of the more fun celebrations that we have seen involving the Salvation Army kettle.

It does not feel hyperbolic to say that this is the deepest tight end room that the Cowboys have had in a long time. They combined for three touchdowns, an epic play, and a memorable celebration on a holiday of all things. Good times.

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Stock Up: Micah Parsons

It is really difficult to consistently find ways to celebrate Parsons since he is always finding ways to outdo himself. He recorded yet another two-sack game against the Giants and furthered his case for Defensive Player of the Year.

With New England’s Matt Judon not recording any sacks on Thursday night, Parsons is just one back of the leader (after Thursday’s games at least). What’s more is that Thursday was Parsons’ ninth career multi-sack game and when you realize that he has played in 27 NFL games, and therefore that he has multi-sack games literally a third of the time, well, he really is quite special.

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Stock Up: DeMarcus Lawrence

All week long there was question as to whether or not DeMarcus Lawrence was going to play in this game thanks to battling the flu. He did not have a huge moment or sack or cause a turnover, but he was constantly in Daniel Jones’ face.

Simply put, Tank’s presence was an important thing on Thursday afternoon. He is consistently underrated but always manages to pull through.

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Stock Up: Donovan Wilson

It seems like every week the Cowboys safeties take turns going off and Donovan Wilson was the one who separated himself on Thursday. Wilson should have had an interception in this game if not for a holding call against Trevon Diggs, but the way he patrols the defense in general was enough to help mitigate damage by the New York offense.

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Stock Up: Coaching Staff

The Dallas Cowboys of 2021 were a very good team and one that we look back on as a group that was fairly dominant. Through Thanksgiving that bunch was 7-4 and through the same holiday this year they are 8-3.

When we think back to the days of the offseason and all of the questions we had about this group, especially after the Week 1 loss, the arrow constantly points back to the great job that the coaching staff has done. They are not exactly making lemonade out of lemons, but they are finding ways to consistently produce good football.

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Stock Up: 2022 Cowboys

This season has been weird in many ways and run counter to a lot of what we have known about this organization. Early on during Thursday’s game the team felt destined for the annual “of course they fell apart on Thanksgiving” that we talked about up top, but to their credit they dug in at halftime and got their act together and pulled off a much-needed win.

Nobody knows what the ceiling is on this group, but at the very least this group is proving that they are not as predictable as the ones in the past.