A win is a win is a win, but the Cowboys were certainly hoping to have more style points than they ended up with in their 20-15 victory over the New York Giants. The intra-division success evened Dallas’ record on the young season to 2-2, which was a must considering the gauntlet of tough opponents staring them in the face. The upstart (currently) 3-0 Pittsburgh Steelers are next up in Week 5, with games against the Detroit Lions, San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles up next, with a bye week and Kirk Cousins’ Atlanta Falcons dividing each of those three pivotal faceoffs.
After how they’ve performed in their previous two losses though, the Cowboys will take the up and down performance. Pro Football Focus has turned in their initial grades for each player, and they seem to represent the awkward flow of the ref-interfered slog of Thursday Night Football. Here are the best and worst initial grades, by position, for the contest. A player had to appear in at least 15% of their unit’s respective snaps to qualify. All grades are out of a possible 100.
Quarterbacks
Best Grade: Dak Prescott 83.0
Running Backs
Best Grade: Ezekiel Elliott 79.5
Worst Grade: Hunter Luepke 52.4
Wide Receivers
Best Grade: CeeDee Lamb 79.6
Worst Grade: Brandin Cooks 56.6
Offensive Line
Best Grade: Tyler Smith 77.4
Worst Grade: Cooper Beebe 42.6
Edge Rushers
Best Grade: Micah Parsons 72.8 Worst Grade: Carl Lawson 30.3
Defensive Tackles
HOLY S**T MAZI SMITH IN THE BACKFIELD! pic.twitter.com/8WxCuhtvZN
— KD Drummond (@KDDrummondNFL) September 27, 2024
Best Grade: Mazi Smith 88.5 Worst Grade: Linval Joseph 49.5
Linebackers
Best Grade: DeMarvion Overshown 77.2 Worst Grade: Marist Liufau 54.1
Safeties
Best Grade: Donovan Wilson 67.6 Worst Grade: Malik Hooker 60.9
Cornerbacks
Best Grade: Amani Oruwariye 69.7 Worst Grade: Andrew Booth 31.1