PFF Grades: Best, worst Cowboys performances in Week 4 win by position as Mazi Smith leads the way

A look at which players stood out, good or bad, from each position group in Dallas’ win over the Giants. | From @KDDrummondNFL

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

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