Giants win over the Cowboys 20-19.
Eli Manning was 19 of 28 for 207 yards with 3 TDs and 1 INT.
Rashad Jennings rushed for 75 yards on 18 carries and caught 1 pass for 3 yards.
Shane Vereen rushed for 38 yards on 6 carries and caught 3 passes for 23 yards.
Odell Beckham Jr. caught 4 passes for 73 yards.
Sterling Shepard caught 3 passes for 43 yards and 1 TD.
Victor Cruz caught 4 passes for 34 yards and 1 TD.
Will Tye caught 3 passes for 16 yards.
Larry Donnell caught 1 pass for 15 yards and 1 TD.

Game Notes:
"The first game of the season always seems to take so long to arrive, but it was finally here. This time it happened to fall on 9/11 and the two teams paid respect to that date, and the fact that so many things have changed since then. They had former president Bush make the coin toss and even though the Cowboys won the call, they elected to receive the ball, which I always think is a mistake. It didn't seem that way when their rookie quarterback Dak Prescott was slowly chiseling away. He moved his offense downfield to the 5 yard line, but the Giants defense finally held and the Cowboys had to settle for a field goal.
The Giants didn't do as well with their turn at the ball, and after only 6 plays and a punt, Prescott was out there again and he continued doing what he had done before. Prescott slowly moved his team downfield from his 10 yard line to the Giants 28 before he was stopped. Their kicker, Dan Bailey, easily made the field goal kick, and then he had to do it again from ten yards further back because of a penalty. That was no problem for Bailey, who nailed the 56 yard field goal, and the Cowboys were up 6-0.
The Giants did much better this time. After a one yard run by Rashad Jennings, Eli Manning wasted no time completing three straight pass plays to rookie Sterling Shepard, Odell Beckham Jr., and Larry Donnell for a touchdown to take a 7-6 lead. They Cowboys got it back with yet another field goal, but then Sterling Shepard showed his skills with a nine yard touchdown catch. The Giants finished the half with a 13-9 lead after a missed extra point attempt.
The second half started poorly for the Giants when Manning threw an interception on a pass that was headed to Shepard. Manning didn't look too happy with the rookie and the Cowboys had the ball at the Giants 35 yard line. Seven plays later their other rookie starter, Ezekiel Elliott, was running it into the endzone and the Cowboys were on top 16-13.
They added another in the fourth quarter, but Victor Cruz (he's back and looking good!) caught a 3 yard touchdown pass from Manning and the Giants held the lead again at 20-19. Later things got down to Prescott having about a minute left at his own 20 yard line. We saw how good their kicker was earlier in the game and Prescott was playing smart and moving the ball. Then with 12 seconds left Prescott threw a pass to Terrance Williams who ran it down to the Giants 40 yard line, and lucky for the Giants, the clock hit zero before the ball could be spiked. As usual, you 'get your monies worth' watching the Giants play and I liked what I saw. Bring on the Saints!"

Game Notes:
"In the end touchdowns beat field goals, duh? Yeah I know, but I had to say it. The Giants three touchdowns topped the Cowboys lone touchdown and four field goals by one point, 20-19. It would have been two points if fill-in kicker Randy Bullock hadn't missed on one of his extra point attempts. If he any had thoughts of auditioning for the kicking spot with Josh Brown on a one game suspension, he failed at that.
Larry Donnell looked good when he got the Giants on the board for the first time with his second quarter touchdown catch. That was his only catch and overall I felt Donell could have done some better blocking at times here and there. Later in the quarter Sterling Shepard got the next touchdown for the Giants. The rookie was doing well until Cowboys Brandon Carr (no interceptions since 2013) was able to bedazzle Shepard and grab an easy interception off Eli Manning. Like we had said in our preview, Shepard is a talented player, but you have to expect rookie mistakes.
Tight end Will Tye pulled in all three passes Manning threw his way as did Victor Cruz, catching his four, including the one that became the go ahead winning touchdown in the fourth quarter. Odell Beckham Jr. was the top receiver overall, catching 4 of 8 for 73 yards.
Defensively the Giants played what I would call a cautious game. They did not register a sack nor cause any turnovers, but held Cowboys deep threat Dez Bryant to just one catch out of five for eight yards. There was a close one with Bryant in the endzone that was initially ruled a 24-yard touchdown. On review it was seen that the ball was jarred loose by safety Landon Collins, and the play ruling was reversed.
Instead of Bryant, the defense had it's hands full containing Jason Witten and Cole Beasley. Rookie quarterback Dak Prescott used them as his main targets for 26 of his 43 throws. Early into the second quarter, Prescott had even completed 11 of 12 passes, mostly to them. Even with that, the Giants defense kept things to field goals except for one eight yard run by rookie Ezekiel Elliott. That was one of Elliott's longest runs of the day on 20 carries and they kept him to an average of just 2.5 yards a carry on the day. Former Redskin Alfred Morris ran 7 times for a 5.0 average.
Next up will be the Saints and the Giants defense moves on from a rookie quarterback to Drew Brees, whose passing game ranked at number one in the NFL last year."

Giants beat the Cowboys for the first time in 9 season-opening games.

Giants defense, revamped in the offseason, had no sacks in this game.

Giants win was their first one-point win over anyone since they beat Denver, 24-23 in 2005.

Giants had their first one-point road win since beating the Saints in New Orleans, 13-12 in 1988.

Giants had their first one-point win in a season-opening game since beating the Eagles, 28-27, on Sept. 2, 1984.

Cowboys Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott were the first rookie quarterback-running back combo to start an opener for the Cowboys since Roger Staubach and Calvin Hill in 1969.

Cowboys had the ball for 36:43 and finished with 328 total yards, just 12 more than the Giants.

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