In the end, it was not what cost the Dallas Cowboys the football game in Sunday night’s loss to the Giants, 28-20, and because the outing exposed to many holes in what many believed was a very strong Dallas facade, it will get largely overlooked. But Javonte Williams knows he made a major mistake and acknowledged that the repercussions could have been worse.
With 5:21 to play in the game at Met Life Stadium, Williams scored what would be the Cowboys’ final points after he slipped into the left side of the end zone untouched on a 17-yard pass, capping a nine-play, 74-yard drive that cut the score to 28-20. As he was approaching the goal line, Williams teasingly held the ball out to show up the Giants defense. He got a flag for that, and a 15-yard taunting penalty that was taken out on the extra-point attempt.
Brandon Aubrey subsequently missed the 48-yard try, and had the Cowboys gotten the ball back, they’d have needed a touchdown and a two-point conversion to tie the game.
Javonte Williams: ‘I Am Going to Correct It’
After the play, broadcaster Mike Tirico of NBC said of the Cowboys penalty, “Completely unnecessary, and it cost his team.” The
Cowboys, on theme for the entire night, did not get the ball back, and that was the bigger problem in the loss. But that does not mean that Williams felt he should skate for his mistake.
Speaking to reporters after the game, he said, “For sure, I am a pro, I know better than that. I shouldn’t have did it. I am going to correct it, it is what it is. Just gonna move past it.”
Cowboys Made Bigger Mistakes
Again, in a game that was packed with mistakes by a Cowboys team that was–and looked like it was–playing together for the first time after coach Brian Schottenheimer rested the starters throughout the preseason, Williams’ mistake was almost consequential, but did not matter once the Giants rolled through the defense and held the ball for the rest of the game.
That’s the big issue for the Cowboys. The offense did not operate the way it was supposed to, with dropped passes and at times poor protection for Dak Prescott, and poor run support for Williams. But Schottenheimer said the team got “shoved around” by the Giants, and that lack of physicality figures to be difficult to fix.
“Been around a long time so maybe, but right now, this one feels pretty bad just because at the end of the day, we just didn’t perform the way we’re capable of playing,” Schottenheimer said. “We didn’t play defense the way we’re capable of playing. We didn’t play offense in the first half the way we’re capable of playing. … But we’re not going to panic. This is a long season, and we know we’re not going to go undefeated. That’s real, but that’s not the biggest issue we have.”
Cowboys Star Speaks Out on ‘Completely Unnecessary’ Mistake