NEW YORK — Michael Irvin had picked the Dallas Cowboys to beat the New York Giants and to finish 13-4. The morning after a 28-20 loss at MetLife Stadium, in studio on ESPN’s First Take, he put the problem on the offense rather than the defense.
Dallas ran 52 plays Sunday night. New York ran 68. The Cowboys finished with 244 yards and 21 first downs, held the ball for 23:20, and were outgained 394-244. Dak Prescott was 22-of-34 for 175 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception, averaging 5.1 yards per attempt.
Irvin said the Los Angeles Rams ran into the same thing. Los Angeles lost 27-7 to San Francisco on Thursday, and Irvin worked that game as a studio analyst for Netflix.
“What the hell was that last night? I asked myself that question,” Irvin said. “Now, here’s Stephen, here’s Stephen, we know now, and I’m just saying, we know nowadays you don’t play any football in the preseason, you show up Week 1, so these things like this happen.”
“Not just the Dallas Cowboys,” Irvin continued. “Also happened to the team that everybody has anointed, the L.A. Rams. You see what I mean? Week 1, we did a lot of huffing and puffing, but we didn’t blow down any houses.”
Dallas did not play its starters in the preseason. The Cowboys went 7-9-1 last season and have missed the playoffs two years running.
Michael Irvin Had Picked Dallas To Win The Opener
Two weeks out, Irvin predicted on the Rich Eisen Show that Dallas would beat New York in the opener.
“And I’m going to tell you something. The Giants came out, and they were physical,” Irvin explained. “And they played a physical football game. I fully expected the Giants to be what they are. I fully did not expect the Cowboys to be what they were last night. It was the same old, same old. That hurt me.”
Dallas trailed by 14 twice, at 21-7 in the third quarter and 28-14 in the fourth. Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer was asked about the performance afterward.
“I thought overall we were really, as a football team, we were pretty poor,” Schottenheimer said. “Just give coach Harbaugh and his team a bunch of credit. They were the more physical team tonight. That’s certainly not our standard. That’s certainly not how we see our identity playing.”
Dallas rushed 18 times for 69 yards and averaged 3.8. Javonte Williams carried 12 times for 41 yards and a touchdown, with a long of 8, and caught all 5 of his targets for 31 yards and a touchdown.
“I thought they pushed us around a little bit up front,” Schottenheimer explained. “Their defensive line, our running game, there was way too much penetration early in the game. Javonte was running into freaking, a wall in the beginning of the game. We made some good adjustments at halftime, but this is a team game.”
Dallas Cowboys Ran 21 Second-Half Plays
Irvin said he did not mind talking about the defense, which allowed 511 points last season, more than any team in the NFL.
“I saw the same, I don’t mind, and we’ll talk about the defense,” Irvin said. “We’ll talk about how the defense were out of place and they made plays. My biggest concern was really not just the defense. It really was the offense. Because that’s where we knew we had something going, and that part didn’t show up. So that’s my issue with what I saw last night.”
Dallas scored 471 points last season, seventh-most in the league. The Cowboys gained 122 yards in the first half against New York and 122 in the second, and ran 21 plays after halftime across two possessions. Both ended in touchdowns. CeeDee Lamb caught 5 of 8 targets for 44 yards and a touchdown. George Pickens caught 3 of 6 for 28 yards.
The Cowboys converted 8 of 11 third downs. The defense allowed 9 of 11 and 165 rushing yards. Jaxson Dart completed 23-of-29 passes for 230 yards, 3 touchdowns, and no interceptions, and Isaiah Likely caught all 8 of his targets for 78 yards and 2 touchdowns in his first game with New York. Dallas was flagged 9 times for 90 yards.
Irvin joins First Take on Mondays through the football season. Stephen A. Smith announced it on his YouTube channel Sunday. The show has broadcast from ESPN’s studio at 7 Hudson Square in Lower Manhattan since June 2025.
Dallas hosts the Washington Commanders on Sunday at AT&T Stadium. Kickoff is 3:25 p.m. CT on FOX.
