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Dallas Cowboys’ DaRon Bland, left, intercepts a pass intended for New York Giants’ Saquon Barkley, right, during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Noah Igbinoghene returned a blocked field goal 58 yards for a touchdown on the opening series, DaRon Bland scored on a pick-6 later in the first quarter and the Dallas Cowboys embarrassed the New York Giants again, posting a season-opening 40-0 victory Sunday night.
Tony Pollard scored on two short touchdown runs and Dallas forced three turnovers and sacked Daniel Jones seven times in shutting down New York’s supposedly improved offense and beating the Giants for the fifth straight time and 12th in 13th meetings.
The shutout loss was the largest between the teams, topping the Cowboys’ 35-0 win over the Giants in 1995, also in a season-opener in the Meadowlands. It was also the Cowboys’ biggest season-opening shutout, topping their 38-0 win over the Baltimore Colts in 1978.
This was supposed to be the game that showed whether the Giants had closed the gap on Dallas and defending NFC champion Philadelphia in the NFC East.
Enough said.
The Cowboys didn’t need much from quarterback Dak Prescott and the offense. They got two field goals from new kicker Brandon Aubrey and Pollard got Dallas’ first TD on offense on a 2-yard run midway through the second quarter to push the advantage to 26-0 at halftime.
The halftime shutout margin was the fourth-most lopsided in Week 1 for a home team, topped only by the Bucs trailing the Eagles 34-0 in 1988. The others were the Steelers (down 30-0 vs. the Browns) in 1989 and the Colts (27-0 vs. the Rams) in 1954.
Pollard, the Cowboys’ lead running back after the release of Ezekiel Elliott during the offseason, had a 1-yard run in the third quarter….
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