Cowboys sideline exclusive: Heavy rain forced equipment change for Dak Prescott vs. Giants
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Wow, there are so many notes from the rain-soaked sideline of MetLife Stadium during the Cowboys’ 40-0 annihilation of the Giants on Sunday Night Football. Let’s get right to them.
Congratulations to all of you who had Cowboys backup cornerback Noah Igbinoghene on their fantasy football team in Week 1 rather than Bengals QB Joe Burrow. Your move paid off handsomely in Week 1. But seriously, who would have guessed Noah would score the first touchdown of the Cowboys’ season? And we’ll refer to No. 19 by his first name, Noah, for the rest of the season because the only thing harder than pronouncing Igbinoghene is spelling it! If you want to try the pronunciation, here you go: IGG-bin-AWG-uh-nee.
All in the family: If Noah seemed to be flying downfield on his first-quarter touchdown return of a field goal blocked by Juanyeh Thomas, his speed should be no surprise. The former track star is the son of Festus and Faith, two Olympic track stars from Nigeria. Festus competed in the triple jump for Nigeria in the ‘96 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Faith, a sprinter, medaled in the 4×100 relay in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. Both moved to the United States and starred for the track teams at Mississippi State and Alabama, respectively.
All in the family, part two: Less than 24 hours before the Buffalo Bills would be on the visitors’ sideline for the Monday Night Football opener at the NY Jets, several Bills players attended Cowboys-Giants including Trevon Diggs’ brother, Stephon.
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Stephon, the star Bills receiver, spent part of the game on the front row behind the Cowboys’ bench and Trevon was able to come over and greet him in between defensive series in the first half.
Trevon made one of the biggest plays of the night in the first quarter when he perfectly timed a hit on Giants RB Saquon Barkley, which caused Daniel Jones’ pass to Barkley to be deflected to Cowboys CB DaRon Bland, who intercepted the ball and returned it 22 yards for a touchdown to give Dallas a 13-0 lead.
All in the family, part three: Diggs also forced a fumble in the fourth quarter by WR Isaiah Hodgins that was recovered by Israel Mukuamu. Diggs got hold of that football and handed it to his son, Aaiden, who was also seated in the front row.
Windshield wipers needed: The unrelenting rain throughout the evening led to an equipment change for Dak Prescott. Dak wears a visor on his helmet, but with all the water beading on the visor, the equipment staff make a quick change to Dak’s headgear in the second quarter by removing the visor. The heaviest downpours of the night fell in the second half, especially late in the game. Thanks to Dallas Cowboys broadcasting’s Chris Behm, videographer and producer extraordinaire, for pointing out the equipment change on the sideline.
Coaching logistics: Cowboys RB coach Jeff Blasko missed the game because he is on a medical leave of absence. Blasko, in his first year as running backs coach after spending the previous three seasons as an assistant offensive line coach, works gamedays upstairs in the coaches’ booth. Taking Blasko’s spot in the booth was new assistant OL coach Ramon Chinyoung. During the preseason, Chinyoung spent gamedays on the sideline.
Rousing ovation for Quinn: How big of a blowout was it? The Cowboys coaches who worked the game upstairs in the coaches’ booth came to the sideline late in the fourth quarter. In fact, after riding down the elevator and making it to field level, defensive coordinator Dan Quinn ran through the tunnel and onto the visitors’ sideline while being raucously cheered by the Cowboys fans assembled in the end zone.
One big cheer from Giants’ fans: Giants fans booed the home team off the field as the first half ended and teams headed to the locker room. Other than pregame introductions, the loudest ovation of the night from Giants fans was for a non-football player. Tennis star Coco Gauff, fresh off her win in the U.S. Open, was introduced to the home crowd and received a warm ovation. The U.S. Open is held in Flushing Meadows (in Queens), just 22 miles from MetLife Stadium.
Cowboys diehards remaining late: The official attendance at sold out MetLife Stadium was 80,809, but let’s not kid anyone. There were only about 8,000 folks left in the stands for the final five minutes of playing time and they were Cowboys fans. The Giants fans began streaming to the exits as early as mid-third quarter. Not long after Tony Pollard’s TD run at the 10:01 mark in the third quarter to give the Cowboys a 33-0 lead, the rain really started pouring (again), and many of the Giants fans decided they had seen enough.
Not so fast, KaVontae: KaVontae Turpin scored his first career NFL regular season TD in the fourth quarter on a 7-yard TD run. But he forgot something as he celebrated with teammates … the football. Turpin ran to the sideline before securing the football to take home as a souvenir. By the time Brandon Aubrey kicked the extra point, Turpin realized his mistake and ran toward the end zone to retrieve the football from an official. But footballs used for PATs/FGs/punts are “K” balls for kicking. It was not the same football Turpin carried in for the score. The ball boys had to chase down the actual Cowboys-decal ball used by the offense to give to Turpin for safe-keeping. It took a couple minutes, but Turpin has his souvenir.
Turpin-time and Deuce: Media is not allowed to report on personnel groupings seen in practices or training camp, but McCarthy did use a personnel grouping that we spied in Oxnard: Turpin and Deuce Vaughn together on the field at the same time. The pair is not exactly the biggest lineup you can trot out together! Heck, if you combine Turpin (155 pounds) and Vaughn (180 pounds) together, they weigh less than less Giants’ DT Dexter Lawrence (340 pounds).
Deeeuuuccceee: All that booing you thought you heard late in the game was actually Cowboys fans yelling “DEEUUUCCEEE.” Come to think of it, the first time Deuce ran onto the field in pregame warmups the fans were chanting his name.
Rare sighting: Something you rarely see on an NFL sideline … every player breaking a sweat! That’s because it’s rare that all the backups get into a regular season game. But this game was such a blowout, every single “active” player for the Cowboys participated in the game. There were no “DNPs” (did not play) by the end of the game. Many of the starters, including Dak Prescott, were pulled in the fourth quarter. Young offensive linemen T.J. Bass, Asim Richards, and Brock Hoffman gained valuable experience in the waning minutes of the game. And before you say, “Trey Lance didn’t play,” that’s correct. But as the emergency third quarterback, in the official gamebook he is technically listed as inactive, even though he was suited up.
Salute to first responders: Coaches, sideline personnel, and players from both teams honored first responders on the night before the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks by wearing ballcaps emblazoned with one of three logos: FDNY (firefighters), NYPD (police), and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department. During pregame ceremonies, Queen Latifah did an awesome job signing the national anthem while hundreds of people associated with first responders held an American flag that stretched from sideline-to-sideline and endzone-to-endzone.
Rookie threads: Rookies from both teams wore a special patch on the left lapels of their jerseys which read “Rookie Premiere” as part of an NFL initiative. Cowboys rookies making their NFL regular season debuts included DT Mazi Smith, TE Luke Schoonmaker, OL Asim Richards, RB Deuce Vaughn, K Brandon Aubrey, FB Hunter Luepke, and G T.J. Bass. Three rookies were gameday inactives (coach’s decision): WR Jalen Brooks, DE Junior Fehoko and CB Eric Scott.
The cherry on top: OK, what can be better than shutting out a division rival on the road, 40-0? How ‘bout coming out of the game relatively clean in terms of injury? The only Cowboys’ injury update I provided in-game during the radio broadcast was LG Chuma Edoga missing part of a series early in the third quarter after getting poked in the left eye. He returned to action. In the second quarter, DT Johnathan Hankins hurt a finger on his right hand, but the medical staff taped the fingers together and he also returned to action. Cowboys players listed as inactive due to injury included LG Tyler Smith (hamstring), S Donovan Wilson (calf) and CB Jourdan Lewis (foot).
Kristi Scales is the sideline reporter for the Dallas Cowboys Radio Network. She writes this Sideline Exclusive report for The Dallas Morning News each day after a Cowboys game.
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