Five takeaways from Cowboys’ loss to Giants: Losing record was deserved
The 2025 campaign for the Dallas Cowboys has officially come to an end, as they wrapped up the season with a 34-17 loss to the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium.
While the result meant nothing toward playoff implications for anyone involved, the loss did help improve Dallas’ draft positioning in April. The Cowboys finished with a losing record at 7-9-1, while the Giants improved to 4-13.
Quarterback Dak Prescott and several other starters played only the first half.
For the final time in the 2025 season, here are the five takeaways from a Cowboys loss:
Cowboys deserved a losing record
The Cowboys talked all week about how winning this season finale against the Giants was important for building momentum, to finish 5-1 in the NFC East and to not have a losing season. But after the year that it’s been with unfulfilled potential and disappointing results, they deserved a losing record.
And while it does help draft positioning, the Cowboys finish with back-to-back losing seasons for the first time since 2000-2002. With the amount of talent that this team has (five Pro Bowlers), that’s simply unacceptable.
“I’m disappointed, of course,” head coach Schottenheimer said. “The question is why. We need to look and figure out why. I did not think that we would be 7-9-1. I didn’t think that we wouldn’t be in the playoffs. I expected to be in the playoffs and competing for the Super Bowl.”
Owner Jerry Jones said that the evaluation process will start Monday morning, and you can bet the losing record will matter when those conversations are had.
“I can promise you this,” Schottenheimer said. “We’re going to get to the bottom of it. We’re going to work our asses off to figure it out. We’re going to adjust and make changes that we need to do to help us get there.”
One play reflects defense in a nutshell
Here’s the Captain Obvious statement of the day: the 2025 Cowboys defense was downright awful. At least we can now say “was” instead of “is” moving forward.
There were a lot of bad moments for the unit during the course of the season, but one play from Sunday’s loss bottles it all up.
On a third-and-16 play that generated pressure on Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart from Cowboys defensive end James Houston, all the rookie quarterback could do was dump it underneath to tight end Daniel Bellinger to try and keep it in field goal range. However, Bellinger broke four tackles on his way to a 29-yard catch-and-run for an improbable touchdown.
“We just got to find a way to get the guy on the ground,” Schottenheimer said. “We got a good pass rush, he broke off, and I think one of our players actually picked one of ours to make the tackle. ... Unfortunately, those are the types of plays when you’re winning, you make those plays. We didn’t make those plays, and it’s why we came up short.”
That score gave the Giants a 16-10 lead they would not relinquish.
Go Big Blue
Those are the words engraved on the padding behind both end zones as an ode to the Giants, but on Sunday, that was also complimentary of Cowboys rookie running back Jaydon Blue’s first-half performance.
After a disappointing rookie season that saw him inactive for 13 games, he took advantage of his lone lead-back opportunity on Sunday with 64 yards on 16 carries, including his first NFL touchdown. Most of his production came in the first two frames, but the burst and playmaking ability were on display.
“I was just hungry,” Blue said. “I feel like I haven’t played in a while and I knew this was the last one of the year, so I wanted to seize the opportunity.”
Another rookie running back, Phil Mafah, made his debut and also scored his first NFL touchdown with a 1-yard plunge to start the fourth quarter.
A sign of what the future of the backfield could look like behind Javonte Williams? Maybe so.
Clowney Show
Even among a unit that has been disastrous all season, the Cowboys have had some bright spots on defense. The brightest over the last few weeks of the season, and certainly on Sunday, was veteran defensive end Jadeveon Clowney.
From the first defensive possession through the end, Clowney was all over the field, collecting a career-high three sacks. He also added a forced fumble and a fumble recovery in what can easily be billed as a career game for the 12th-year pro.
“Incredible,” Schottenheimer said about Clowney’s performance. “I’m not too surprised by that.”
“We need him,” Prescott said. “We want him. In a game like this, I’m like, ‘Damn, bro, you’re making the price high.’ The type of guy he is, player, leader, he’s someone that I want around and someone we need around.”
Clowney is heading into free agency for the fourth consecutive offseason, but the Cowboys should look at bringing back the experience and production he has given the unit this year.
Now, the work begins
Speaking to reporters before the game, Jones said the team’s ownership and coaching staff would get together on evaluating everything that went wrong for the Cowboys in 2025. That begins with the future of defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus.
While Jones said the defensive issues this season are not solely on their first-year coordinator, the case to bring him back will be tough to provide after those evaluations. Where the Cowboys go from there will determine how successfully — or unsuccessfully — the team can bounce back in 2026.
“Just go through the process,” Schottenheimer said about what’s next. “And once you go through the process, you know what you want to do. I don’t think we’ll rush any of these decisions. You got to go through the process and do the work. It’s not easy, it’s tedious. We’re going to be working just as hard this week and over the next 10 to 12 days to get through all of that stuff so we feel good about everything.”
This story was originally published January 4, 2026 at 3:03 PM.
