Cowboys suffer consecutive losing seasons, as Dak Prescott is benched and defender is ejected in lopsided loss

The Dallas Cowboys have suffered back-to-back losing seasons for the first time since 2002 after a 34-17 collapse to the New York Giants on Sunday. 

Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott was pulled from the game at halftime, and defensive end Donovan Ezeiruaku was ejected from the game after pulling off a Giants players’ helmet in between downs in the third quarter. 

Prescott’s game and season ended after a first half in which he fumbled and passed for just 70 yards. He left the game with the league lead in passing yards for the season. 

In Prescott’s absence, the Cowboys were outscored 18-7 in the second half and the team got into a costly scruff with Giants opponents, resulting in penalties and the ejection. The Ezeiruaku ejection occurred after the Giants scored a touchdown to go up 22-10, and a brawl ensued with pushing, shoving and intentional face-mask grabbing.

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Dallas defensive tackle Quinnen Williams was also assessed an unnecessary roughness penalty, which put the Giants at the one-yard line for the point after try, as New York went for two, going up 24-10. 

Dallas never recovered, as backup quarterback Joe Milton threw a late interception en-route to a 17-point loss to finish the season.

It was a fitting end to a failed season for the Cowboys, who officially extended their Super Bowl drought to 30 years. 

Dallas went all-in at this year’s trade deadline in an attempt to bolster its playoff chances, trading a 2027 first-round pick and a 2026 second-round pick to the New York Jets for defensive tackle Quinnen Williams. But it won’t pay off in the short term for the Cowboys after their 2025 failure. Williams is under contract until 2027. 

Questions about whether the Cowboys would be competitive in 2025 were raised after the team traded star linebacker Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers ahead of the season. The Cowboys’ defense is 29th in the NFL this year without Parsons.

Dallas gave its fans some hope with a three-game winning streak in November, rebounding from 3-5-1 to 6-5-1 and within striking distance of the seventh seed in the NFC. But a 44-30 primetime loss to the Detroit Lions Dec. 4 took all the air out and dropped Dallas’ playoff chances to just 8%. They went 1-3 in in their final four games after the Lions loss to fall to a losing record

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Meanwhile, the Giants improved to 4-13 on the season for their third straight losing season. The Giants had a chance to secure the second or first pick in the NFL Draft with a loss on Sunday, but could potentially drop all the way to the seventh pick with the win. 

The Giants also defeated the Cowboys and Eagles in the same season for the first time since 2020. 

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