“We don’t like to lose to anyone”

Thursday night’s NFC East matchup between the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys is the stuff of nightmares for Big Blue.

The Giants have lost six straight games to the Cowboys and 12 of the last 13, including two forty-eighth-game losses last season – 40-0 in Week 1, 49-17 in Week 10.

New York has lost 12 straight games started by Dak Prescott, dating back to 2017, tied for the fourth-longest streak against the same opponent since 1950 (Bob Griese 17 vs. Bills; Tom Brady 13 vs. Bills; Steve Young 13 vs. Rams).

The failure was so great for the Giants that a reporter asked Daniel Jones on Tuesday: “Have you ever beaten the Cowboys?”

“Yeah, I think we beat them a couple of years ago,” he replied respectfully via the team’s official transcript. “But all these games are different. I think we’ll be prepared and ready to play.”

Jones has beaten Dallas once in his career, in a meaningless season finale in 2020, a 23-19 victory in which Prescott did not play, and both teams finished the season 6-10. Jones is 1-6 in his career as a starter against the Cowboys and 0-5 with Prescott in the lineup.

“Yeah, we don’t like losing to anybody, especially a division game. We understand what this game means, and we’ll be ready to go,” Jones said when asked if he was tired of losing to Dallas.

The recent lopsided rivalry between the Cowboys and Giants isn’t just about offense. Big Blue hasn’t even sacked a Dallas quarterback since Week 15 of 2021.

Prime time has been a particular problem for New York. The Cowboys have won five straight games and nine of the last 10 primetime games against the Giants. In the last five primetime games, the Cowboys have scored 19+ points each time, and the Giants have scored 18 or fewer points each time (139-50 point margin since 2017).

Jones said he’s a better player since he last faced Dallas in a 40-point loss in Week 1 of last season.

“I’ve played more, I’ve seen more games, I’ve studied and I’ve improved,” he said. “Obviously it wasn’t great last time, but we’re confident, it’s a new team. We’re a new team, they’re a new team, and we’re excited about this opportunity.”

Over the past two weeks, Jones has had back-to-back games with two or more TDs and no giveaways for the first time in his career. He never had a game like that against the Cowboys.

On Thursday night, the Giants will have a chance to erase some of those bad memories at home. With both teams sitting at 1-2 heading into the game, it will be a two-way game for each team.