Isaiah Likely caught eight passes on eight targets for 78 yards and two touchdowns in his first game as a Giant, and the Dallas Cowboys never found an answer.
The Associated Press, in a game story carried by CBS Sports, framed New York's 28-20 season-opening win around Jaxson Dart's precision and Cam Skattebo's return from a broken fibula. For Dallas, the quieter story was a tight end working the seams and the flat against a defense that had not taken a regular-season snap together.
DallasCowboys.com's recap said the club "seemingly had no answer" for Likely after an offseason spent rebuilding the unit under first-time play-caller Christian Parker.
That mismatch mattered as much as any single sack or missed tackle. Likely's first touchdown - a 15-yard throw with 20 seconds left in the half - came after Dak Prescott's interception, per Reuters. His second, from two yards out, capped the Giants' opening drive of the third quarter. Between those scores, Dart completed dump-offs and crossers that kept Dallas' linebackers and safeties guessing.
A new coordinator's first Sunday
Parker's group entered the night with a new scheme and a batch of new starters who did not play in the preseason, the Cowboys' recap noted. The results looked familiar to anyone who watched Dallas allow 30.1 points per game last season, a mark the AP cited as the NFL's worst.
New York finished with 394 yards, 29 first downs by one contemporaneous account of the film, and a 134.2 passer rating for Dart on 23-of-29 throwing.
Schottenheimer did not single out Parker by name in his postgame comments on the club site. He did say the defense did not play to its capability, that Dart looked comfortable, and that the pass rush "does have to be better."
Dart also ran for 54 yards on 11 carries, turning failed pressures into first downs and forcing Dallas to account for a second-year quarterback who slides when he should and throws when the pocket softens.
