NFL Box Score Breakdown: Giants-Cowboys Recap & Usage Stats (SNF)

A quick heads-up for Box Score Breakdown fans: we'll still have the full version of the article posted every Monday (and updated Tuesday) with advanced-stat box scores and recap analysis for all 16 games from Week 1. These mini versions for the island games are in addition to what I've always done, not instead of. If you want to see the same thing for those other island games, you can find them here:

NFL Box Score Breakdown: Patriots-Seahawks Recap & Usage Stats
NFL Box Score Breakdown: Rams-49ers Recap & Usage Stats

Stats come from NFL Next Gen unless otherwise specified. Bold denotes strong/high numbers relative to the player's pre-2026 baseline. Italics and red lettering denote poor/low numbers relative to the player's pre-2026 baseline. Keep in mind that it's a one-game sample, so there's not necessarily a reaction or conclusion for each high/low number. In many cases it's just something to keep track of over the next few weeks, not anything that needs to be acted on immediately.

Cowboys (20) at Giants (28)

Cowboys Personnel:   11p - 71%  |  12p - 8%  |  21p - 8%  |  13p - 6%  |  6OL - 6%

52 Plays (23rd/30)  /  36 Dropbacks (69%)  /  2.9% PROE (6th/30)

8.3 aDOT — 22-of-34 for 175 yards — 2 TDs, 1 INT, 0 sacks, 2 scrambles

• The Giants dominated possession and limited the Cowboys to seven drives (it was really just six, because one started with 14 seconds left in the half).
• The Cowboys used 11 personnel on 68% of snaps in the first half. As expected, it remained their main grouping even before they fell behind and mostly abandoned the run.

Backfield

• RB Javonte Williams played 73% of snaps and took 17 of 20 RB opportunities (85%), scoring two TDs and gaining 72 yards despite the limited drive/play volume for Dallas.
  • Malik Davis suffered a season-ending injury during practice last week, and Emari Demercado ended up playing just four snaps (two carries) in his stead. The Cowboys instead used FB Hunter Luepke as the lone back at times in passing situations. That's nothing new, but they tend to do it more when they don't trust the RB depth.
  • Williams looks ready to repeat last year's production, if not improve on it.

Pass Catchers

• No real concern here, though it was perhaps surprising to see Ryan Flournoy's route share (69%) landing so close to CeeDee Lamb's and George Pickens' (78% apiece). 
  • Lamb and Pickens were still in the normal range of playing time for starters, but we've seen them up in the 90s for snap/route share before, and it would be ideal for fantasy if they get back to that range... something to keep an eye on Week 2.
  • Rough night for Pickens... he had a first-quarter drop that wouldn't have counted anyway, but the drop allowed New York to decline a Dallas penalty and force a punt instead of another third-down try. Then, shortly before halftime, Pickens dropped a deep ball for a gain of 30+. He'll be fine for fantasy, but Sunday's game might've turned out differently for the Cowboys if not for his mistakes.
• TE Jake Ferguson handled a 75% snap share and 75% route share, reflecting his role from last year. He drew two targets on 27 routes, while backup Brevyn Spann-Ford got two targets on eight routes.
  • The concern for Ferguson isn't Spann-Ford; it's the possibility of Javonte handling more of the dump-off / check-down targets this year. Not saying it'll play out that way because of one game, but it is a possibility, and Ferguson already has target-rate concerns when both Lamb and Pickens are healthy. I won't put Ferguson in 'stock down' because I was already kind of a pessimist, and his snap/route shares were strong. But this did nothing to dissuade my pessimism about his 2026 fantasy value. It still feels like he needs a Pickens/Lamb injury in order to get any intentional targets instead of just checkdowns.

Stock ⬆: RB Javonte Williams 

Stock ⬇: TE Jake Ferguson, Cowboys Defense

Injuries 🚑: LB DeMarvion Overshown (hamstring), S Malik Hooker (arm)

Giants Personnel:   11p - 32%  |  12p - 12%  |  21p - 18%  |  22p - 19%

68 Plays (6th/30)  /  36 Dropbacks (53%)  /  1.6% PROE (8th/30)

8.6 aDOT — 23-of-29 for 230 yards — 3 TDs, 0 INTs, 2 sacks, 5 scrambles

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• Jaxson Dart was fantastic, with encouraging rushing usage on top of his efficient passing. He had five scrambles and three designed runs, taking eight rush attempts for 59 yards before losing five yards on three kneel-downs at the end.
• The Giants used four different personnel groupings on at least 12% of plays, mostly going with two-wide or even one-wide looks outside of clear passing situations.
  • NYG used 11 personnel on just 29% of snaps pre-halftime, so this wasn't a game script thing (it wasn't a surprise either, re: Greg Roman, Patrick Ricard).

Backfield

• RB Cam Skattebo took 18 of 26 RB carries (69%) while playing 60% of snaps, but his route share was just 25% with Devin Singletary (50% routes, 4 tgts) surprisingly handling most of the passing downs.
  • Skattebo had a good night, averaging 4.5 YPC and scoring a TD, but it's a bit surprising to see him iced out of passing situations. That was a huge strength of his at ASU, and he looked comfortable catching passes last year as well. It might be that the Giants trust Singletary more in pass protection, or perhaps they just didn't want Skattebo playing a ton of snaps. He at least solidified his standing as the lead runner.
• RB Tyrone Tracy gained 14 yards on two carries, but those were his only two snaps.
  • Najee Harris was a healthy scratch.

Pass Catchers

• WR Malik Nabers played only 53% of snaps, but his route share was 67% and his target rate was 38%, so he still led the team in both targets (nine) and air yards (100).
  • Nabers looked great, and it shouldn't be long before his route share is pushing up toward 80%, or even higher. Dart also looked great. Just remember that the Dallas defense made a lot of teams look this good last year. The Cowboys made a lot of offseason changes, to be fair... not looking great so far.
• TE Isaiah Likely was the other big story with 8-78-2 on eight targets, though we should caution that his snap share (50%) and route share (64%) were basically no different from his norms in Baltimore the past couple years.
  • That doesn't mean Likely's Week 1 was entirely a fluke; there was already a strong argument that his target rate and per-route production would increase with the Giants. But... it would be hard to see more than 5-6 per week on a 64% route share in an offense with a healthy Malik Nabers.
  • I do think Likely is good enough in real life to be a solid fantasy starter, but he might need an 80% route share to do it if the Giants also have Malik Nabers and a decent running game. There is, of course, a chance that playing well will lead to more playing time.
  • Long story short... Likely gets a boost, but I'm not as stoked as some others may be. I'm buying the Dalton Kincaid breakout more than this one, given that he got a huge boost in playing time compared to pre-2026 and put up his numbers against a good defense.
• Rookie WR Malachi Fields surprisingly led NYG skill players with a 72% snap share, but his 50% route share was tied for fourth. The Giants seemingly wanted his size for blocking, while Nabers and Darnell Mooney (57% snaps, 69% routes, 2 tgts) were used more on passing plays.
  • Still, it's a great sign for a rookie to be playing so much out of the gate. And he saw two more targets than Mooney.
• TE Theo Johnson (47% snaps, 39% routes) got slightly less playing time than FB Patrick Ricard (53% snaps). No surprise there - it just confirms Johnson won't even have deep-league value unless Likely misses time.
• The broadcast discussed Odell Beckham a bunch, but he ran just seven routes (19%) and wasn't targeted.

Stock ⬆: WR Malik Nabers, TE Isaiah Likely

Stock ⬇: RB Tyrone Tracy, RB Najee Harris