EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – Somehow, somehow, Cowboys 20, Giants 15.

No sarcastic eye rolling, please.
See, the Cowboys started this game without two of their starting cornerbacks. We knew DaRon Bland would miss a fourth game, and there’s a good chance he’ll miss the fifth and sixth as well.

Then his backup who had started the previous three games, rookie Caelen Carson, suffered a shoulder injury last Sunday, which prevented him from even participating in the three walk-through practices in preparation for Thursday night’s game here at MetLife Stadium. Carson went from “questionable” on the injury report on Wednesday to inactive on Thursday.

And at one point in the second half, Trevon Diggs goes down and immediately limps into the locker room, dehydrated. And for good reason, as the game started at 74 degrees, with the humidity dropping from two hours before kickoff to 88 percent.

Kindly no. DeMarcus Lawrence had already left the game with a foot injury. Never came back.

And Micah Parsons, who left temporarily in the first half after suffering a “sting,” he said, still returned and went down with a left ankle injury with 3:30 left in the fourth quarter, limping off, X-rays showed . negative, but an MRI will be done on Monday.

So if you’re keeping track, that means if we count Sam Williams going on IR with his torn ACL in training camp, no Lawrence and no Micah to finish the game, the Cowboys finished the night without their top three defensive goals.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, with Bland AND Carson out, the Cowboys started Andrew Booth opposite Diggs at cornerback, not only his first start with the Cowboys – and possibly his last after a first-half struggle – but the very first match he was active on the 48-man matchday roster.

Thank goodness the Cowboys had decided to put Amani Oruwariye in his place at the start of the second half. And hear this: Oruwariye, a fifth-year veteran, was taken off the practice squad for depth purposes with Carson out, and told he would play Thursday morning. Well, he played his first snaps with Dallas after being signed on August 29th.

Still, after their unfavorable performances in Games 2 and 3 – losses to the Saints and Ravens, the Cowboys have a combined 72 points and 464 yards rushing, as well as touchdowns to New Orleans on the first six possessions, and three touchdowns to Baltimore in five full possession in the first half – did this:

They held the Giants to 15 points. No touchdowns. Five field goals by Greg Joseph in his first five attempts for New York after being signed off Detroit’s practice squad on September 17.

They held the Giants, who came into the game thinking that with Devin Singletary, their replacement for Saquan Barkley, they would run over the Cowboys for a total of 26 yards on 24 carries. Singletary himself had 24 yards on 14 attempts.

Seriously, after the Saints went for 190 and the Ravens for 274 on the ground, the Cowboys, with guys going down left and right, held the Giants to an average of 1.08 yards per carry. I didn’t make this up, as there were 80,425 witnesses here at MetLife Stadium, a Prime streaming audience across the country who were also watching to verify that this was so.

No more “Pony League” defense.

Now, the Cowboys offense is still not firing on all cylinders. Scored just 20 points, two touchdowns, two more field goals by Brandon Aubrey, one of those other 60-yarders that gave him two this season, only the second NFL kicker with multiple 60-yard field goals in one season.

And I’m sure there will be people who say, but it was the Giants, a team the Cowboys have now beaten in 14 of the last 15 games and seven in a row, so what’s the big deal?

Well, let me tell you, the Cowboys had lost their past two games and were actually no-shows in the losses except in the fourth quarter against the Ravens. And the bickering had begun, especially last Sunday on the bench at AT&T Stadium, giving a sideline camera new meaning. So here’s the deal:

A win is a win is a win. Book it.

Because regardless of the lack of style points, you can bet that 2-2 looks a lot better than 1-3 at this point, knowing they go to Pittsburgh next Sunday and entertain Detroit the following week at AT&T.

“Huge, huge, huge. Huge, especially when you compare it to the alternative, what that would have been like. It was huge,” said Dak, a man of his word, after walking out of the locker room on Tuesday without the media, but promising to talk Thursday “after we win.”

And sure enough, he went on and on, saying about the win, “Like you said, a young team, young linemen, I just understand the impact you guys have, what your jobs have on young players. , had to chase the story, and that’s what this game did, especially over a long weekend.

“It puts us at 2-2, giving us a few days to get our bodies and minds in order. If guys want to read about themselves and this team, hopefully it’s all positive. I ask you to make it positive. You know, keep their confidence up and just let momentum build. Played on a number of different teams like you said and some of them where we know it’s just going to be hot and that’s what we want to do what this league is about is it’s going to be hot at the right time, there’s going to be built up, and that’s why I just said it’s about the process and trusting the process, regardless of the results.”

Biggest plus point of this match: The youngins who had to play, played well. Sure, the Cowboys committed 15 penalties, 11 of which were penalized. Sure, rookie left tackle Tyler Guyton struggled at times, but damn if he didn’t keep fighting. And rookie center Cooper Beebe, with that 6-4, 340-pound behemoth Dexter Lawrence breathing down his neck, with a little help from his friends, limited the nose tackle to two tackles and just one QB hit. That’s a win.

We saw fullback Hunter Luepke contribute again, this time running and receiving, personally accounting for three first downs, two on third downs and one on a fourth, keeping the eventual scoring drives alive twice.

Then rookie linebacker – through experience – DeMarvion Overshown made tackles in the open field, nine in total. Also newcomer linebacker Marist Liufau. And what about that Mazi Smith, who gained confidence and then pointed to the run defense and said, “I’ve only been concerned with the details. I just have to keep going.”

Hey, the second-year nose tackle is doing a much better job at holding down the fort in the middle, and for a second straight game he had three tackles, and another for a loss. And what about backup defensive ends being forced into the fray as Lawrence and Parsons go down, Marshawn Kneeland, Chauncey Golston and even veteran Carl Lawson are pulled from the practice squad.

And my bet is that Oruwariye will get another practice squad raise next week in Pittsburgh. He would likely have to start if Carson can’t go, although he was told if this was a Sunday game he might have been able to play because of the shoulder problem. Well, the cornerback closed out the game by intercepting Daniel Jones’ Hail Marry pass at the Cowboys 4-yard line, but he also had two passes broken up, three tackles and a tackle for a loss. Not bad for a practice squad player who hadn’t been paid attention to in almost a month, and who actually had to be asked how to pronounce his name.

Here, mind you, it’s “Oh-ru-whar-ee-eh” according to him.

Look, at 2-2 the Cowboys are not out of the woods yet. But maybe, just maybe, this win didn’t just extend a season by nine days that so many were ready to bury after just four games had they lost this one. But this could be a sign that there is room for improvement.

There is talent. You saw Dak throw two touchdown passes and complete 81 percent of his passes. You saw a resurgent CeeDee Lamb haul in seven catches for 98 yards and that 55-yard touchdown reception, teaching the Giants a lesson about trying to cover him in man, leaving cornerback Deonte Banks badly burned.

And running back Rico Dowdle is starting to emerge with 11 carries, 46 yards (4.2 average) and a screen pass of as much as 15 yards for a touchdown.

Most of all, the defense played defense and made timely plays to keep the Giants out of the end zone, including on their final possession after Aubrey improbably missed a 51-yard field goal, breaking his string and starting a career that previously included 12 consecutive games. 50-plus meters

So this is at least a step in the right direction, regardless of the injuries sustained.

“It doesn’t matter who’s at the top, the level doesn’t go down,” said middle linebacker Eric Kendricks, who once led the team with 13 tackles. “We have to play hard, and now we have to keep going.”

For me, this is not the time to announce the arrival of the 2024 Cowboys season. But hey, don’t minimize a win. Not division one. Not one on the road. Not after what happened the last two games.

Let’s just let this thing breathe.