Let’s take a look at the New York Giants’ 20-15 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday night in our traditional ‘Kudos & Wet Willies’ style.

Kudos to…

Malik Nabers — The starting wide receiver was – once again – excellent. He finished with 12 catches on 15 targets for 115 yards. It was the second time this season that Nabers reached double-digit catches and more than 100 receiving yards.

Nabers finished the game with a concussion after failing to make a difficult sideline catch on a fourth-and-6 with 3:30 to play.

Should Nabers have made the play?

“I thought he (Malik Nabers) did a great job of keeping his feet in bounds,” head coach Brian Daboll said. “It was a perfect throw, and when it went to the ground, the ball got thrown out there a little bit. But he (Daniel Jones) put it exactly where he needed to put it during the fight and it was close.

Wan’Dale Robinson – The small slot receiver had one red zone drop that he admitted he would like to get back, but otherwise had an excellent game. Robinson had career highs in targets (14) and receptions (11). Robinson’s longest reception was just 11 yards and he finished with just 71 yards on his 11 catches, but he created much of that himself.

Greg Joseph – After badly missing a 48-yard attempt in his Giants debut on Sunday, Joseph didn’t inspire much confidence. But on Thursday night, Joseph made the Giants look good for sticking with him. He went 5 for 5 on field goals, hitting from 52, 41, 38, 22 and 42 yards. It was Joseph’s second career five-field goal game. On October 2, 2022, he made all five attempts for the Minnesota Vikings in a 28-25 win in New Orleans.

Those light up bracelets — The Giants handed out light-up bracelets before the game and they led to a spectacular pre-game light show. It’s the coolest thing I’ve seen at MetLife Stadium. Unfortunately, the Giants’ performance didn’t light up the evening all that well.

Protection of the Giant Pass — Quarterback Daniel Jones was sacked just once for a loss of four yards and hit just three times while throwing 40 passes. Some of that can be attributed to the number of passes thrown less than ten yards beyond the line of scrimmage, but the line — as it has done over the last three weeks — has done a good job of protecting the pass.

Wet Willies to…

The running game of giants -Dallas entered the game dead last in the league, giving up 5.4 yards per rushing attempt. They won’t be the last when the dust settles from Week 4 in the NFL. The Giants gained just 26 yards on 24 rushing attempts, a paltry 1.1 yards per rushing attempt.

“I thought a big difference was that we controlled the game in the passing game, but we didn’t do enough in the running game,” Daboll said. ‘Give them credit. We knew they would fix some of it, but we have to do better than that.”

Guard Jon Runyan was unhappy with the offensive line’s work in the run game.

“It definitely has to be better in the running game. I felt like sometimes we weren’t really blocking the right people on some plays, and it came back and bit us in the butt at the end,” Runyan said. “We weren’t able to really move the ball efficiently in the run game, and that’s exactly what they wanted to do going into this game really well.

“I feel like they’ve changed the style of their defense, but the way they structured things a little differently in previous games. They got cut in the run game early in the season, and they fixed that this game, and we thought we would take advantage of that.

Tae Banks – Another game, another big play given up by the second-year cornerback. Banks matched up one-on-one with Cowboys’ star wide receiver CeeDee Lamb and was burned for a 55-yard touchdown in the second quarter. That’s the fourth touchdown this season given up by the 2023 first-round pick, a player the Giants count on to be the best receiver on the opposing offense.

The Giants’ pass rush — Before the game, I pointed out that Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott getting pressured was a key to the game. Kayvon Thibodeaux had his first full sack of the season, but that was it for the pass rush. The Giants hit Prescott just three times as he went 22 of 27 for 221 yards and two touchdowns.

Penalties for Phantom Masks – I really don’t like calling out the officiating. I rarely do it, and one terrible decision isn’t the reason the Giants lost the game on Thursday. But what do you call this a penalty against Daniel Bellinger? Instead of first in the red zone, the Giants had second-and-18 at the Cowboys’ 48-yard line and needed Joseph’s 52-yard field goal to get points.

Kwillies to…

Daniel Jones — The Giants quarterback did a lot of excellent things on Thursday. He completed 29 of 40 passes (72.5%) for 281 yards. That follows a Week 3 game in which he went 24 of 34 (70.6%) for 236 yards.

Jones marched the Giants into scoring position after five long drives, despite the complete absence of a running game. Still, he couldn’t get them into the end zone. And once again, Jones struggled to complete just over twenty yards beyond the line of scrimmage.

Jones received praise from Daboll.

“Three games in a row, I’m proud of the young man. He’s made good decisions. He’s been throwing the ball where he needs to throw the ball,” Daboll said. “The last play for (Jalin) Hyatt, that’s a matter of going down and seeing if we can get a DPI (defensive pass interference) or if we can go up and try to make a play.

‘But he’s been stuck, I thought, for three games already. He played well. He sees the field. He delivered the ball where it needed to be. Today we had a few opportunities to continue driving. I’m proud of how he’s performing, how he’s prepared. He did a good job for us.”

His teammates also praised him.

“You can see his confidence growing, and you can see he’s getting more and more comfortable taking charge of the offense and getting the ball to the guys who need to get it,” Robinson said.

‘He’s been very efficient. He takes care of the ball extremely well, which puts us in the right positions to score points,” said Runyan. “He’s got to keep doing the same thing and he’s very comfortable with this offense.

“I’m very happy with how he’s playing so far.”

But no matter how efficiently he has played, the big game is missing. And the Giants desperately need it. In my post-game “Things I’m Thinking” column, I wrote that it felt like the Giants were “playing offense by inches.”

The Kansas City Chiefs might be good enough to get away that way. The Giants don’t. Jones is now 3 of 15 on passes of 20 yards or more down the field this season. He has to be better than that.