Drew Lock struggles as Giants fall to Cowboys in Thanksgiving dud

ARLINGTON, Texas — Even when they don’t play soft, the Giants still find it incredibly hard to win.

One week after two of the team’s best players criticized the “soft” performance in a blowout loss, the teetering Giants avoided repeat embarrassment in front of a national Thanksgiving audience but still weren’t quite up to matching the headed-nowhere Cowboys in a 27-20 loss.

The Giants (2-10) suffered their seventh straight loss — tied for the seventh-longest losing streak in the franchise’s 100-year history — and dropped their eighth straight in the NFC East rivalry.

“We’ve got to try to find a way out,” said receiver Malik Nabers, who, along with Dexter Lawrence, were the loudest critics last week. “Stop losing, get more wins.”

Lawrence, who suffered what could be a season-ending dislocated elbow, said the Giants “played hard.”

Making his first start of the season in place of the injured Tommy DeVito, quarterback Drew Lock engineered a 70-yard touchdown drive on the Giants’ first possession.

Lock, who started without having taken a full-speed team rep in practice since training camp, finished with 178 passing yards and a team-high 57 rushing yards.

He threw a pick-six and lost a fumble.

Tyrone Tracy Jr. punched in a 1-yard touchdown to put the Giants in front, 7-3, for the first time at any point during their entire losing streak — dating to Oct. 6.

Sign of things to come? Not exactly.

With head coach and play-caller Brian Daboll’s job security under intense scrutiny, the Giants netted 70 offensive yards over their next 10 possessions combined. The results were five punts, two field goals, two turnovers and the clock running out in the first half.

“Just not good enough,” Daboll said. “Certainly, a lot of people, myself included, we can all be better. There were some good plays out there and there were some plays I wish we had back.”

Somehow, that was enough production to hang around in a 27-13 hole so that a 76-yard fourth-quarter touchdown drive — capped by Lock’s 8-yard touchdown run — made it a close game.

But when the Giants needed one big play from their defense — on a third-and-3 just after the two-minute warning — to get the ball back with a chance for an unlikely comeback, Tyler Nubin and Adoree’ Jackson allowed a 3-yard completion to Brandin Cooks.

“The tight end didn’t run a route. Just ran into me,” Jackson said. “The ref didn’t call [pass interference] on a pick route and that’s just how it went down.”

Just good enough to lose again.

The Cowboys (5-7) snapped their six-game home losing streak in front of 92,196 at AT&T Stadium, where the Giants have not won since 2016. The Giants are the last remaining NFL team without a home victory (0-6).

It did not take longer than the second possession for Lock to make the kind of catastrophic mistake that the Giants were hoping to be free of when they benched Daniel Jones and bypassed Lock for third-stringer DeVito.

After Devin Singletary was knocked back off his chip block by DeMarvion Overshown, Lock still tried to force the screen pass.

Overshown tipped the line-drive pass in the air, caught it and returned a 23-yard interception for a touchdown and a 13-7 lead.

“It’s one of my first times that I can play a full game with these guys and show them what I can do,” Lock said. “That I’ll go out there and fight. I’ll push the ball down the field, run a little bit, make plays and take care of the ball.”

The defense had its own issues.

The Giants missed 15 tackles — including eight in the first quarter, according to Next Gen Stats — and set a dubious modern NFL record (since 1933) by going an 11th straight game without an interception. The pass rush went without a sack for the third time in four games.

“Last week, emotions were flaring,” edge rusher Brian Burns said. “Everybody was frustrated and said a couple things. We did respond well. It was a tough loss, but we did fight all the way to the end.”

The Cowboys harassed Lock into six sacks, with third- and fourth-string offensive tackles Evan Neal and Chris Hubbard offering little resistance.

Cooper Rush, who spent some time as a third-stringer with the Giants in 2020, made his 10th career and fourth straight start.

Replay review overturned a fumble by Rush forced by Bobby Okereke at the 2-yard line and recovered by Micah McFadden. Rush fell on top of another red zone fumble.

“Bang-bang call,” Okereke said. “I knew it was going to be close and he was going to be diving for the end zone, so I wanted to punch the ball out. That’s the NFL — adversity every week, whether it’s your record, whether it’s criticism, whether it’s injuries. We welcome that.”