EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- For the first time this season, Dak Prescott had no answers.

Even when things went poorly at times against Philadelphia or Green Bay or Pittsburgh or Minnesota, the rookie quarterback was able to autocorrect and put the Dallas Cowboys in a position to win.

On Sunday at MetLife Stadium against the New York Giants, Prescott didn't get that done.

"Knowing how talented our offense is and having high expectations of myself and just stalling drive after drive, it gets frustrating," Prescott said after the 10-7 loss that delayed the Cowboys from clinching the NFC East title and a first-round bye.

Prescott completed just 17 of 37 passes for 165 yards. He threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to Terrance Williams in the first quarter, but Prescott threw two interceptions in the same game for the first time in his career. He also fumbled, but the Cowboys maintained possession.

For the third straight game Prescott did not throw for 200 yards. For the second straight game the Cowboys converted just once on third down. Against the Vikings they converted just once on nine third-down chances in their 17-15 win. Against the Giants it was just one conversion on 15 third-down tries.

Prescott was sacked three times and hurried eight more. Owner and general manager Jerry Jones put the result more on what New York's defense did than what Prescott didn't. Coach Jason Garrett had no thoughts of putting Tony Romo in the game Sunday.

Why?

"We feel good about Dak playing quarterback for us right now," Garrett said.

"No," rolled of Jones' tongue five times when asked if he thought Romo would have gotten the call at some point against the Giants.

"He's got 13 NFL ballgames at a high level under his belt, and what's he got, four interceptions now?" Jones asked, referring to Prescott. "Is it four? OK, so he's got four interceptions in 13 ballgames. I feel good about our quarterback."

Garrett would not say opponents are gaining more of a book on Prescott to know what gives him trouble. Pressure will be an issue, as it is for any quarterback. Even without Jason Pierre-Paul, the Giants were able to get after Prescott.

The coverage was excellent, too. Dez Bryant did not have a catch until the fourth quarter. Jason Witten had four catches, but for only 26 yards. Cole Beasley had four catches for 41 yards.

"There were some tight throws to be made," Garrett said. "At times we made some of those throws. At other times we didn't. At times we made some contested catches. At other times we didn't. Obviously as we go forward we have to continue to improve in that area."

Prescott wanted a few of his throws back, like the one he forced down the middle to Bryant and was intercepted by Leon Hall. He was late on a throw to Bryant that gave Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie the breakup. Prescott said that if he could do it over, he would have put a little more air on it to lead Bryant to the sideline.

Making a quarterback change is always a difficult decision. With 11 straight wins and 20 touchdown passes, Prescott has earned the right to struggle. But in Garrett's process-oriented world where the result is almost secondary, the Cowboys have to at least look at the possibility of a switch, as strange as that might sound with an 11-2 record.

No one with the organization would go there Sunday night, but Garrett had advice for Prescott.

"Go back and look at it and build on the good stuff," Garrett said. "We'll clean up the bad stuff and move forward. [That is] one of the best things he's done and one of the best thing our team does.

"The most important thing for us as a football team is you've got to be careful looking at the result of games. You have to try to get better. There were a lot of good things we've done [over] the course of the first 12 weeks of this season, and we keep trying to get better. And there were plenty of things we weren't good at, but we keep trying to get better. We'll do that after this game as well."

Prescott could not hide his disappointment.

"Not much has to be said," Prescott said. "I know for me individually, you don't have to say much. I'm hard on myself. I'm my biggest critic. I know that's the way it is for a lot of those guys in there. So it's all about moving forward is what Coach Garrett brought up."