It wasn’t always pretty, but the Dallas Cowboys (5-3) were able to escape the Meadowlands with a 37-18 win over the division rival New York Giants (2-7) under the bright lights of Monday Night Football.

The Cowboys spent much of the first half tripping over their own feet, as penalties and turnovers allowed the Giants to keep the game competitive despite the obvious talent difference between the two teams.

On offense, Dak Prescott uncharacteristically (for this season, at least) struggled with the deep ball, but was masterful at the line of scrimmage. Prescott routinely made checks and audibles at the line put the offense in more favorable looks against New York’s alignment.

Ezekiel Elliott was particularly effective on the ground as he showcased great vision to navigate his way through the defense, finishing with 23 carries for 139 rushing yards (6.04 yards per carry). Elliott benefited from some huge holes made available by outstanding blocking up front.

Randall Cobb continues to be the unluckiest member of the Cowboys offense, as he had a touchdown vultured by a penalty before losing a fumble and being called for a penalty later in the game.

The Cowboys defense put together one of its better performances of the season. Dallas kept the Giants’ weapons in check, for the most part, while showing impressive resilience in the red zone - the Giants made five trips but only came away with one touchdown.

DeMarcus Lawrence was dominant once again this week, finishing with four tackles, two for a loss, three QB hits and a sack. This means he’s posted back-to-back elite performances against division foes, which should effectively quiet his critics. Michael Bennett was also effective (more on him later) up front for the Cowboys’ defensive line.

Jaylon Smith and Sean Lee performed admirably in Leighton Vander Esch’s absence. Lee, in particular, was impressive -- given that many fans thought his days of being an effective member of the defense were over -- as he finished with a team-high 12 combined tackles, one for a loss, and a pass deflection. He turned back the hands of time and looked like the Lee of old against New York.

Overall, it wasn’t easy, but the Cowboys were simply too talented for this overmatched Giants team. With that in mind, let’s take a look at a few things we gleaned from the Cowboys’ victory:

Michael Bennett still has the juice

Before we mention the good regarding Bennett’s performance against Giants, let’s briefly touch on the bad.

Bennett was called for three penalties (two were accepted), which needs to be cleaned up moving forward. Bennett has always been a player who will pick up a few offsides penalties throughout the year, but two in one game just can’t happen. Bennett needs to be more disciplined moving forward.

Having said that, you will take that (little) bad, when it comes with all the good Bennett’s play provided the Cowboys on Monday night.

Bennett moved all over the defensive line and was disruptive throughout the game, finishing with three tackles, two for a loss, a sack and a team-high four QB hits.

Bennett’s value to the defense comes from his ability to be effective and productive regardless of his position up front in the Cowboys’ scheme. To hammer that point home, let’s discuss three of Bennett’s best plays from last night – each of which came from a different alignment in the Cowboys’ front where he beat a different offensive lineman each time.

First up, Bennett’s tackle for loss in the early second quarter:

On this play, Bennett is the under tackle (three-technique defensive tackle) on the right side of the Cowboys’ defensive line across from Giants left guard Will Hernandez.

When the Cowboys traded for Bennett, we discussed how his electric get-off aided in his ability to be disruptive when aligned on the inside, which is exactly what happened here. Bennett timed up the QB’s cadence well, which allowed him to jump the snap and initiate contact with superior hand placement.

From there, Bennett used his leverage advantage to reset the line of scrimmage, knock Hernandez backward and penetrate into the backfield. Even while fighting through contact, Bennett was able to separate and bring down Saquon Barkley behind the line of scrimmage, resulting in a tackle for loss.

This was a great example of how Bennett can be disruptive inside despite being listed at less than 280 pounds. Bennett’s elite get-off affords him the ability to initiate contact and establish a leverage advantage over stronger foes – leverage will always beat strength, as Bennett showcased above by displacing Hernandez backward despite giving up a near 50-pound weight disadvantage.

Later on in the game, Bennett switched sides and slid outside to left defensive end before this pressure and hit on the QB forced an errant pass in the red zone on third down:

Here, Bennett is aligned as the left defensive end with an outside shade over Giants right tackle Mike Remmers. Once the ball is snapped, Bennett attacks upfield for three steps as a means of feinting an upfield rush to set up the T/E (tackle then end) stunt with Maliek Collins.

Unfortunately for Dallas, Giants right guard Kevin Zeitler and Remmers do an excellent job of passing off the stunt. It doesn’t matter to Bennett, though, as he displayed impressive hand technique to defeat Zeitler’s block on his way to the pocket.

Bennett utilized a bull-fork technique, which is similar to the bull rush technique except for the fact that one hand attacks one of the blocker’s wrists to strip contact and soften the corner:

Note that since his left hand already established inside placement on Zeitler’s breastplate, which enables him to control the distance between Zeitler and himself, Bennett is able to place his right hand underneath Zeitler’s left wrist/forearm to control and strip Zeitler’s grip of Bennett’s pads. From there, with his left hand controlled, Zeitler is forced to cede ground to retract and regain control over his left arm, which inevitably softens his inside edge even more, giving Bennett a direct route to the QB.

Bennett’s hit on Jones caused an inaccurate throw in the red zone, which forced New York to settle for a field goal instead of potentially tying up the score with a touchdown and two-point conversion.

To put a cherry on top of Bennett’s impressive position flexibility, his sack came when he was aligned as the under tackle on the left side of the Cowboys’ defensive line:

On this play, Bennett was aligned with an outside shade over Giants right guard Kevin Zeitler. Once the ball was snapped, Bennett executed yet another T/E stunt but as the defensive tackle -- he is the penetrator, not the looper.

Remmers and Zeitler once again pass off the stunt well only for Remmers to get defeated by Bennett one-on-one.

Once again, Bennett’s ability to initiate contact with superior hand placement and leverage enabled him to control the action and discard the blocker on his way to the pocket for the sack. Bennett never allowed Remmers to latch onto his frame, which prevents the Giants RT from being able to anchor down against Bennett’s power.

When Bennett was traded to Dallas, many wondered if the 33-year-old had enough juice left in the tank to be a real difference-maker for the Cowboys up front. Wonder no more, Cowboys fans, as Bennett proved against the Giants that he still has plenty left in the tank.

Xavier Woods = Most underrated Cowboys defender

The Cowboys came into Monday night ranking in the bottom half of the league in turnovers forced, but Woods did his best to rectify that on his own with an interception and a forced fumble.

The interception was an impressive feat with less than a minute to go in the first half:

On this play, the Cowboys are running a Cover 6 buzz coverage – a three-deep, four-under zone coverage where Jeff Heath inserts down into the weak hook zone. With Xavier Woods as the single-high safety playing the deep middle zone, his goal is to take away all seam and post routes, but he takes it a step further by intercepting a pass on a go route on the opposite numbers.

Woods put himself in position to haul in the interception because of two main reasons. First, Woods did an excellent job of sinking to enough depth so that he could take an aggressive enough angle to cut off the receiver. Second, Woods showed off his outstanding coverage instincts and anticipation by making a plus-break on the ball:

Notice that when Woods begins to break toward the wide side of the field, Daniel Jones is just starting his release. This is referred to as a plus-break, as he breaks on the ball before the QB releases the pass (a minus-break is the opposite), which allows the defender to cover a greater distance to defend a pass.

The plus-break afforded Woods the time to reach the catch point balanced and under control, making the act of actually catching the interception as easy as possible.

From there, Woods did an excellent job of creating yards after the interception to put the Cowboys in a position to kick a field goal before the half to take the lead.

The Cowboys may have pulled away late to make the game appear like a blowout, but Woods’ interception was a true turning point in the game for the Cowboys.

First he has the pick, then he forces a fumble. Xavier Woods is having himself a nice game.@its_hollyWOODS @dallascowboys | #DallasCowboys

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Watch free on mobile: https://t.co/ZpxWpD9DPm pic.twitter.com/px9AfuU6CW — NFL (@NFL) November 5, 2019

Woods wasn’t done forcing turnovers, however, as his hit on Jones forced a fumble that was recovered by Darian Thompson (above clip), who was on the field in place of an injured Heath.

It was a great example of Woods attacking the football by raking at the ball with his left arm while delivering a hit on the Giants QB. On the replay, you can see Woods slightly recalibrate his aiming point to attack Jones’ ball carriage as the Giants QB attempted to dive forward for the first down.

For most of this season, Woods’ play has gone under the radar, as a lot of his contributions don’t fit nicely into a box score. Woods has done a great job limiting big plays when aligned as a deep safety while taking away short-to-intermediate options when aligned in the box.

Against the Giants, however, Woods was a catalytic presence on defense. He finished with just three tackles, but it was the two forced turnovers that definitely helped turn the tide in favor of the Cowboys.

It was a matter of time until the ball would start to find Woods’ hands more often, and with three forced turnovers in his last two games, that time appears to have finally come.

Cowboys offense dominates in the trenches

The Giants have been stockpiling interior defensive line talent – trading for Leonard Williams after drafting a defensive tackle in the top 70 picks of the last three drafts – in recent years. If the Cowboys are on one end of the spectrum for not valuing interior defenders enough then the Giants are on the totally opposite end by valuing them too much.

Despite that influx of talent, the Giants’ front seven was still no match for the Cowboys’ offensive line and tight ends up front. The Cowboys’ pass protection held the Giants, who entered this week ranked seventh in adjusted sack percentage, sackless Monday night while the run blocking paved the way 172 rushing yards on 5.7 yards per carry.

While holding New York sackless is noteworthy, it was Dallas’ run blocking that was truly impressive, as they routinely opened up giant (pun intended) holes for Elliott throughout the night.

Elliott’s 15-yard gain in the second quarter was a great example:

On this play, the Cowboys are running a zone concept and Elliott benefits from an incredible backside reach block by Tyron Smith on Williams.

Smith’s ability to reach and cut off Williams creates a natural lane in the back-side 'B’ gap for Elliott to cut back into and explode through to gain free access to New York’s secondary.

Unfortunately, Elliott wasn’t able to make the safety miss one-on-one in the open field, as it would have likely turned into a massive gain, if not a touchdown.

Later in the game, Elliott benefited from another massive hole that enabled him to pick up 10+ yards on the ground:

Here, the Cowboys are running a counter trey concept and Elliott benefits from the massive hole created by Jason Witten’s down block and Zack Martin’s kick-out on the pull.

Witten’s blocking can, at times, be hit-or-miss, but he performed an incredible feat by clubbing and turning New York edge defender Oshane Ximines inside to widen the hole for Elliott. Witten used optimal hand placement to turn and shield Ximines from the hole. It’s not often that a tight end can handle an edge defender one-on-one on the edge like that.

Once again, Elliott isn’t able to maximize the run by making the safety miss one-on-one, which prevents this well-blocked play from becoming a touchdown.

Despite having an impressive performance overall, Elliott certainly still left some yards on the field Monday night, which should really frighten opposing defenses.

Overall, Zeke deserves a ton of credit for his vision and patience to find the opening running lanes throughout the game, but the Cowboys offensive line and tight ends deserve just as much, if not more, credit for their ability to create those running lanes for Elliott.

Enjoy this post? More film studies:

— Cowboys mock draft: What the film says about 2020 prospects Dallas should be targeting

— Film room: Here’s what defensive lineman Michael Bennett brings to the Dallas Cowboys

— Why DeMarcus Lawrence isn’t playing as poorly as his sack total suggests