When practice squad cornerback Amani Oruwariye entered the team’s charter Wednesday afternoon, he had no idea he would have the opportunity to cement the Cowboys’ 20-15 road win over the Giants Thursday Night Football with an interception five seconds before the end of the game.

It wasn’t until Thursday morning at the team hotel that he was told he would be added to the active roster to provide depth for a Cowboys secondary playing without starting cornerback Caelen Carson (shoulder injury). Andrew Booth started the game in place of Carson, but struggled in the first half, so Oruwariye was told just before the start of the third quarter that he would replace Booth.

Oruwariye is a new name to most Cowboys fans, but he is not a newcomer to the league. In fact, he intercepted six passes with the Lions in 2021, the third-most in the NFL behind the Patriots’ Trevon Diggs (11) and JC Jackson (9). He is a five-year NFL veteran with 53 games of experience before joining the Cowboys’ practice squad on August 29.

At this point I will refer to Oruwariye by his initials AO, just as Will McClay and the rest of the player personnel department call Oruwariye because his last name is a tongue twister. If you’re wondering how to pronounce it correctly, phonetically it’s oh-roo-WAR-ee-a.

As the media gathered around AO after the game to ask about the interception, Dak Prescott was 10 feet from his locker when the QB interrupted the questioning to tell the media that AO had seen him at the cornerback’s first practice as a Cowboy caught in August.

Being able to call up a veteran with AO experience from the practice squad is a relatively new luxury.

Back in 2020, the NFL expanded practice squads from 12 to 16 due to the need for additional players this season to fill gameday rosters in the event that teammates tested positive for COVID-19 and missed games due to quarantine had to.

The league not only expanded the practice squad to 16 players, but also allowed up to six of those 16 players to be veterans. In other words, the practice squad was no longer limited to rookies or young first- or second-year players with little (if any) regular-season experience.

Thanks to these rule changes, a veteran like AO can join a practice squad and learn that team’s defense. They can be ready to answer the call when they are released from the practice group. In the pre-COVID days, teams had to sign veterans “off the street” to provide some experience and depth when injuries occurred during the regular season.

Another note on AO: Of the current Cowboys DBs, you could say he came into the game with the most knowledge of Giants receivers, having signed with the Giants in 2023 and spending the first half of the season on their practice squad. He practiced head-to-head games against veteran Giants receivers every day until he was released last October and signed with the Jaguars’ practice squad. He spent last offseason and training camp with the Jaguars until they released him on Aug. 27 and the Cowboys acquired him 48 hours later. The Jaguars’ loss was the Cowboys’ gain.

Post Malone, Brandon Aubrey fan: How far have kickers come in the NFL? One of music’s biggest stars, Post Malone, wore a Brandon Aubrey number 17 jersey on the sidelines before the game.

Malone grew up in Grapevine as a big Cowboys fan and his father, Rich Post, worked at AT&T Stadium/Texas Stadium as concessions manager for 17 years. Malone could have gone old school and worn an Emmitt, Aikman, or Irvin jersey, but instead he went new school with Aubrey.

When I interviewed Malone on our pregame show on Cowboys Radio, I asked him about the attire. He said Aubrey attended one of his events wearing a Post Malone T-shirt, so the superstar wanted to return the favor. He also challenged Aubrey to attempt a 71-yard FG so the kicker could emphatically break the NFL record.

Before making his way to the Jones family in the visiting owner’s box, Post asked Aubrey to sign the jersey, and of course Aubrey was happy to oblige. Afterwards, punter Bryan Anger came up to me to return my Sharpie (they had borrowed my pen) and joked that I should get the Sharpie framed since both Brandon and Post were using it.

The cool thing about a lot of celebrity interactions on the sidelines is the genuine excitement these big stars get when they’re on the field interacting with the players or watching them warm up. Thanks to his father’s previous job, Post has attended Cowboys events most of his life, but he still gets excited when he’s with the team. It is TRUE BLUE through and through.

Here’s a suggestion I wish I had said to the singer during our interview: How about incorporating “Butter” (Aubrey’s nickname) and “Brandon Aubrey” into the song’s lyrics? This song could be played every time Aubrey scores a field goal at AT&T Stadium.

Malone’s desire for a 71-yard field goal had to be satisfied with Aubrey connecting from 60 yards. Hmm, Aubrey already had two of those on his resume. Now he has three, making him the second-most 60-yards-plus-field yards in NFL history behind Matt Prater and former Cowboy Greg Zuerlein. The absolute leader in the league with four players? Ring, ring, ring. You’re a winner when you know it’s another former Cowboy: Brett Maher.

Welcome party in the team hotel: A friendly and familiar face greeted the Cowboys upon their arrival at the team hotel in suburban New Jersey on Wednesday evening: former Cowboys All-Pro left tackle Tyron Smith. Now in his first year with the Jets, Smith waited for the team to arrive and then stayed much of the evening to have dinner with the offensive linemen.

Injuries in the second half: The Cowboys played all but the first defensive series of the second half without DE DeMarcus Lawrence, who injured his left foot at 9:20 of the third quarter. He was taken to the locker room and returned to the sidelines a few minutes later. He looked like he was returning to the game. He then went to the training table behind the bench to have his left foot re-bandaged. He stood on the sideline the rest of the game, holding his helmet in his hand most of the time as if he might get back into action. But after the injury he didn’t give up.

Trevon Diggs missed part of the fourth quarter after experiencing cramps due to dehydration. He immediately went to the locker room to get an IV and returned the next defensive series.

It was a humid, humid evening in The Meadowlands. Temperatures were mild in the mid-70s, but there was no breeze and the air felt heavy due to the rain earlier in the day. In fact, the cooling fans were used in the bench area. I’m surprised more players didn’t have cramps because it was so humid. LB Marist Liufau also briefly cramped up in the third quarter, but quickly got back into the game.

Micah Parsons’ left ankle injury with 3:30 left in the fourth quarter meant the Cowboys tripled in the second half because of injuries to Pro Bowl players on defense. Parsons was taken to the sideline, where he immediately went to the blue medical tent for evaluation. After a few minutes in the tent, a cart was called to transport him up the tunnel. He put little weight on his left ankle as he needed help walking the 10 feet between the tent and the car. After clearing the locker room, he took a golf cart ride instead of having to walk the long way to the team buses.

Coach Mike McCarthy will provide an update on Parsons’ injury during a conference call with the media Friday afternoon. Parsons and Lawrence are both scheduled to undergo MRI scans on Friday.

The Giants were without new superstar rookie WR Malik Nabers in their last series. He suffered a concussion when he failed to complete the fourth period with 3:21 to play and the Giants trying to erase a five-point deficit.

Other representatives for Overshown: For the second straight game, when the Cowboys opened with their 4-3 “base” defense, the three linebackers were Eric Kendricks, Liufau and DeMarvion Overshown. In Weeks 1 and 2, Damone Clark was on the base in place of Overshown, with Overshown playing primarily in nickel (4 DL, 2 LB, 5 DB). Last week against Baltimore, Overshown played base in the first half while Clark played most of the second half. At the time, I thought it might be because Overshown sometimes “spied” on Lamar Jackson. But against the Giants, Overshown was on base instead of Clark, so it looks like Overshown knocked Clark out of the game.

Kick Return Changes: In the first three games, opposing kickers targeted Juanyeh Thomas instead of KaVontae Turpin with their kickoffs. Thomas (6) had three times more returns than Turpin (2). Special teams coordinator John Fassel had his two kickoff returners do something different against the Giants.

Instead of Turpin at the goal line on the left side of the field and Thomas at the goal line on the right, Thomas and Turpin “stacked” one behind the other in the middle of the field at the 5-yard line and the goal line, respectively. If they were “stacked” one behind the other, the kicker wouldn’t be able to kick the ball away from Turpin, who Giants coach Brian Daboll called “the best returner” in the league earlier in the week.

What was the result of the “stack”? Six touchbacks on six Giants kickoffs. Kicker Greg Joseph hit the football straight out of the back of the end zone.

Kristi Scales is the sideline reporter for the Dallas Cowboys Radio Network. She writes this column for The Dallas Morning News after every Cowboys game.

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