Let’s review the New York Giants’ 20-15 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday night in our traditional “Kudos & Wet Willies” style.

A big compliment to…

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

Nabers left 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 controlling his limitations,” head coach Brian Daboll said. “It was a perfect throw and when it went down, the ball was kind of shaken up. But he (Daniel Jones) put it exactly where he needed it in the fight and it was close.”

Wan’Dale Robinson – The diminutive slot receiver had a drop in the red zone that he admittedly would like to have back, but otherwise had an excellent game. Robinson set career highs in targets (14) and receptions (11). Robinson’s longest reception was just 11 yards and he ended up with just 71 yards on his 11 catches, but he did much of it alone.

Greg Joseph – After badly missing a 48-yard attempt in his Giants debut on Sunday, Joseph didn’t inspire much confidence. On Thursday night, however, 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 five-field goal game of his career. On October 2, 2022, he completed all five attempts for the Minnesota Vikings in a 28-25 win in New Orleans.

Those glowing bracelets — The Giants handed out glowing wristbands before the game and put on a spectacular pregame light show. It’s the coolest thing I’ve seen at MetLife Stadium. Unfortunately, the Giants’ performance didn’t brighten the evening nearly as much.

Giants pass protection — Quarterback Daniel Jones was sacked just once for a loss of 4 yards and scored just three times on 40 passes. Part of that can be attributed to the number of passes thrown less than 10 yards beyond the line of scrimmage, but the line, as it has over the past three weeks, has done a good job in pass protection.

Wet willies too…

Giants running game – Dallas entered the game ranked last in the league, giving up 5.4 yards per rushing attempt. They won’t be 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 the 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 a better job.”

Guard Jon Runyan wasn’t happy with the offensive line’s work in the run game.

“I definitely need to get better in the running game. “I felt like we just weren’t blocking the right people at times on some plays, and at the end it kind of came back and bit us in the butt,” Runyan said. “We weren’t able to move the ball really efficiently in the run game, and that’s what they wanted to do really well early in this game.”

“I feel like they changed the style of their defense, but they just did things a little differently in previous games. They suffered an injury in the run game early in the season and they fixed that in this game and we thought we would take advantage of that.”

Tae Banks – Another game, another big play from the second-year cornerback. Going one-on-one with CeeDee Lamb, the Cowboys’ star wide receiver, Banks suffered a 55-yard touchdown in the second quarter. This is the fourth touchdown this season given up by the 2023 first-round pick, a player the Giants expect to be the best receiver in the opposing offense.

Giants pass rush – Before the game, I pointed out that pressure on Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott was the key to the game. Kayvon Thibodeaux got his first full sack of the season, but that was it for the pass rush. The Giants only hit Prescott three times as he went 22 of 27 for 221 yards and two touchdowns.

Phantom Face Mask Penalties — I really don’t like pleading as an official. I rarely do this and a terrible decision is not the reason the Giants lost Thursday’s game. But what do you call a penalty against Daniel Bellinger? Instead of a first down in the red zone, the Giants had a second-and-18 at the Cowboys’ 48-yard line and needed Joseph’s 52-yard field goal to score 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. This follows a game in Week 3 in which he went 24 of 34 (70.6%) for 236 yards.

Jones put the Giants in scoring position on five long drives despite there being no running play. Still, he couldn’t get them into the end zone. And once again, Jones struggled to get more than 20 yards behind the line of scrimmage.

Jones was praised by Daboll.

“Three games in a row, I’m proud of the young man. He made good decisions. He threw the ball where he needed to throw it,” Daboll said. “The last play against (Jalin) Hyatt, that means we throw it downfield and see if we get a DPI (defensive pass interference) or we can go upfield and try to make a play.”

“But he’s been locked up, I thought, for three games. He played well. He sees the field. He got the ball where he needed it. Today we again had a few opportunities to continue the journey. I am proud of his performance and his preparation. He did a good job for us.”

His teammates also praised him.

“You see his confidence growing and you see he’s getting better and better at taking command of the offense and just getting the ball to the guys that need to get it,” Robinson said.

“He was really efficient. “He handled the ball very well and put us in the right positions to score,” Runyan said. “He’s got to keep doing the same thing, and he’s very comfortable with this offense.

“I’m really happy with how he’s played so far.”

No matter how efficiently he played, the big play was missing. And the Giants desperately need it. In my “Things I’m Thinking” column after the game, I wrote that it felt like the Giants were “playing for inches on offense.”

The Kansas City Chiefs might be good enough to get away with this style of play. The Giants are not. Jones is now 3 of 15 on passes of 20 yards or more downfield this season. He has to be better.