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By David Moore , Staff Writer Contact David Moore on Twitter: @DavidMooreDMN
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The inclination is to dismiss the Cowboys loss to the New York Giants as the sort of thing that happens every 91 days.
With a playoff berth in hand and an NFC East title all but sewn up, excessive bashing after Sunday night's 10-7 loss would come across as not only unseemly but excessive.
Putting too little stock into what happened at MetLife Stadium would be an even bigger mistake.
It's true the Cowboys carried an 11-game winning streak into this rematch. But that 17-15 win over Minnesota to open the month was far from pretty, and there were signs that the Cowboys execution and performance, especially on the offensive side of the ball, was slipping.
The question: was that the mental and physical byproduct of playing three games in 12 days or was this surprising team starting to come down from its high?
Sunday's outcome was a clear indication that this group has taken a detectable step back for the first time this season.
A Cowboys offense that has been dominant for the majority of the season has regressed in the crucial month of December. Dallas failed to score on its final 13 possessions of the evening and turned the ball over three times. The team was a point-numbing 1-of-15 on third down conversions.
The once potent Cowboys offense is now 2-of-24 on third down conversions over the last two games. The only two conversions have come on runs -- a 15-yarder by Dak Prescott on third-and-14 against Minnesota and 3-yard run by Ezekiel Elliott on third-and-2 against the Giants.
The struggles begin with Prescott. He completed less than 50 percent of his passes on this brittle evening and endured the first two interception game of his young career. A rookie who has set a new standard with 10 games with a quarterback rating of 100 or more had a season-worst 45.4 in this loss.
If teams need a blueprint of how to defend Prescott, look no further than the two games against the Giants. He's completed just 51.2 percent of his passes for 391 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions in the two losses.
There's more at work here than a bad game by Prescott. Dez Bryant came into Sunday's game with his best four-game stretch in more than two years.
He left with only one reception for 10 yards.
Prescott looked in his direction nine times. Two of the first three throws in his direction were intercepted. Late in the fourth quarter, after making his only catch to allow the Cowboys faint hopes to still flicker, he fumbled.
"Heck, they're a good team,'' New York quarterback Eli Manning said when asked how the Giants are the only team to beat the Cowboys this season . "We know that.
"It's probably the way we fought and stayed with it. Defense kept us in the game, honestly.''
The Cowboys defense kept them in the game as well. Manning didn't play much better than Prescott. Dallas picked him off once and forced two fumbles.
Dallas was unable to convert any of those mistakes into points. Manning, meanwhile, did manage to sting the Cowboys with the game's decisive play, a 61-yard touchdown pass to Odell Beckham Jr. in the third quarter that proved to be the winning points.
Other problems: the Cowboys were penalized five times for 54 yards and the usually reliable Dan Bailey had a 55-yard field goal attempt bounce off the crossbar and fall away no good to end the first half.
With all that has happened this season to aid the Cowboy, you were starting to wonder if the Russians were working behind the scenes to influence the NFC race.
That speculation cooled, along with the Cowboys on this night.
