Giants’ late TD deals Thanksgiving bad beat to Cowboys bettors

A New York Giants touchdown in the final seconds left Dallas Cowboys bettors choking on their Thanksgiving turkey.

The Cowboys appeared to have put the Giants away Thursday, leading 28-13, with the ball, at the two-minute warning, poised to cover as consensus 10-point home favorites. The game was also set to stay under the consensus total of 45½.

However, after an Ezekiel Elliott run drained more clock, Dallas left the backdoor open when Brett Maher pushed a 46-yard field goal wide right with 1:13 to play. Instead of holding an 18-point lead that would have locked up at least a push, Cowboys backers now had to sweat out a final Giants drive.

On the bright side, the Giants had managed only one touchdown all game. But Daniel Jones and Richie James were determined to play until the final whistle.

Starting at the New York 36, Jones hit James for nine yards, then spiked the ball to stop the clock. Jones found Isaiah Hodgins for 17 yards and spiked the ball again. Jones targeted James again for 11 yards, with an unnecessary roughness penalty on Micah Parsons tacked on.

After a 12-yard pass to Gary Brightwell, the Giants had first-and-goal at the 1 with 12 seconds left, and Cowboys and under bettors were queasy.

Jones dropped back and again found James, who walked in for the touchdown to cut the lead to 28-20 with eight seconds to go.

The Cowboys recovered the onside kick to finish off the win, but Giants and over backers were walking to the window to cash their tickets.

Contact Jim Barnes at jbarnes@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0277. Follow @JimBarnesLV on Twitter.