EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The Giants lost to the Dallas Cowboys Thursday, 20-15, but perhaps the most significant score of the night was 2-0, the advantage Dallas had in touchdowns.

Five times the Giants offense traveled to the Cowboys' 34-yard line or closer, including twice into the red zone. Five times they settled for Greg Joseph field goals.

Dallas scored a touchdown on its only advance inside the 20-yard line, in the first quarter, and reached the end zone on a 55-yard Dak Prescott touchdown pass to CeeDee Lamb.

The Cowboys also scored on a pair of field goals by Brandon Aubrey, including a 60-yarder.

"We were 0-for-2 when we got down there," coach Brian Daboll said. "Some of those were third down conversions where we had some opportunities to get there. I think we punted one time. Hit some fourth downs, but ultimately, we threw the ball out there to (wide receiver) Wan'Dale (Robinson) on the one and they made a good tackle on him."

That occurred on the first possession of the third quarter, with the Giants trailing 14-9. The Giants took possession at their own 20-yard line after Chris Manhertz recovered Tyrone Tracy's fumble on the kickoff. Daniel Jones completed his first five passes on the drive, including a 19-yarder to Tracy and a 15-yarder to Malik Nabers – two rookies - to give the Giants a first-and-goal at the 10.

Jones threw incomplete to Robinson on first down before Devin Singletary's 2-yard run set up a third-and-eight. Robinson caught a pass on the left side and seemed to have a chance to get to the end zone but was tackled by linebacker DeMarvion Overshown at the three after a 5-yard gain. Daboll opted not to go for it on fourth down and Joseph kicked his fourth field goal.

On a second-quarter possession, the Giants had a first down at the Dallas 34. They snapped the ball seven times, but one play was nullified by a 5-yard penalty on right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor for being illegally downfield. On third down from the 16, Jones was sacked for a 4-yard loss by DeMarcus Lawrence.

The Giants had to settle for a 38-yard field goal despite holding the ball for 15 plays and 8:10.

"I think we just didn't execute in those positions," Jones said. "We got behind the sticks with some penalties and with some unforced errors and just didn't execute the same as we had leading up to that point. I thought we moved the ball well and drove it, but we didn't finish, and we have to go back and see what we could have done better there."

"You can't be settling by kicking five field goals and hope to win in the NFL," guard Jon Runyan said. "You get down to the red zone, you gotta put touchdowns on the board."

Jones was asked how frustrating it is for a quarterback to not be able to get the offense into the end zone.

"Very frustrating," he said. "Very frustrating. We're expected to score touchdowns and put points on the board. And in a game that I felt like we were able to do a lot and move the ball well and execute a lot of stuff well, we didn't execute the red zone stuff and didn't punch it in so that's frustrating."

The Giants have yet to score a touchdown in two home games this season, getting two field goals in the opener vs. Minnesota and five Thursday night.

Another source of frustration was the running game, which sputtered the entire game. The Giants ran the ball 24 times and gained only 26 yards. Devin Singletary gained 24 of those yards on 14 attempts. Dallas entered the game last in the NFL in rushing yards allowed per game (185.7) and per carry (5.4).

"I thought a big difference was 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 were going get some of it fixed, but we have to do a better job than that."

Jones played his third consecutive strong game, completing 29 of 40 passes for 281 yards. It would have been this third straight game without an interception, but a long throw on his final pass was intercepted by cornerback Amani Oruwariye with five seconds left.

"Yeah, three games in a row, I'm proud of the young man," Daboll said. "He's made good decisions. He's thrown the ball where he needs to throw the ball. The last play to (wide receiver Jalin) Hyatt, that's a heave it down there and see if we get a DPI (defensive pass interference) or we can go up and try to make a play. But he's, I thought, for three games he's been locked in. He's played well. He's seeing the field. He's delivered the ball where he needs to. Again, we had some opportunities to continue drives today, as well. I'm proud of how he's performed, how he's prepared. He's done a nice job for us."

The Giants' only lead was 3-0. Dallas quickly responded with a 12-play, 75-yard drive that ended with Prescott's 15-yard touchdown pass to Rico Dowdle late in the first quarter.

Joseph's 41-yarder lifted the Giants to within 7-6, but the Cowboys again had a productive answer, as Lamb got free from Deonte Banks, caught Prescott's pass at the Giants' 35-yard line and sprinted to the end zone.

Joseph's third field goal cut the Giants' halftime deficit to 14-9.

Each team kicked a field goal in the third quarter and again in the fourth.

Despite the disappointment both in the game and the Giants' record, Daboll saw silver linings.

"Again, the result stinks," he said. "But I thought there was improvement. I think there's been continual improvement of the results. Last week we got the result we wanted (a victory in Cleveland), this week we didn't. Which is hurtful. It hurts, it's painful, you work your butt off.

"We had a good short week. But we played the game the way we needed to play it. Just missed out on a couple things. I would say we've got to do a better job in the run game, and that starts with me. But we tried a variety of things, we couldn't really get much going. That's why the passing game, I thought that was the right way to go with it. But just not fully go into passing every play. Be able to stay on track a little bit, and we went backwards on a couple of these runs. They made some nice plays. Did a nice job at the line of scrimmage, and we went inside, went outside with the quarterback run. It just wasn't our night in the run game."

Or on the scoreboard.