NY Giants DC Shane Bowen: "I Have to Be Better"

Conventional wisdom suggests that the New York Giants' defense will want to burn the tape from their Sunday showing against the Dallas Cowboys.

Defensive coordinator Shane Bowen, however, is more than happy to preserve it.

Situated back in East Rutherford with an even bigger challenge ahead, Bowen expressed his desire to learn from the shortcomings of a 40-37 loss at AT&T Stadium.

New York (0-2) put up one of its most dominant offensive showings in years, but the struggle to get a defensive stop doomed it to defeat, its 20th within the division since 2020.

"I have to be better. I wish we had been better," a somber Bowen said Thursday.

"Hopefully, we can move on and progress from it and learn from it and be better. But feel for our guys. They battled for 92 plays and then came down to that one play. Feel for them, but again, it's Thursday now. We got to move on and get ready for the [Kansas City] Chiefs."

Fleeting positive Giants did emerge in the midst of the defensive debacle: New York sacked Dak Prescott three times, Dru Phillips earned a clutch interception at the top of the third quarter, and Bowen praised a "productive" afternoon from top draft pick Abdul Carter, particularly with the off-ball material.

The second cornerback slot, which was exchanged between Deonte Banks and Cor'Dale Flott, also earned praise, with Bowen commending the "good things" the pair of defenders accomplished over the last two weeks.

Such material doesn't keep points off the scoreboard, however, and the Giants learned that the hard way.

The Cowboys, with Brandon Aubrey's long-legged efforts, only raised the pressure on the Giants, no strangers to being dealt narrow losses through deep triples. Bowen made it clear that the Giants could've avoided such a fate had they found a way to stop tight end Jake Ferguson from getting 18 yards on a Prescott pass that moved Dallas to Aubrey's essential range of midfield.

14 seconds left. 2nd and 10.

Ball on the Dallas 33-yard line.

Cowboys down 37-34 at the moment.

There were a lot of big plays on Sunday, but this Dak Prescott to Jake Ferguson completion was nails and a big reason for the win as it set up the 64-yarder.

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— RJ Ochoa (@rjochoa) September 15, 2025

"[We learned] just the ability to possibly be tighter in those situations, make sure we're a little bit more on body as we go, understanding that with the line," Bowen said.

"Everybody knew what the line was going to be for [Aubrey]. But [we want] just opportunities to be a little bit tighter potentially on those guys.

"Any call you make, if it doesn't work, you second-guess it. You second-guess it and you have to look at them all and evaluate what's best for the situation, what's best for these players, and go from there."

The powers that be in the NFL scheduling department did the Giants no favors, as they'll begin their 2025 home slate against the Super Bowl mainstays from Kansas City on Sunday night (8:20 p.m. ET, NBC).

Both sides enter winless, but many view the records as far from equal, especially with Kansas City still carrying the historic coupling of Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce.

"We're going to have to be ready to go," Bowen said, hoping that the duel in Dallas provided enough intel to raise the battle against the Chiefs.

"We're going to have to find ways to hopefully affect them and hopefully be able to cover these receivers, match these receivers, and hold up through the first play and then the second play as he extends. But still a very formidable foe. We're going to have to be ready to go Sunday night."

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