Shane Bowen got it all wrong with way-too-passive Giants call in critical moment

Go for it. Do not sit back. Apply pressure rather than wilt under it.

That is the approach the Giants and their defensive coordinator, Shane Bowen, needed to unleash down the stretch of a heart-stopping and, eventually, heart-breaking game that ended the way so many of these Sundays go for a team that for far too long collects wins as often as the mortgage needs to be paid: Pretty much once a month.

When one or two plays would have sealed a rousing 37-34 victory in Arlington, Texas — it would have been a fantastic finish to remember — one play that was not made dragged a frenzied game into overtime, where form held and the Giants went down to the Cowboys 40-37, falling for the ninth consecutive time to an NFC East opponent that always gets well when the guys in blue come to town.

Stuff happens but there is getting beat despite an aggressive stance and there is getting beat because you were hesitant. Dak Prescott’s 18-yard strike to tight end Jake Ferguson put bionic-legged Brandon Aubrey in range for a 64-yard field goal as time expired and, eventually, Aubrey’s 46-yarder — a chip-shot for him — sealed the deal in OT and dropped the Giants to 0-2, wasting Russell Wilson’s incredible display of deep passing prowess.