Pat Shurmur New York Giants
(Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

New York Giants head coach Pat Shurmur seemed to enjoy the Dallas Cowboys’ Thanksgiving Day win against the Washington Redskins. 

Thanksgiving day featured a battle of two teams atop the NFC East. The Redskins and Cowboys faced off at AT&T Stadium in Dallas to see who would claim the top spot in the division.

With the Redskins standing at 6-4 and the Cowboys at 5-5, it was crucial for the Giants that the Cowboys come away with the victory. That way both teams would be 6-5, and the 3-7 Giants would only be 2.5 games back.

Thankfully, that’s exactly what happened. Riding two scores from Cowboys wide receiver Amari Cooper, Dallas came away with a 31-23 victory.

When asked about the Cowboys win, Giants head coach Pat Shurmur told Zach Braziller of the New York Post, “I had a good day.”

Shurmur Not going into detail about how the Dallas win helps the Giants probably means the coach wants the players and organization to focus on themselves. When a team starts focusing on what other organizations are doing and how they’re performing, distractions come about.

This is a classy act from a coach who wants his team to focus on the task at hand. And that task is a difficult one, with the Eagles looming on Sunday in Philadelphia.

“The only thing we can control is what we do this week,” the first-year Giants coach said. “If we start doing the things we need to, then we’ll slide up.”

The Giants essentially would need to win-out if they want a chance at the playoffs. That won’t be easy to pull off.

With six games left, Big Blue is facing a tough schedule. Games against the Eagles, Bears, Redskins, Titans, Colts and Cowboys are still to come. None are easily winnable matchups, but none are completely out of reach either.

The Giants just need to focus on taking care of business. Continuing to play the way they have the past few weeks would be great too.

Ryan Honey is a staff writer and host of the Wide Right Podcast.