Former Miami Hurricane star becomes first NFL player in almost a decade to accomplish incredible feat in Giants’ win over Cowboys
The Giants’ young offensive linemen had a clean sheet in his first career NFL game.
The New York Giants got their 2026 season underway in emphatic fashion on Sunday Night Football, defeating the Dallas Cowboys 28-20 at home.
This was no fluke of a result, as the Giants controlled both sides of the line of scrimmage throughout the game. New York held Dallas to just 69 yards rushing and 175 yards passing. On the other side of the ball, quarterback Jackson Dart had a strong outing, going 22-of-29 passing for 229 yards and three touchdowns. The Giants also rolled up 165 yards on the ground, with running back Cam Scattebo’s 81 yards pacing the backfield.
Francis Mauigoa shines in first career NFL start
Baked into that strong overall play in the trenches was Giants rookie offensive lineman Francis Mauigoa from Miami, the No. 10 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Mauigoa was starting his first NFL game, and what a professional debut it was.
According to Ari Meirov from The 33rd Team, citing NextGen Stats, Mauigoa’s 36 pass blocking snaps with no quarterback pressures allowed was the first time since 2018 that a rookie in Week 1 has faced at least 35 pass blocking snaps without allowing a quarterback pressure.
That is a remarkable stat for any offensive lineman, let alone one making his professional debut on Sunday Night Football against a revamped Cowboys defense.
The Giants’ identity rebuild starts in the trenches
The Giants were clearly looking to remake their identity on both sides of the ball after three years of playoff futility, and it’s clear that on the offensive side, they’ve got a good foundational piece in Mauigoa.
Mauigoa was considered one of the top tackle prospects in the 2026 NFL Draft class, if not the top one. However, his versatility and his particularly nasty skill set as a run blocker made him a candidate to slide inside to guard to start his career. That’s exactly how New York has deployed him, and based on how things went against Dallas on Sunday night, the move seems to suit both Mauigoa and the Giants well.
Bottom line: it’s hard to have had a better start to an NFL career than what Mauigoa put on display Sunday night. We’ll see how things go for the rookie across the entire season, but there’s plenty of reason to be optimistic about the former Hurricane’s future in New York after a dominant debut.
