NFL Hall of Fame QB Troy Aikman Slams League Officiating During Cowboys Monday Night Win Over Giants

Things got chippy on the field during the Monday Night Football game between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. For a string of plays in the second half, there seemed to be a yellow penalty flag thrown each time the play ended.

Penalties marred the game so much that Troy Aikman, an NFL Hall of Fame quarterback and color analyst for the Fox Game of the Week on Sundays, bashed officials for some calls that seemed "petty."

Aikman, who quarterbacked the Cowboys to three Super Bowl victories in the 1990s and countless battles against the NFC East rival Giants, tweeted Monday night during the fourth quarter that so many penalties will lead to the loss of viewers.

"Our league has a lot to address this offseason as consumer confidence continues to wane," Aikman wrote as Dallas went on to beat the Giants, 37-18.

The game itself seemed rather nonchalant in the first half after the Giants took a 9-3 lead. This was before a black cat stormed the field and caused the contest to stop for nearly three minutes. After that moment, the Cowboys outscored the Giants to take a 13-12 halftime lead.

The teams traded field goals in the third quarter before the game turned into a yesteryear Giants-Cowboys game of physical, in-your-face football.

In the third quarter, Giants rookie quarterback Daniel Jones scrambled out of the pocket and was running out of bounds when the Cowboys' Xavier Woods gave Jones a shove—while both were legally inside the lines—and Jones went tumbling into a TV crew, knocking them over.

At that point, Giants offensive lineman Will Hernandez ran to the sideline to confront Woods, and the scuffle led to an unsportsmanlike penalty by Woods. From that point forward, there were multiple calls for unsportsmanlike and personal fouls on the ensuing plays.

The Cowboys racked up 10 penalties for 104 yards while the Giants were flagged eight times for 71 yards. Many of those were deemed questionable by the ESPN broadcast crew, including a pass interference call against the Giants in the fourth quarter.

Dallas outscored New York, 21-3, in the fourth quarter, which included a fumble recovery and 63-yard score by Dallas' Jourdan Lewis with six seconds remaining in the game.

Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott completed 22-of-35 passes for 257 yards and touchdown strikes to Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup and Blake Jarwin. Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott rushed the ball 23 times for 139 yards on the night.

For the Giants, Jones completed 26 of his 41 attempts for 210 yards and a touchdown. Giants running back Saquon Barkley rushed for just 28 yards on 14 carries, and he had a dazzling catch and 65-yard run that set the Giants up for one of their four field goals.