IRVING, Texas– Matt Cassel admits he's lost sleep since Sunday.
In his mind, the Cowboys played well enough offensively to win throughout most of the game against the Giants.
The exceptions? His three interceptions in a 27-20 loss at MetLife Stadium.
"There was a lot of good things in that game, and that's the most disappointing part is you take those three plays out of it, which you can't," he said Wednesday. "As a quarterback, you beat yourself up over it and you say, 'What can I do differently?' You learn from it, and then you come back the next week and get stronger."
Cassel said has "hit the reset button" this week – reviewing those three mistakes before moving on to the Seahawks this Sunday at AT&T Stadium.
The first interception: a great play on the ball by Giants cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. The third interception: based on the Giants' Cover 2 look, his read took him to receiver Brice Butler, but in hindsight on first-and-15 he might have checked it down instead.
And the second interception, the deep pass intended for receiver Terrance Williams?
"It was about as a ugly a ball as I've ever thrown," Cassel said. "As soon as I threw it, I said, 'Uh oh, this is not good.'"
He was right. The Giants scored 10 points off two of his picks and won the game by seven.
Despite that, head coach Jason Garrett overall liked the way Cassel directed the offense in his first start for Tony Romo (fractured collarbone). And he was impressed with the way Cassel drove for the tying touchdown in the fourth quarter before Dwayne Harris gave the Giants the lead for good with a 100-yard kickoff return for a score.
"He played a good football game. He made some bad decisions that impacted the game, but the drive that he had at the end of the ball game after he threw the touchdown to (Devin) Street I thought was big," Garrett said. "To lead the one drive to tie the game and then to give us a chance at the end after that, he is a tough guy, a mentally tough guy."
Cassel has spent several weeks learning the offense and learning about his teammates since arriving from Buffalo via trade.
"I don't know if they know a lot about me, but I'm always going to fight for them," he said. "I think they saw a little bit of that. I'm going to fight until the end no matter what the circumstance, no matter how bad it got at times, and try to put ourselves in a position to win the ball game."
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