Beginning Of A Long Winter? Giants Win 31-24

Hakeem Nicks (88) and the New York Giants Used Big Plays to Pull Away From the Dallas Cowboys and Pull Back Into the NFC East Race. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Leave it to the Dallas Cowboys (8-4) to provide the spark a struggling team needs. After losing five of their last six games, the New York Giants (7-5) used a flurry of big plays to save their season from the brink.

"We gave up big plays we don't normally give up," coach Wade Phillips said. "They didn't complete that many passes, but the ones they did were big plays for them."

What Went Wrong?

After the Cowboys had dominated the entire first half, leading 10-0 with 3:26 to go until halftime, the Giants offense woke up. Eli Manning led New York on a 4-play 74-yard drive that culminated in a 21-yard pass to Hakeem Nicks for the Giants first points of the game. 45 seconds later, after a Marion Barber fumble (his second in the last three games after not having a fumble in the first nine games of the season) allowed the Giants to start from the Dallas 28-yard line, setting up Brandon Jacobs bullying his way into the end-zone for a 1-yard touchdown. In the span of 1:27 on the game clock, the Giants turned a 10-0 deficit into a 14-10 lead going into halftime.

Dallas started off the second-half strong, after a long drive by Manning was spoiled by Mike Jenkins' fourth interception of the season and then a three-and-out by the Giants on their next possession, the Cowboys struck back with a well designed and well executed play. Tony Romo dropped back, faked a hand-off to Marion Barber, then faked a toss to Miles Austin, and found Roy Williams wide open on a slant pattern in the end-zone for his second touchdown of the day. Dallas was up 17-14 and had control of the game.

That was about the final bright spot for Dallas. On New York's very next play, Manning passed to Brandon Jacobs in the flat who broke tackles (and was benefited by an obvious hold by his tight-end down-field on Dallas safety Gerald Sensabaugh, just sayin') on his way to the longest play from scrimmage for his entire career: a 74 yd touchdown reception. A field goal from Lawrence Tynes, and then a special-teams miscue and subsequent 79-yard punt return for a touchdown sealed it. Dallas refused to make solid tackles in space, and it cost them. When you make millions of dollars shouldn't you know how to wrap-up?


Hard Pill to Swallow:

The Dallas Cowboys led the Giants in virtually every statistical category, and still lost. The Cowboys won the turnover battle (+1), had more total yards (424-337), had the ball for nearly twice the amount of time New York did (38:50 - 21:10), more first downs (27 -15 ), better third-down conversion percentage(53 percent - 40 percent ), and were even more efficient in the red zone (2/3 - 1/3 ). There were two areas Dallas was beat: on the scoreboard (obviously) and in the running game. The Cowboys had their lowest average per carry for the year (2.0) as a team and lowest total rushing yards (45). Which is a big reason why...


You Can't Blame Romo For This One:

Tony Romo had, quite possibly, the best game of his career. He set a franchise record for completions in a game (41), he completed nearly 75 percent of his passes, three touchdowns to zero interceptions, and a career best for passing yards (392). Aside from a missed easy touchdown to Roy Williams in the fourth quarter on a go-route, Romo played a nearly perfect game. He completed passes to eight different receivers, two receivers had over 100 yards, and Williams finished the game with 60 yards and two touchdowns (his first two-touchdown game since Nov.11, 2007).

Jason Witten also set some personal records in this one. 14 catches (one off his career best) for 156 yards (a new career best), and he was Romo's personal security blanket all game long. When Romo was flushed out of the pocket or rushed into a throw, Witten was right there for the reception.

Who Do You Blame?

Someone's head has to roll after this one.

Nick Folk: Missed two of three field goals and is now five for his last 10 tries. Granted, one field goal would have been a season high for the NFL (57-yards) so might give him a break on one of those. But his 42-yard miss with 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter would have made it a one point game (21-20 Giants) and put Dallas in a better position going forward.

Running Game: Marion Barber and Felix Jones both had their least yards per carry average all season. Can you really blame them when they were consistently getting hit in the backfield as soon as they were handed the ball? I blame the O-Line on this one. Running backs need holes in order to get going (Obvious Man!) and they were few and far between in this one.

The Defense: Missed tackles, poor execution, and they just simply got beat for big plays all night. This is my choice for laying the blame. The Dallas D came into the game ranked second in the entire NFL in points allowed (16.5) and hosted a struggling Giants offense, but allowed them to score 31 points. This was their second highest scoring total since week five, and fourth highest scoring game all season. For Dallas it was the second most points they had allowed in a game all year, since the week-two debacle in Dallas against these same Giants (33). Every time the Cowboys needed that one stop to keep their lead or get them back into the game, the defense faltered.


What's Next?

The Dallas Cowboys did not handle well the start of what Troy Aikman termed "the hardest final five games of all the playoff contenders" today against the Giants.

"We've got to challenge ourselves and find a way to play," Witten said. "We have to get back to it and forget all this December stuff. I'm not trying to avoid it or say it's not true. We've got to put it away. You let another one slip and you're really in trouble."

It doesn't get any easier as the Cowboys travel back to Dallas to take on the San Diego Chargers. The Chargers are 9-3 and coming off a close win over the Cleveland Browns (30-23). Phillip Rivers leads an explosive offense that is much better than the one Dallas faced today. Kickoff it at 3:15 p.m. Sunday (Dec.13) and can be seen on CBS.

(Portions of this article were taken from The Associated Press)