COWBOYS 24
GIANTS 21
To all of the Giants fans who have been chirping that their beloved Big Blue football team was back in the playoff race, who do you want fired now that the team has finally lost?
After beating up four struggling football teams to keep their highly unlikely playoff hopes alive, the Giants couldn't pull this out of the fire as Tony Romo led an inspired final drive to lead Dallas to a 24-21 victory at MetLife Stadium, Sunday.
Romo as anti-clutch? Ha, not anymore. Romo was more than clutch for Dallas on arguably the most important drive of the Cowboys season.
After the Giants tied the game on a remarkable drive with 4:45 remaining, Romo picked apart the Giants on what turned into the final drive of the game. He was on target with his throws, some of which were just past the out stretched hands of a couple Giants. Yet, Romo always found his man.
Romo connected with Dez Bryant on three consecutive passes for gains of five, 19, and eight yards, before he hit Miles Austin for 17 yards to the Giants 28 yard line. The Giants were clearly shell-shocked at this point. Their zone reads were getting picked apart, and by the time they went to man it was too late.
On one big pass to Bryant that the receiver actually caught at the Giants five yard line was waived off by officials, who thought Bryant never had the football, forced Dallas into a third and long at New York's 28. However Romo hit Cole Beasley underneath for 13 yards to put Dallas in position to win the game. Romo ran the clock out, and with two seconds to go, Dan Bailey put a stake in the Giants hearts nailing the field goal to win it.
Not lost in this game was how the Giants truly struggled offensively in this game. For three plus quarters it was like watching the Giants play through quick sand whenever they got near the Dallas red zone. It didn't help matters either that the reason Dallas took the early lead had to do with a fumble by Victor Cruz that was brought back for a touchdown in this game to make it 7-0 Boys.
Twice in the first half the Giants put together long time consuming drives, and twice they were denied. First, Big Blue moved to the Dallas 27 on a 22-yard pass from Eli Manning to Ruben Randle, and were later awarded a pass interference penalty to move up to the Dallas nine, and still, the Giants couldn't get it in.
Check downs and conservative play calling became the norm, as the Giants settled for the field goal to cut their deficit to 7-3.
Later, after a monstrous 37-yard run by Brandon Jacobs to the Cowboy's four-yard line, the Giants again went ultra conservative with a couple of ineffective runs and were forced to kick again to make it 14-6.
The Giants defense, while the culprit at the end was decent. They kept New York in this football game, but when plays needed to be made, mistakes were made instead. Non bigger than the roughing the passer penalty on Mathais Kiwanuka that whipped away a fumble recovery by Will Hill.
Tom Coughlin and the rest of Big Blue nation was up in arms over this ruling, but it was clearly roughing the passer; Kiwanuka had his arm around Romo's neck and pulled him down. While it wasn't totally flagrant -- Kiwanuka was near the head of the quarterback and the flag had to be thrown.
The flag turned out to be a huge turning point. The ball was placed at the Giants six yard line, and after two plays Romo found Jason Witten uncovered for the touchdown to make it 21-6.
Give credit to the Giants for trying to mount a comeback. The Giants responded immediately, when Manning found Brandon Myers for six points. The tight end caught the football at the Cowboy 11, rolled on the ground, was never touched by a Cowboy, and got up to score to make it 21-13.
From there the Giants defense clamped down on the Cowboys forcing them to punt on their next possessions, while setting up Manning and offense with one last comeback attempt.
And, for a moment, it appeared the Giants had the game in their possession at long last. A couple of nice bursts by Andre Brown and Jacobs advanced the football to the Dallas 29. A 22-yard pass from Manning to Victor Cruz, set up shop at the five yard line, before Manning found Louis Murphy in the back of the end zone for the score. Cowboys 21, Giants 19.
Brown dashed in easily for the two-point conversion, and MetLife Stadium was a rocking. Giants fans expecting to see Romo make his trade mark mistake however never did, as the embattled quarterback earned the star on his helmet.
This loss is damaging to the Giants season. After an 0-6 start it was going to be next to impossible for this club to honestly make a playoff push, but there were enough Giants fans, and even players (Terrell Thomas this means you) who thought that this team was going to make a serious push for the postseason.
There are too many holes to fix. The Giants ground game is still a quagmire, and the inability for this offense to do anything in the red zone, considering its talent is baffling.
This team is flawed. And anyone who thought the problems were fixed as the Giants took advantage of some weak competition better look closely here. This is still a team that needs to be rebuilt in a lot of areas.
I guess this means that Giants fans are going to back to calling for the heads of offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride and defensive coordinator Perry Fewell, and for Tom Coughlin to retire -- just like they did earlier in the year -- or at least until the next Giants win streak.
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