GIANTS 26
If one is looking for a reason why the Giants are an inferior team to the Dallas Cowboys right now, just DVR and re-watch the Cowboys stunning 27-26 victory over Big Blue. Because the Giants were totally outclassed by the Dallas Cowboys in ever facet of the game on Sunday night, and still, it had a chance to win the game, only to see Tony Romo rescue his team for certain defeat in the last minute.
Those fans who live on bashing Tony Romo as "un-clutch" and a "loser" better get their facts straight. Romo not only beat the Giants, but he beat his doubters as well with a heroic comeback in a game where Dallas did everything possible to hand the Giants a victory.
Case in point, the New York Giants as an offense did nothing. They were out-gained by Dallas 436-289; Dallas held the football for 37 minutes; Eli Manning threw for only 193 yards; the Giants as a team, ran for only 99 yards on the ground, and the great, Madden 16 cover boy, Odell Beckham Jr. was held to only five catches for 44 yards and no scores.
All this against a Dallas defense that didn't have Orlando Scandrick and Greg Hardy. What are we in store for when the Giants actually play a defense at full strength?
The only scoring this Giants offense could muster were four field goals that helped New York build a 26-20 lead with 1:37 to go in the game.
Look closely, and the Giants only had that 6-point lead because of Dallas mistakes. With 1:30 left before halftime, Terrance Williams fumbled for Dallas, allowing corner Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie to scoop up the loose football and score a touchdown, giving the Giants a 10-6 lead.
On the next Dallas drive, Romo was intercepted by Uani' Unga, setting up a Giants field goal at 13-6.
After the Cowboys finally scored a touchdown in the third quarter that cut the Giants lead to 16-13, Dallas almost gave the game away again. A pass by Romo that was intended for Devin Street was tipped and intercepted by Trumaine McBride, who dashed into the end zone for the score to make it 23-13, Giants.
Yet, at the end of the day leave it to the Giants to screw things up. After the Cowboy responded with a Romo touchdown pass to cut their deficit to just three points, all the Giants needed was a long touchdown drive to ice what would have been an improbable opening night win.
And the kicker is they almost had it.
Manning led the Giants on a 13-play drive that started at the Giants own 20-yard line. A big third down completion by Manning to Beckham Jr. had Big Blue right on the goal line of the Cowboys with the clocking ticking down towards two minutes. The Giant pounded the football twice with Rashad Jennings, but couldn't get in for the score.
Finally on third down, Manning rolled to his right and decided, while under pressure, to throw the ball away in the end zone. This turned out to be a hideous mistake. If Manning had only taken a sack, or even slid to the ground he would have been able to milk another 40 seconds off the game clock. Instead the incompletion stopped the clock with 1:43 to play. The Giants, again settled for a field goal.
With Manning leaving 1:43 on the clock, it gave Romo more than enough time to orchestrate a great comeback against a Giants defense that doesn't have the pass rush it once had. Romo was 5-for-6 on the drive, including passes of 24-yards and 16-yards to Lance Dunbar that moved the football to the Giants' 32-yard line. Three plays later, Romo had the Boys right on the Giants 11-yard line, before connecting with his old buddy, Jason Witten on a touchdown pass against a rookie linebacker for the Giants.
All of sudden Dallas had the lead, and the game in hand with just seconds to play. It was a stunning lose for New York, but, considering how poorly they executed on both sides of the football, they were fortunate to even be in front in this game with less than two minutes to go.
The Giants have a lot of work to do. For starters their offense was totally out of synch on Sunday. It is up to Offensive Coordinator Ben McAdoo, who was under a lot of heat last season by Giants fans to get his unit on the same page. Defensively, the Giants are very, very young and raw, especially upfront. They don't have the pass rushers that Steve Spagnuolo likes to have on defense. At 0-1, already its going to be an uphill battle for Tom Coughlin's club.
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