Heroes: Giants defense, especially after another injury in secondary to Aaron Ross
Goat: Tony Romo
Turning Point: After the Cowboys ate up 10 minutes to take a 14-7 lead, the Giants matched that TD with one of their own to tie with just :53 seconds on the clock before the half
Next: NFC Championship @ Green Bay
Well there will be a Manning playing on championship weekend after all. It will just be Eli Manning and not Peyton. For the second time today the road team went into a hostile environment and came away with a stunning victory. The Giants are clearly still riding high from their impressive performance vs. New England in Week 17 and playoff win in Tampa Bay, while the Cowboys were effected by not playing big time football in six weeks. This was a game the Cowboys had several chances to win, but they were unable to get on track in the second half.The Cowboys were able to score two touchdowns in the first half because Marion Barber ran at will on the Giants' defense. Barber's ability to rush the football gave Tony Romo time to throw on third down. However, when the Giants adjusted in the second half, Romo melted under the pressure. He melted like Jessica Simpson on Celebrity Jeopardy! (zoom, zoom, zoom!) He overthrew Terrell Owens on what would have been a touchdown. It would have made the score 21-14. Patrick Crayton did drop a critical pass at 17-14, but other than that Romo was awful.
With good starting field position on each of the last three drives, Romo was unable to do much with the ball. During the final series, he did a poor job of managing the clock. They got the ball with 1:50 remaining at around midfield, but yet somehow they were forced to take last ditch shots at the end zone from around the Giants' 25. They were slow getting to the line on completions, and even ran the ball once on the drive that ate up about 30 seconds. It was not a good night for Romo, and for the second year in a row he'll be left to wonder what if?
I have to give a lot of credit to the Giants' defense though for their ability to stop the Cowboys several times in the second half. After Aaron Ross's injury there was not much left in the secondary. I thought at this point that the Boys would go to town on the Giants, but they didn't. Then the pass rush started to have an effect, and that really rattled Romo on the last few drives. How does a receiving core with Terrell Owens, Jason Witten, Terry Glenn, and Patrick Crayton not have success today? Give a lot of credit to the heart of the Giants' defense. After years of all kinds of internal problems, the Giants are finally playing as a team. Tom Coughlin has done a great job, and has gone from the chopping block to the cusp of a long-term extension. I wonder what Tiki Barber is feeling right now.
Eli Manning was fantastic in managing the Giants offense today. He did not have sexy numbers, but he didn't make any key mistakes. The drive of the day for Eli was his ability to lead the Giants down the field in 53 seconds at the end of the 1st half. The Cowboys had just taken a lot of momentum by scoring a go-ahead touchdown on a 20-play, 90-yard drive that lasted 10:28. If the Giants don't score there, they go in to the locker room down a TD without the ball first in the second half. That is a big time drive that even the likes of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning would have trouble doing.
Give credit to the Giants' special teams as well. R.W. McQuarters was able to return a punt to the Cowboys' 35 which set up the ultimate game-winning TD drive. It was an all around big time effort from the Giants, who were beat up and were playing a team with far more talent. The Giants will head to Green Bay next week with a chance to advance to Super Bowl XLII. It will be interesting to see if Eli Manning can go into a cold weather environment and continue his run.
Pat Morgan
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