That sound you just heard was the Giants crashing back to earth – their six game rampage over the weaker teams in the NFL effectively erased from everyone’s memory. But perhaps the most disappointing development was that heading into what was one of the most anticipated games of the year, the Giants knew that a win against the Cowboys was integral to their run at an NFC East title. But ultimately, the Giants couldn’t shake their ineptitude to pull out the big win when the needed it the most.

Looking at the game with 24 hours to digest the situation, one can surmise the Giants truly ended up beating themselves. Poorly timed penalties pushed either the Cowboys into, or the Giants out of the redzone throughout the game. Perhaps the biggest red mark on the game was an unsightly three delay of game penalties, one of which pushed the Giants out of range to convert a third and goal. The Giants also saw penalties erase a touchdown run from Brandon Jacobs earlier in the drive, as well a nearly 80 yard Ahmad Bradshaw kick return to open the half.

Tom Coughlin voiced his displeasure with the penalties after the game. “It was a big game in the division here at home, at Giants Stadium, we came into the game underdogs, we wanted to play, they played hard, and we made a lot of foolish errors. I am not going to get into it, but the rookie errors stand out.”

This is of course not to take away the fact that the Cowboys simply came up with the bigger plays, all game. The game started off with a quick sprint down field from the Cowboys, culminating in Tony Romo evading the Giant’s pass rush (a common theme throughout the game) to find Tony Curtis wide open in the back corner of the end zone.

The Giants drew even thanks to a drive held together by a series of neutral zone infractions by the Giants. Jeremy Shockey caught a touchdown pass just inside the endzone, and would end up being the most consistent Giant offensive threat.

The Cowboys pushed a field goal across in the waning minutes of the first quarter but the Giants once again responded, this time to pull ahead after Shockey and  Jacobs led the team down field again and Rueben Droughns pounded in a score. The rest of the first half saw the teams hold each other scoreless until the two minute penalty. Romo and Patrick Crayton combined on a 20 yard strike across the middle to take a late lead, but a mindless penalty after the Giants seem content to run the clock down gave Tynes a shot at a 40 yard field goal.

The Cowboys came out smoking in the second half to put the Giants down quickly. The aforementioned erased touchdown essentially took the air out of the Giants’ sails. The Cowboys would do them no favors, relentlessly picking on Sam Madison in single coverage with Terrell Owens as Owens struck for 94 of his 125 yard total and two touchdowns in the second half.

“We executed exactly what we wanted to do and then in the second half they executed better than us.” Gibril Wilson remarked, “Tony and T.O. hooked up a couple of times that really hurt us.”

Perhaps just as important as this past week’s game though is how the team will react to a tough loss. Performances after losses to the Bears and Seahawks in the past two seasons showed an inability to put the losses behind them. With a dangerous Lion team lying in the weeds, the Giants cannot afford to get hung up again.

“It’s not like we are done for the season or anything bad has occurred.” Eli Manning said “That’s part of football – it’s wins and losses.”

But this one hurt just a little more.

Game Review

Offense
Manning came up short most noticeably in the second half with some unnecessary delay of game calls but really struggled to get any rhythm with anyone outside Shockey. Overall, Manning struggled to get rid of the ball which resulted in some avoidable sacks; Eli also gave up a few interceptions, but neither really hurt the team noticeably. His numbers were not that bad, 23 of 34 for 236 yards and a touchdown, but truly fail to tell the whole story. In the end, Eli failed to keep his team composed and together on the field, something he had at least been able to do prior to Sunday, even despite his issues in the air.

Jacobs had a strong game on the ground getting 95 yard on a substantial 23 carries, and would have eclipsed the 100 yard mark had penalties not erased a 6 yard touchdown run in the 3rd quarter. Overall, Jacobs did a nice job grinding out tough yards though the middle but rarely had a chance to bounce the ball outside, something the Giants may want to consider in order to keep teams from loading the middle of the field. Droughns saw only three touches, but toughed out a one yard TD run to give their only lead of the day.

The star of the receiving group this week was the hard working Shockey, who made some ridiculously tough catches over the middle and in double coverage to keep the Giants moving down field. The highlight of his performance was a fantastic catch nearing the left sideline in double coverage. Overall, Shockey was the best player on the team by far this week. Plaxico Burress struggled to get separation from Terrence Newman and was mostly ineffective all game. Amani Toomer saw a few looks, but was passed over in favor of  Shockey over the middle. Toomer did miss a fluttering ball tipped by Newman that would have given the Giants a lead in the third quarter.

The offensive line was decent in run protection, giving Jacobs some nice gaps in a big Cowboy offensive line. However, they struggled with the speed and power of the Cowboy pass rush, allowing them to get a few coverage sacks on Manning. Chris Snee saw a rare holding penalty on the much smaller Roy Williams help short circuit a key touchdown drive. Overall, the line was serviceable but struggled to give Manning time to set and throw at times.

Defense
The Giants defensive line struggled to contain Tony Romo, something most teams struggle to do. Often they would flush him from the pocket only to see him find a receiver late to make a completion. Against the run, the Giants did a serviceable job, holding Jones and Barber to a combined 82 yards on the game. The Cowboy O-Line schemed nicely in negating a complicated Giant pass rush, planning some three step drops and working nicely out of the shotgun.

The Giant linebackers held Jason Whitten catchless in the first half, but that was mostly a function of the Cowboys keeping him in to block. Other than that, they failed to make any real impact, neither costing the team and points with bad penalties nor making any big plays when the Giants needed a stop. Antonio Pierce seemed tuned into the Cowboy run game early on, picking out certain plays and stopping the backs for no gain, but otherwise was very quiet.

The secondary keyed on Owens early in the game, holding him to 31 yards in the first half, but allowing second and third options like Patrick Crayton and Tony Curtis to fiend themselves wide open for touchdowns. In the second half, Madison tired and was beat routinely in dingle coverage with Owens. Aaron Ross failed to make an impact beyond a broken up pass early while the safeties were also pretty invisible outside of a interception from Wilson that set up a go ahead touchdown in the second quarter.

Special Teams
Lawrence Tynes didn’t miss a kick, and that’s all you can really hope for from the inconsistent place kicker. His kickoffs were decent and prevented any real returns. The return game was quiet save for a 80 yard return from Bradshaw that was erased by a stupid holding penalty committed by Kevin Boss.

Verdict
Coming off a Bye week and facing the type of game they often struggle to win, the Giants were simply out played. Still, the team has a tough game to look forward to against the Lions and must not get too caught up in what might have been against the Cowboys.

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