And, the Giants knew that one thing that plagued them most during their struggles before Sunday’s divisional showdown was being on the wrong side of big plays.

Time and time again, a big play had cost the Giants dearly this season, and too few times, New York was unable to produce enough big plays of its own.

This time though, it was the Giants (7-5) who made all of the biggest plays, and those proved to be the difference in an important 31-24 over the Cowboys (8-4).

But, things didn’t start that way for New York. In fact, for most of the first half, it looked like a repeat of earlier Giants’ problems this season.

The Giants possessed the ball very little (just 8:50) during the first half and for nearly the first 27 minutes of the opening two quarters, they couldn’t gain much. When the Giants began their second possession of the second quarter with 3:14 left in the first half, New York had just three second-quarter yards.

Just prior to that, it was the Cowboys who actually made the initial big play to set up the first touchdown of the game, a 4-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Tony Romo to a wide open Roy Williams, which gave Dallas a 10-0 lead. That score was set up when Giants’ running back Ahmad Bradshaw got caught in the backfield on a running play and tried to weave his way out of trouble, but was stripped by Cowboys’ defensive end Jay Ratliff, who stripped Bradshaw and recovered his fumble at the Giants’ 33-yard line.

At that point, Giant fans everywhere had to be thinking their team wouldn’t yet break out of its slump on Sunday.

However, all of a sudden, everything began to click for Big Blue, and then came the first of several game-deciding plays.

In just 1:28 and four plays, the Giants covered 74 yards to get their first score. Three straight 16-yard passes from quarterback Eli Manning (11-25, 241 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT) set up a 21-yard touchdown pass up the right sideline to rookie Hakeem Nicks, to cut the Dallas lead to 10-7, with 1:46 left in the half.

On the first play of the ensuing possession, defensive end Osi Umenyiora was called for an offsides penalty. Two plays later though, he more than redeemed himself defensive after end Mathias Kiwanuka (who started for Umenyiora as one of four defensive lineup changes for the Giants on Sunday) stripped Dallas running back Marion Barber, who caught a screen pass from Romo.

Umenyiora recovered Barber’s fumble and returned the ball 24 yards to the Dallas 28-yard line.

Big Play Number One.

Four plays later, after Manning found wide receiver Steve Smith (team highs of 110 yards and 6 catches) on consecutive pass completions of 12 and 15 yards to start the short drive, running back Brandon Jacobs scored from a yard out with 19 seconds left in the half.

Just like that, despite being outplayed for most of the half, the Giants headed into the locker room with a 14-10 advantage.

New York continued to move the ball at the start of the second half, but instead of staying with what was working on that drive –- a mix of Jacobs and short routes to Smith -– Manning impatiently went for it all from the Dallas 25-yard line, and was intercepted in the end zone by cornerback Mike Jenkins, looking for wide receiver Mario Manningham in the far left corner of the end zone.

Each team then traded punts before Dallas went 56 yards in 8 plays and 4:02, with Romo again finding Williams on a similar touchdown pass as before, open over the middle, for five yards, putting the Cowboys ahead 17-14, with 3:58 left in the third quarter. But, that lead didn’t last long because of…

Big Play Number Two for the Giants.

Just 19 seconds later, on the first play of the next drive, Manning threw a swing pass out to Jacobs, who thought he would go for about 15-20 yards. Instead, he took it up the left sideline, avoiding a tackle, barely staying inbounds while avoiding a push at the Dallas 25-yard line, taking it the house for a 21-17 Giants’ lead on both the New York’s longest play of the season, and easily the lumbering 6-foot-4, 265-pound back’s longest play of Jacobs’ career.

Giants head coach Tom Coughlin joked, “I’ve never seen him run that fast.”

And, in a statement about the play that Giant fans had to love, Jacobs said “It’s extra special against Dallas. That’s absolutely a team I can’t stand. I’ve been hating Dallas ever since I knew anything about football.”

A very rare and refreshing comment, given the large degree of player movement and high player salaries which lead to today’s athletes in virtually all pro sports seemingly following the almighty dollar before having the desire to stay with a team and beat huge rivals as badly as loyal fans want them to.

Later, in the fourth quarter, the Cowboys got to within field goal range for kicker Nick Folk, but he hooked a 42-yard kick badly, low and to the left, with 10:38 remaining in the game.

Enter Big Play Number Three.

After the Giants took over at their own 32-yard line after a Dallas punt, Manning hit Smith for 25 yards to set up a key run by Bradshaw, which would be a foreshadowing of the Giants’ final big play later on.

Bradshaw was stopped in a pile trying to run left, but he kept his legs moving, cut right, away from the crowd, and dashed up the right side for a 29-yard gain to the Dallas 9-yard line. The Giants offense stalled from there, but the play set up a Lawrence Tynes 23-yard field goal to give the Giants some much-needed breathing room, 24-17, with 7:23 left in the game.

The Giants defense then forced a three-and-out leading to one final play that was the biggest of all.

Kick returner Domenik Hixon did something he had never done before as a professional football player, and he picked a great time in the Giants’ season to do it.

Taking a punt at his own 21-yard line, Hixon, like Bradshaw earlier, looked to be stopped to the left after a short gain, but also like Bradshaw, he escaped the pile, and at the 30-yard line, cut to the middle, then up the right sideline behind a few solid blocks, for a thrilling 79-yard touchdown, which proved to be the game-winning score.

The play gave the Giants a 31-17 lead with 5:33 to go in the game and marked the Giants’ first punt return for a touchdown in 82 games (the Giants had gone 74 regular season and seven postseason games without a punt return for a touchdown).

It was also the first punt return for a touchdown in Hixon’s career, even if it’s something he thinks about on every return. “Every time I get on the field, I have the mindset of taking it all the way,” he said.

Manning also took note that play and all of the huge plays the Giants made, saying “There were a lot of big plays and we kind of took advantage of those and that ended up being the difference in the win.”

The Cowboys weren’t done though, as Romo, who caused the Giants’ defense problems all game, led Dallas on a six-play, 77-yard scoring drive in just 1:27. Romo found an open Miles Austin (10 catches for 104 yards) on a 22-yard touchdown toss over cornerback Corey Webster along the right side of the end zone.

The onside kick which followed though, was touched by Dallas before going ten yards, and the Giants were able to run out the clock to sweep Dallas for the first time in five years. More importantly, instead of falling a probably insurmountable three games back of the Cowboys, Big Blue instead moved to within just a game of them for the NFC East lead.

The Giants must sure up their pass defense however, if they will continue to compete for the division crown or at least an NFC wild-card berth.

Romo torched the Giants’ defense, completing a Cowboy record 41 passes in 55 attempts, for a career-high 392 yards. His favorite target was tight end Jason Whitten, who caught 14 balls including his 500th career reception, for a career-high 156 yards.

Despite the inefficiency with stopping Dallas through the air, the Giants did a 180 with shutting down the Dallas rushing game from the previous time the teams met. In New York’s 33-31 Week 2 win in Dallas, the Giants were burned for 251 yards on the ground. On Sunday though, the Cowboys were held to just 45 yards on 23 carries.

Big plays and huge win for Big Blue. But next, another big game.

The Giants will have to do it all over again, when the Philadelphia Eagles, who are tied with Dallas at 8-4, visit the Meadowlands for another big NFC East battle. The Giants hope they’ll still have some more big plays left for that one.

Ultimately though, Manning got one final chance to lead his team to victory, and while achieving four personal milestones against the Falcons, the Giants’ offensive leader attained something that meant more than any individual accomplishment: guiding the Giants to an all-important 34-31 victory in overtime, moving New York (6-4) ahead of the team it beat on Sunday, in the race for the NFC playoffs.

Though Manning had one of the best all-around games of his career, it didn’t begin that way. Following completions, each for double digit yardage, on his first two passes, Manning was sacked. Two plays later, he threw his only interception of the game, before heading to the sideline under a chorus of boos from impatient Giant fans who were antsy at the outset as to whether their team could regain its winning form.

However, after an Atlanta three-and-out, Manning and the Giants got things going offensively on their next possession, going 64 yards on twelve plays in 6:10, taking a 3-0 lead on a 39 yard-field goal by Lawrence Tynes with 2:54 left in the opening quarter.

The Falcons responded though, driving 65 yards on nine plays, taking a 7-3 lead 1:02 into the second quarter on a 7-yard touchdown run, the first of two scores on the day by running back Jason Snelling (25 rushes, 76 yards), who was the only back who carried the ball for Atlanta with star rusher Michael Turner and also much less used Jerious Norwood each missing the game with injuries (quarterback Matt Ryan had the only other five Atlanta carries, for 14 yards).

The Giants then drove 54 yards to the Atlanta 13, but Tynes missed a 31-yard field goal.

But Manning, who finished the game completing 25 of 39 passes for a career-high 384 yards, marking his first-ever 300-yard game at home, went to work after a sack by New York linebacker Michael Boley completed another Atlanta three-and-out.

The Giants took over at their own 48-yard line after a Falcons’ punt, and moved back to their own 42 after an offensive holding penalty, but it took Manning just two big passes to score from there.

First, he found rookie wide receiver Hakeem Nicks for 30 yards to the Atlanta, and on the next play, he hit tight end Kevin Boss, for the first of three Manning touchdown passes and the first of two scores by Boss. The powerful, 6-foot-6, 250-pound target caught the ball along the right sideline and made a nice sudden stop at the 6-yard line to keep from going out of bounds. That allowed the Falcons’ defense to over pursue Boss a bit, so he could take advantage and get into the end zone to give the Giants a 10-7 lead with 7:01 remaining in the first half.

Atlanta then drove into New York territory but kicker Jason Elam missed a 35-yard field goal with 2:51 left in the opening half.

Later, a couple of Giant defensive ends gave Manning and the New York offense another great opportunity to score, and Manning and Boss delivered again.

Justin Tuck forced a Ryan fumble which was recovered by Osi Umenyiora at the Atlanta 35-yard line. That led to a four-yard touchdown strike from Manning to Boss six plays later. Boss caught the ball in traffic, in the middle of the end zone, putting the Giants ahead 17-7, just fourteen seconds before halftime.

The Falcons quickly got back in the game though, as Snelling scored again, this time from one yard out, pulling Atlanta to within 17-14 just 3:17 into the third quarter.

But on the next possession, the Falcons again couldn’t stop the Giants’ passing game (which accounted for 368 of New York’s 456 total yards and 19 of the Giants’ 24 first downs) as Manning threw a beautiful ball, leading wide receiver Steve Smith (4 catches, 79 yards) on a 51-yard completion to the Falcons’ 23-yard line. Four plays later, with two Atlanta penalties on consecutive plays mixed in, running back Brandon Jacobs (held to just 39 yards on 12 carries) scored on a two-yard run to give the Giants a 24-14 lead with 8:36 left in the third quarter.

The Falcons trimmed the Giants’ lead to 24-17 after an Elam 25-yard field goal capped an 18-play drive with 1:57 remaining in the third period, but again Manning was unstoppable, taking the Giants 74 yards on nine plays in 4:49 for their final touchdown of the game.

After completing to wide receiver Mario Manningham (6 catches for a game-high 126 yards) for 27 yards and finding Boss for another 18 yards, Manning finished the drive with a three-yard scoring toss to one of seven different receivers he hooked up with on the day, fullback Madison Hedgecock. The first score of the season for Hedgecock gave the Giants a seemingly comfortable 31-17 lead with 12:08 to go in the game.

The Falcons however, wouldn’t go quietly. Ryan (26 of 46 for 268 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions), who also completed to seven different players, drove Atlanta 65 yards in twelve plays, throwing to a four-yard scoring pass to undrafted wide receiver Eric Weems out of Bethune-Cookman, pulling the Falcons to within 31-24, with 6:01 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Manning then tried to answer again. He connected with Boss (five catches, 76 yards) on a 26-yard play to the Giants’ 41 yard-line, but the Giants were stopped on their next three plays (two of them, Manning incompletions), and the Falcons took over after a short 35-yard punt by Giants’ punter Jeff Feagles.

Ryan again drove the Falcons, this time twelve plays for 76 yards in 3:14, scoring on an 11-yard touchdown pass to tight end Tony Gonzalez (game–high eight catches for 72 yards), who pulled Ryan’s pass down between two Giants’ defenders in the middle of the end zone, tying the game 31-31, with just 28 seconds left in regulation, forcing overtime.

“I am concerned,” Giants head coach Tom Coughlin said of his defense, which struggled against the Falcons and has done so since dominating during a 5-0 start.

However, the way Manning was going on Sunday, it was a safe bet that if the Giants won the toss to start the extra session, Ryan wouldn’t get the ball back.

They did, and he didn’t.

On third-and-two from the Giants’ 41 yard-line, Manning noticed the help that was originally on his right side of the field, sneaking back toward the middle. That’s when Manning knew he had Manningham, and sure enough, he lofted a nice over-the-back-shoulder fade pass along the right sideline to Manningham, who caught the ball for a 29-yard gain, streaking to the Atlanta 23.

Three plays later, Tynes knocked a game-winning 36-yard field goal inside the right upright, 3:54 into overtime, to complete the Giants’ first win in exactly six weeks.

Although Manning moved into second place on the Giants’ career completions list (with 1,466) and into third place on the Giants’ all-time passing yards list (with 17,077), it was finally getting back in the win column which he focused on most.

“It’s been a long time, 42 days since our last win,” he said. “It felt like it, too. “There are not many better feelings than in a locker room after a win,” Manning said. “It was good to see the high-fives and the smiles, especially when you haven’t had that feeling for a while.”

“It’s nice to win,” Coughlin added. “We were miserable around here for a month.”

In an NFL oddity, the Giants’ victory was the first by the home team in the Giants-Falcons series since November 11, 1979, when the Giants won at Giants Stadium, 24-3. The visiting team had won the previous twelve meeting in the series, the longest such streak in NFL history.

Big Blue won’t have long to relish in its rediscovered feeling of victory. They’ll only have three days off, one of which will be a travel day, as they’ll fly out west, before playing in Denver, on Thanksgiving night. They may be catching the Broncos at the right time though, since they can now relate to the predicament that the Giants were in before Sunday, having lost their past four games after a 6-0 start. Kickoff will be at 8:20pm EST.

It wouldn’t be New York if its fans and media didn’t often overreact to each game that any professional team plays in New York. That response just comes with the territory when rooting for or discussing teams in the New York City area.

Sure enough, to the degree that the Giants were being discussed as part of the National Football League elite after a dominant 5-0 start, was the extent to which many in the New York area were asking what was wrong with the Giants and how New York could let its entire season slip away after a subsequent four-game slide.

No doubt, the questions surrounding the problems that the Giants still need to fix this season were, and still are, legitimate. And, if the Giants don’t soon rectify a lot of the issues that were exposed during their aforementioned four-game losing streak, it’s true, Big Blue’s goal of reaching the playoffs could be in serious jeopardy.

But, for those who were spewing all of the doom and gloom talk about the Giants’ playoff possibilities, many going so far as to say that the Giants’ fourth straight loss ended their season, take a look at the current NFC standings after what happened on Sunday, as the Giants tried to regroup during their bye week.

Sure, New York had slipped from 5-0 to 5-4, and from first place to third place in the NFC East.

Yet, simply by not playing, the Giants moved back into a tie for second place with the 5-4 Philadelphia Eagles (who were beaten in San Diego on Sunday), and are now just one game behind the 6-3 Dallas Cowboys, the NFC East leaders, who lost at Green Bay this week.

As for the NFC wild-card race, the Giants and Eagles are not only tied for the wild-card lead with each other, but also with the 5-4 Atlanta Falcons (losers at Carolina on Sunday) and the 5-4 Green Bay Packers. Carolina, San Francisco, and Chicago are each a game back, at 4-5.

For all of this past week’s chatter about the Giants’ season being over, New York still very much controls its own destiny as long as it can pull everything together and play better.

The Giants host Atlanta next week, while having other home dates with Dallas, Philadelphia, and Carolina in December. And, the Giants are done with both the Cowboys and Eagles on the road.

The bottom line is that while the Giants have to correct a lot of what plagued them while losing four games in a row, and they still have much work to do in order to reach the playoffs this year, they’re very far from the fate many had prematurely predicted for them (if any Giants are Mark Twain fans, they can certainly relate).

As evidenced while the Giants rested this week, no one else in the NFC East seems to be running away with their division, and even less so in the NFC wild-card picture.

So, at least for now Giant fans, view the remaining Giant games in this season the same way your team plans on approaching them. It may sound clichéd, but forget about the recent past and take the rest of the season one game at a time.

Because it doesn’t appear that anything regarding where the Giants are headed this season, one way or the other, will be determined any time soon.

So where does NY go from here? Hopefully with this week’s opponent, the Kansas City Chiefs, we will finally begin to see more of the abilities of the offense and it’s play calling. Receivers Steve Smith, Mario Manningham, Sinorice Moss, and the returning Hakeem Nicks must make their presence felt against the K.C. defensive backs. Will they also get Travis Beckum, Ramses Barden, and Derek Hagan involved as well? I was hoping for more touches per game from Beckum and Barden, who were two of FRO’s “undiscovered sleepers of the 2009 draft.

The Giants rushing attack also needs a boost big time. Brandon Jacobs told me in April at an NFL draft event (see Photo) that he was good to go for his best season ever at any level. Does that mean 1,350+ yards and at least ten touchdowns? Could Giant fans hope to be so lucky? This week Jacobs issued another ultimatum for himself. I keep hearing echoes of former Giants head coach Jim Fassel (now coaching in the UFL with the Las Vegas Locomotives) “putting all his chips into the middle of the table.”

This scares me as someone who has watched the Giants for all of my nearly 50 years on this planet as a fan and now reporter/writer. The Giants only have one ball on the field at any one time on offense, and it’s for the coaches and quarterback Eli Manning to decide who gets it and when.  Six receivers, three tight ends, four running backs, you see where I’m going with this don’t you?

The idea of fully spreading the ball around is not new, but the Giants have so many offensive weapons on the roster that teams will hover around general manager Jerry Reese at the trading deadline dangling draft picks for current players. New York has too many players who need the football and not enough football to go around, even if they held that ball for 40 plus minutes a game.

The short term cure for New York for at least this week is 35 pass attempts and 20 to 25 rushing attempts, with as many as possible for positive yardage.