Jason Sehorn had an interception, but suffered a broken rib.
The Giants snagged a total of 5 Interceptions off Troy Aikman.
Ron Dayne had his first 100 yard plus game.
Giants held the Cowboys to 76 yards rushing.
Giants at 5-2, are tied for first in the NFC East with Washington.

The Giants take it down to the wire and come away with the win.
"Yeah, that's right, but why do the Giants do this to me? They get five interceptions, and rack up all kinds of yards on the ground, I think maybe the most they've run for all year, mostly stop the other team cold on the ground, and still you have to wait until the last second of the game to see if they're going to actually win the game or not.
I know a lot of people say that the Giants have an old fan base, I can't see how that's true, because they should all have suffered heart attacks by now from watching this team play. It's always up and down with the Giants. They start off the game by taking an interception off of Troy Aikman. You feel great, but then in the next minute the Giants lose a challenge, get stopped on their drive, and you find that Sehorn got hurt catching that interception, and is out for the rest of the game. You feel bad. Next on the Cowboys drive, they go for it on fourth down, and the Giants intercept Aikman again. Great! Then the Giants go nowhere and even bobble the ball on the punt and it gets blocked. You feel bad, with the Cowboys moving the ball until Aikman throws yet another interception. Wow! You get my drift. Who can take this?"

Such is football Gamegirl, especially with the Giants.
"I know, but is it too much to ask to feel a little bit more comfortable and relaxed with maybe a solid lead for a game or two? Can't I leave my stadium seat just a few minutes early for once, or leave the stadium after a win without the feeling that we still nearly lost the game? We have some tough competition coming up, and this stuff won't fly. We have to come away with more than just field goals when we're sitting with 1st and goal, and that happened twice to us today."

All's well that ends well.
"You can believe that if you want, but you won't win many games for very long or get into the playoffs thinking that way. By the way, do you realize that the Giants have been in first place all season long so far? How come it doesn't feel like it?

Any surprises in this game?
"You mean aside from the 5 interceptions and the fact that we're a first place team despite the way we play? Yes, Fassel had the guts to bench Amani Toomer. I know they won't call it that, but Toomer sat it out with Joe Jurevicius taking his place. I could be wrong, but when I was watching it seemed like he wasn't really into the game when the ball wasn't coming his way, and how many more passes do we have to see bounce off his chest? If you remember, Fassel benched Joe Jurevicius for awhile last season, and he got the message and came back stronger. Also, I don't know if you could tell on TV, but I was surprised to see Ron Dayne look so winded on the sidelines after some of his runs. He's the one who's supposed to wear down the opposition over the course of a game right? In any event, it was great to see him have a big day."

Five interceptions and a win.
"Five big ones, and the Giants barely come away with a win. Isn't that what you really mean? Rushing for 203 yards and barely coming away with a win. Holding the Cowboys to 76 yards on the ground, and still nearly losing the game on the last play when Aikman's pass bounced off Jessie Armstead, through Damon Hodge and down to the ground. Aikman really had a bad game today, and Randall Cunningham must wonder what it takes to get into a football game. I was really surprised when he didn't take the field in the second half. I guess what the owner of the team says, goes, as long as Aikman is healthy, he wants him in there. Aikman had thrown four interceptions only once in his career, and topped that when Barrow made it five."

How about Ron Dayne?
"They finally decided to feed him the ball. He had a nice 32 yard run, his longest to date, and it came at the right time, when the Giants were on their 9 yard line in the second quarter. He also broke 100 yards for the first time. It was a good day for Ron, and let's not ruin his day by remembering that it came against the NFL's lowest ranked run defense."

Amani Toomer?
"It was a bad day for Amani Toomer. He had a false-start penalty in the second quarter, which usually isn't a penalty a WR should make, although Ike Hilliard had one also on the play right before that. It could have shown a lack of attention, and maybe that's why he ended up sitting the rest of the game out, replaced by Joe Jurevicius. I know he had that toe injury last week, and it's not much fun to run all those routes for nothing when the Giants are trying to establish a running game, but that's the job. It will be interesting to see if Fassel starts Jurevicius ahead of Toomer when the Giants face the Eagles in two weeks."

Special teams?
"Special teams were also at their worst today. Punter Don Maynard bobbled the snap, and the kick was blocked. Brad Daluiso gave the Cowboys every opportunity to run the ball back, and remember, the coverage allowed that 90 yard return, and all the other good returns by Jason Tucker. He totaled 4 returns for 180 yards.
Overall the Giants had a bunch of stupid penalties, including the late hit that Hamilton put on Aikman with 11 seconds left."

Anything else?
"The Offensive line was good. They opened holes for the running game, and Collins had plenty of time to throw. Overall though, the Giants have to do better. In the second half they had drives on which they had first-and-goal at the 2 and first-and-goal at the 10, and yet settled for field goals both times. They have to improve in the Red zone.
The Giants also have to improve their third-down numbers. They were 1 for 12 last week, and 3 for 13 in this game.
Cornelius Griffin and Jason Sehorn are concerns. Griffin wasn't in this game, but they need him. He sustained a concussion when he banged helmets with Christian Peter in Week 6 against the Atlanta Falcons, and said he felt woozy when he arrived at Giants Stadium.

Sehorn has been solid all year, and now will probably be out for 4 weeks with that rib injury. This is going to hurt the Giants bigtime, but the time frame puts him in the game against the pass crazy Rams. They thought it was his collarbone at first, and that would have been even worse.
Nobody talks about Greg Comella too much, but he does a great job blocking and caught 2 passes for 19 yards. That gives him 19 on the year for 158 yards and an 8.3 average.
Fassel should give up on using the replay system, although I suspect he would have burned a time out anyway in the second half as they prepared to go for it on 4th and one. If you remember, Kerry Collins hit Pete Mitchell on the play-action pass for a touchdown right after the failed challenge.

How about Phillippi Sparks?
"Although a lot of fans don't like Sparks simply because he's wearing a Cowboy uniform now, it doesn't mean that he's a bad player, and he played a good game. I remember that he broke up a pass to Toomer on a third and three and that killed the drive that Dayne had started with his 32 yard run. Hilliard got by Sparks once and came away with a 22 yard gain."

Update on injuries: CB Jason Sehorn (broken rib) will be out an undetermined amount of time after being injured on the first play of the game; DT Cornelius Griffin (concussion) was inactive because he was woozy yesterday after practicing all week; CB Reggie Stephens (sprained ankle) left the game in the fourth quarter.

Stats

Passing
Giants - Kerry Collins 14-25 for 119 yards, 0 INT.
Cowboys - Troy Aikman 22-42 for 211 yards, 5 INT.

Rushing
Giants - Ron Dayne 21-108, Tiki Barber 9-73, Kerry Collins 3-22.
Cowboys - Emmitt Smith 19-61, Troy Aikman 2-7, Chris Warren 5-4, Robert Thomas 1-4.

Receiving
Giants - Ike Hilliard 3-42, Joe Jurevicius 4-25, Greg Comella 2-19, Amani Toomer 2-17, Tiki Barber 2-15, Pete Mitchell 1-1.
Cowboys - Chris Warren 6-62, Damon Hodge 3-52, Jason Tucker 2-26, Robert Thomas 5-24, David LaFleur 1-19, Raghib Ismail 2-14, Emmitt Smith 2-10, Jackie Harris 1-4.

Interceptions
Giants - Micheal Barrow 1 for 7, Dave Thomas 1 for -3, Jason Sehorn 1 for 0, Shaun Williams 1 for 12, Reggie Stephens 1 for 0.

Kickoff Returns
Giants - Ron Dixon 2 for 38.
Cowboys - Jason Tucker 4 for 180, Chris Akins 1 for 25.

Punt Returns
Giants - Tiki Barber 3 for 46.
Cowboys - Wane McGarity 3 for 25.

Net yards rushing
Giants - 203
Cowboys - 76

Net yards passing
Giants - 108
Cowboys - 193

Time of Possession
Giants - 29:20
Cowboys - 30:31

Tackles-assists-sacks (unofficial)
Giants - Michael Barrow 8-4-0, Jessie Armstead 5-3-0, Dave Thomas 7-0-0, Michael Strahan 5-2-0, Shaun Williams 4-2-0, Christian Peter 4-1-0, Keith Hamilton 3-2-0, Cedric Jones 3-2-1, Ryan Phillips 3-2-0, Emmanuel Mcdaniel 3-1-1, Sam Garnes 2-1-0, Ramos Mcdonald 1-0-0.
Cowboys - Dexter Coakley 7-2-0, Dat Nguyen 7-0-0, Phillippi Sparks 6-1-0, Darren Woodson 6-1-0, Darren Hambrick 3-3-1, George Teague 5-0-0, Chad Hennings 1-4-0, Leon Lett 3-0-1, Ryan Mcneil 3-0-0, Greg Ellis 1-2-0, Alonzo Spellman 1-0-0, Brandon Noble 1-0-0, Barron Wortham 1-0-0, Michael Myers 0-1-0, Joe Bowden 0-1-0.

Scoring:

1ST QUARTER:
NONE
2ND QUARTER:
NYG - Pete Mitchell 1 Yard TD Pass from Kerry Collins (Brad Daluiso Extra Point), 6:42. N.Y. Giants 7-0
3RD QUARTER:
NYG - Brad Daluiso 24 Yard Field Goal, 11:09. N.Y. Giants 10-0
DAL - Robert Thomas 1 Yard TD Pass from Troy Aikman (Tim Seder Extra Point), 10:02. N.Y. Giants 10-7
NYG - Brad Daluiso 20 Yard Field Goal, 6:13. N.Y. Giants 13-7
DAL - Emmitt Smith 3 Yard TD Run (Tim Seder Extra Point), 1:19. Dallas 14-13
4TH QUARTER:
NYG - Ron Dayne 3 Yard TD Run (Tiki Barber Run Failed), 10:00. N.Y. Giants 19-14

Notes:

Troy Aikman tied a team record with 5 interceptions.

The other Cowboy quarterbacks who have thrown 5 interceptions are Steve Pelluer, Danny White, and Eddie Lebaron.

Last time the Giants were 5-2 was in 1993 with Dan Reeves.

Last time the Giants had 5 INTs in a game was in 1996 against the Lions.

Next Game
Oct 29, Eagles at Giants 4PM FOX

Stop in and visit "Mike's Keys to the Internet" at  www.myhost.com/miked

Website by Mike