Sun
Jan 13, 4:30 pm - Giants at Dallas
Giants
(11-6) vs Dallas (13-3).
Last week Tampa
Bay put everything they had into stopping the Giants in the first quarter. Then
the Giants took over for the rest of the game. They left town with a 24-14 win.
There were some mixed feelings about head coach Jon Gruden resting seven of his
starters in their game before playing the Giants. They lost the game and that
strategy looks shaky. So will the Cowboys be at a disadvantage? The Cowboys, being
division champs and all, were on an NFL 'forced' rest having been granted their
playoff bye week.The good the
bad and the ugly.
You could say the Giants
had a 'bad' game last time out against the Cowboys. They were tied at halftime
with Jeremy Shockey catching 8 passes for 86 yards, including 1 touchdown. Terrell
Owens was held to 3 catches for 31 yards, but then even with Shockey catching
4 more passes for 43 yards, the defense suddenly couldn't stop the Tony Romo to
Terrell Owens connection. Owens ended up the day with 6 catches for 123 yards
and 2 touchdowns, and Romo missed on only 4 more of his passes.
We won't even
get into the 'ugly' season opener where the Giants defense let the Cowboys run
rampant in the backfield. Even with Manning throwing for 4 touchdowns, Dallas
beat them with 45 points to their 35. Looking back at those last two games, if
the Giants defense had played just a simple 'good' game, that would have been
enough for the offense to make it stick. So now lets have that 'good' game. Terrell
Owens - In or out?
He has a high ankle sprain
which usually requires several weeks for recovery, and obviously, the Giants would
prefer him out. Owens has had a mere 9 catches against them this season in the
two games, but they amounted to 212 yards and 4 touchdowns. It's just dangerous
to allow Owens to catch the ball. The Cowboys haven't scored a touchdown in the
six quarters since he was injured, but to be fair, Tony Romo and some other starters
sat out the last two. Terrell Owens looks likely play as he did in Super Bowl
XXXIX. The big question is can he be effective and will he require double coverage
from the Giants? Jessica
Simpson - In or out?
The Giants would prefer
her in, but it looks like that's not going to happen. The Dallas fans (and maybe
some of the players) believe she is some kind of super jinx. It doesn't matter
if she is or not, because it has become an enormous distraction. The belief is
that quarterback Tony Romo becomes dreamy-eyed when looking up into the stands
at his girlfriend de jour, and then cross-eyed when he tries to focus back on
the field at his receivers. Tony
Romo.
Last week Eli Manning worked his butt
off at nailing down the first playoff win in his career, and he did. Meanwhile,
Tony Romo was vacationing, and we'll have to be extra careful with our wording
regarding Tony Romo working off any butts or about his nailing anything down.
Let's just say Romo put off his football homework assignment for one week. He's
trying to win his first playoff game, and if the Giants have anything to say about
it, he'll be left back for another year. Romo's bad classroom habits started in
the final three games of the season where he's thrown just one touchdown pass
and five interceptions.
Eli Manning.
Manning has been on target
lately, and In the last two meetings with Dallas he completed 68% of his passes
(51 of 75) for 548 yards, 5 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. Jeremy Shockey came
up big in the last Dallas game with 12 receptions for 129 yards, but he's out
for the season with a broken leg suffered against the Redskins in December. Fortunately,
Kevin Boss has been a pleasant surprise filling in for him. Manning can also hit
Plaxico Burress if he's not in double coverage, and don't forget reliable Amani
Toomer. With all that, if things aren't going well for Manning, the Giants shouldn't
forget that they have the league's fourth-ranked rushing offense. Tom
Coughlin or Wade Phillips.
Your quiz for
this week is to guess which head coach made the following statement about their
players, and no, you don't get a million bucks for guessing right. Here goes -
"The players' private lives are their own," the coach said. "My advice was
to get off their feet and relax, try to get away from football. That's just my
advice. I don't want to control their lives. Even if I could, I don't want to." Giants
pass rush.
Wow, the Giants lead the league
in sacks with 53, and that's awesome news until you do some simple math. Take
53 and subtract 3, and you have 50, which is the total sack destruction the Giants
have wrought against all their opponents this year with the exception of Dallas.
That's right, they have just 3 sacks in 2 games leveled on Tony Romo. The Giants
would respond that in their win against Tampa Bay last Sunday they sacked Jeff
Garcia only once, but hit him 11 other times, and chased him out of the pocket,
without let up. Unfortunately, they need to catch Romo because he's most dangerous
when chased.
Check
out.
The Team
Giants Store, and see some of the really unique items we put together. There
are some items you certainly haven't seen elsewhere, and each sale helps out our
site.Notes.
Giants
finished the season with 53 sacks working under new defensive coordinator Steve
Spagnuolo.
Last year they had 32 sacks. Cowboys
had 56 pass plays of 20 or more yards this season, 10 of which came against the
Giants. Cowboys Terrell Owens led the
NFC with 15 touchdown catches. Cowboys
have never beaten a team three times in one season. Cowboys
coach Wade Phillips has never won a playoff game.
Phillips is 0-3 as a head
coach in the playoffs. Next
Game
Jan 20 - NFC Playoff schedule if Giants qualify. Giants
at Seattle or Green Bay 6:30 p.m.
Giants
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