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Giants (4-2) vs Cowboys
(1-4)
The Cowboys are struggling for wins this season.
They are coming off a tough 24-21
loss to the Vikings and
now will face the Giants. The Cowboys are looking
down the barrel of possibly being a 1-5 team, allowing the Giants to be 5-2 and
off to their bye week. Meanwhile the Cowboys will play two straight before traveling
to the Meadowlands to meet with a better rested Giants team coming off just one
game.
The Giants won at home against the Lions last Sunday
28-20. They let the Lions hang in the game way too long considering the amount
of penalties they put on themselves. The Cowboys are averaging more penalties
than any other team and the Giants need to take advantage of each and every one
that may be afforded in this big Monday night division matchup. Dallas
Cowboys.
Poke fun at the Eagles for having
never won a Super Bowl, but there is another team in the NFC East that hadn't
even won a playoff game in 13 years. That's right, the Cowboys 34-14 wildcard
game victory over Philadelphia last season gave them their fist taste of playoff
euphoria in a long time before they were one and done the following week (Minnesota
34, Dallas 3). That was enough for owner and general manager chief Jerry Jones
to set his sights on having his team be the first to play a Super Bowl in their
own stadium.
Head Coach Wade Phillips even secured a contract extension and
despite the fact that it looks like he sometimes can't control his team and their
penalty flagged endzone victory dances, Phillips did have the best winning percentage
in Cowboy history coming into this season. His competition was tough because it
did include Bill Parcells, Jimmy Johnson, and even Tom Landry. So what the heck,
why not think Super Bowl, except for now a troublesome 1-4 start marred with the
fact that the Cowboys lead the NFL in penalties per game. For the record, on playoff
wins, over those past 13 years the Redskins had 2, Giants had 6, and Eagles had
the most with 10. Cowboys
Offense.
Wade Phillips says they're better
than a 1-4 team and his offense is rated as the third-best offense in the league.
Turnovers haven't helped any and Tony Romo has had five in the last two games.
Last week he completed 24 of his 32 passes for 220 yards and 3 touchdowns but
most of Romo's attempts traveled five yards or less with running backs combining
for 15 of those completions. The Vikings felt that hitting Romo a few times early
caused the Cowboys to give up on their downfield plays even with their secondary
working without their number one and two cornerbacks. Romo has a bruised left
thumb which could affect hand-offs but that's not his throwing hand. Dallas running
backs Felix Jones and Marion Barber together are averaging 3.9 yards per carry.
Receivers Miles Austin, Roy Williams, and Jason Witten are top notch with Auston
leading his team in both receptions (33) and receiving yards (486). Cowboys
Defense.
True to their league's fourth
best ranking, they effectively held Minnesota's Brett Favre, Adrian Peterson and
Randy Moss to just 188 total yards. Right, Adrian Peterson was held to three yards
per carry on 24 attempts and big target new hire Randy Moss to five catches for
just 55 yards. Favre took some big hits and 3 sacks from their bruising pass rush.
It was the special teams unit that cost the Cowboys 7 points on a 95-yard kickoff
return and Romo's two interceptions had his defense off the bench with poor field
position to protect, (Dal 16, Dal 30). That resulted in a touchdown and fieldgoal
and 10 more points. DeMarcus Ware is their sack leader and he'll be testing the
Giants offensive line for openings. Corner Mike Jenkins is a weakness in the secondary,
drawing enough interference and illegal contact penalties to lead the league. Giants
Offense.
They finally accomplished what
Tom Coughlin has been looking for. They did not have a turnover for the first
time this year. The only one was by the special teams when Matt Dodge fumbled
on his first punt attempt. They also kept their tempers in check and let the Lions
draw a slew of penalties instead. Kareem McKenzie even allowed Cliff Avril to
beat up on him and he drew a 15-yard penalty that kept a Giants drive going. The
game before McKenzie was hit twice for personal-foul penalties.
Eli
Manning also made Coughlin 'green zone' happy. In completing 20 of his 30 passes
for 177 yards, he led the team to scoring touchdowns on all four opportunities
inside the red zone, two passing and two rushing the ball. Ahmad
Bradshaw picked up 133 rushing yards, the second-highest total of his career,
and Brandon Jacobs had ten less carries for less yardage, 35 yards, but that included
his goal line work where he scored twice. Giants
Defense.
The defense has held their opponents
to less than 65 rushing yards in three straight games. That's tough on running
backs, but quarterbacks are not being overlooked and Osi Umenyiora is a standout.
He's second in the NFL with eight sacks and he leads the league with seven forced
fumbles. In the past three games, Umenyiora has 7 sacks which include 6 forced
fumbles. Defensive tackle Chris Canty has been coming on strong and he will be
playing in Dallas for the first time since leaving the Cowboys for the Giants.
He missed last year’s big opening at the Cowboys new stadium with a calf strain.
Justin Tuck is nursing an ankle injury and missed some practice, but linebacker
Keith Bulluck, who has missed three games may be back. The defense will probably
be able to stunt the run as they've been doing and that could be either a good
or bad thing if they can't keep the Cowboys receivers in check. Giants
Special Teams.
Punter Matt Dodge continues
to draw a lot of press. He fumbled the snap on the first punt of the game and
the Lions converted the turnover into a touchdown and early 7-0 lead. Dodge did
much better after that, and the 'fix' this time was wearing a glove so he could
handle the ball better. The 'fix' last time, if you recall, was not having him
be the holder on kickoffs. Hopefully there will be no 'fixes' that need to be
applied after the Dallas game. Lawrence Tynes (ankle) is recovered and ready to
play. Shayne Graham, who was 4-for-4 on extra points, did his job and is now gone.
Such is the life of a Kicker in the NFL. Best
to worst.
No team
in the NFL is undefeated at this point in the season. Two
teams still have no wins, the Buffalo Bills (0-5) in the AFC, and Carolina Panthers
(0-5) in the NFC. The Bills play the heavily favored Ravens (4-2) in Baltimore
and the Panthers play at home against San Francisco (1-5) and are not favored
to win. NFC East.
The Giants play the Cowboys at 8:30 Monday night, the day after the Redskins (3-3)
play at Chicago (4-2) at 1pm. The Eagles (4-2) play at that same time in Tennessee
against the Titans (4-2). Just like last week, the Cowboys are the only division
team in this group favored to win their game. 
Check
out.
The Team Giants Store,
and see some of the really unique items we put together.
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Notes.
Giants
have knocked out three quarterbacks with injuries so far this season. Giants
have never gone seven games into a season before facing a division rival.
Giants won two straight over the Cowboys and four of the last five games.
Cowboys Tony Romo last year set single-season Cowboys passing records while throwing
a career-low 9 interceptions. He already has 7 in just five games. Cowboys
Tony Romo has a passer rating of over 100 in four of his past five games against
the Giants. Cowboys are the only team
to have outgained opponents in every game this season but are only 1-4.
Oddly
their one win against Houston was the one where they were the least effective
in that area. Cowboys are a league worst
0-4 for games decided by seven points or fewer.
Next
Games
Nov 7
- Giants at Seattle
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