The holiday season brings more than just joy to a number of NFL teams. It also brings urgency.
The New York Giants are one of those aforementioned teams. They knew Sunday’s game at home against the Dallas Cowboys was a must-win. A loss would pretty much shut the door on their divisional title hopes and leave them in a tough spot to contend for a Wild Card spot.
New York (7-5) responded to the task at hand, knocking off the Cowboys 31-24. It was the Giants’ second win this season over the Cowboys (8-4), who are tied with the Philadelphia Eagles for the NFC East lead, one game ahead of the Giants.
“We have a heated rivalry and they knew, it was said, if they didn’t win this one it would be tough for them to try and make a playoff run,” Cowboys linebacker Bradie James said. “Those guys rallied around and they made enough plays to win the game. They played well.”
The final nail in the coffin for the Cowboys came late in the fourth quarter when Giants kick returner Domenik Hixon took punter Matt McBriar’s kick 79 yards for a touchdown. It was the third-year player’s first career score on a return.
Hixon, who is also among the Giants’ talented young receiving corps, isn’t sure whether plays like that affect his opportunities on offense.
“We got a lot of talented wide receivers and everyone has their role,” he said. “Regardless of what your role is, you accept and take it on. You never know when you’re going to be called upon to run down and cover a punt or catch 10 balls a game. Whatever my role is I’m satisfied with it and I’ll keep on working hard with it.”
Dallas put together a 10-0 lead in the second quarter with back-to-back scoring drives. The first came on a 34-yard field goal by Nick Folk. Five minutes later, Dallas quarterback Tony Romo found Roy Williams in one-on-one coverage for his first touchdown pass of the evening. The two would connect again in the third quarter on a five-yard score.
“They gave us a certain look and we took advantage of it,” Romo said of the coverage on Williams. “It’s about execution. We did some good things today, but we need to look to do things better as a team going forward.”
New York countered Dallas’ two scoring drives with a pair of their own. The first came on a 21-yard pass from Eli Manning to Hakeem Nicks for the rookie’s fifth touchdown catch of the year. Dallas’ ensuing drive ended after just two plays when running back Marion Barber fumbled, giving the ball back to New York on the Cowboys’ 44-yard line. Brandon Jacobs took the ball in from one yard out to make Dallas pay for the mistake.
With the score 17-14 late in the third quarter, Manning (11-for-25, two touchdowns, one interception) got the ball out to his left to Jacobs, who rumbled 74 yards in the end zone. Jacobs, who also had 39 yards rushing, would later call the play the biggest of his career. The Giants never trailed the rest of the way.
“To be honest with you, we were expecting to put a game like this together a couple of weeks ago, it just hadn’t happened,” said Giants defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka, who forced Barber’s fumble earlier in the game. “We felt like we were ready, we just needed to get it done.”
Hixon added: “We knew coming in the Cowboys are a great team and they were coming into our stadium. A lot of things were on the line this week.”
Romo did just about all he could to help his team win. The Dallas quarterback completed 41-of-55 pass attempts for 392 yards and three touchdowns, the last one coming on a 22-yard pass to Miles Austin with the clock ticking down.
“I felt like we could throw the ball on them and I thought we did a good job on that,” Dallas head coach Wade Phillips said. “It wasn’t enough because of different reasons defensively and on special teams.”
Phillips was correct about his defense and special teams. Aside from Hixon’s punt return touchdown, the defense allowed 100 yards on the ground and another 227 through the air.
When asked how tough it was to lose two games in one season to a division rival, Romo said his team can’t look backwards.
“It’s always hard. I think we’re still in a position that allows us to control our destiny and we have to take advantage of that. We’ll be very committed this week to preparing for the fullest for the Chargers next week.”
The Giants have a tough road ahead, starting when Philadelphia comes to town on Sunday night. A win next week and a Dallas loss would present a three-way tie for the NFC East lead with three games remaining.
This means every week is an urgent must-win from here on out.
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