Giving One Away: Cowboys fall to Giants 33-31

Alas. There are so many things to talk about. Some games just come and go and you forget about them within a couple of weeks. But not this one. This one stings. This one got away.

You can say that the Giants caught all the breaks (which they probably did), that the Cowboys outplayed them (looked that way for awhile) and the Cowboys should have won (ha.). But at the end of the day, this one goes in the right hand column. They just didn’t get it done. Follow the jump for much more on the first loss.

• Where to start? There were stretches of this game where the Dallas Cowboys looked like a legitimate Super Bowl contender. There were stretches of this game where the Dallas Cowboys looked like a NCAA Division II team. Let’s alternate between those two looks.
• The running game was completely dominated by the Cowboys tonight. Both the New York Giants’ running attack and the Dallas Cowboys running attack were controlled by the Dallas Cowboys. Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw combined for 95 yards on 25 carries, which comes out to less than four yards per carry. If you had told me before the game that the Cowboys’ D would hold the Giants’ running backs under 100 yards combined, I would have said the Cowboys would win.
• Meanwhile, on the other side of the ball, Marion Barber and Felix Jones combined for the same number of carries – 25 – yet gained 210 yards combined. Again, if you had told me that the Cowboys would more than double the number of rushing yards that the Giants had, I would have bet that the Cowboys would have won.
• But the passing game for the New York Giants did just about everything that it wanted to. Eli Manning picked the Cowboys apart on D, never really being pressured the whole night. Two straight games for the Cowboys D without a sack or turnover – that has to change. Now.
• There’s not really one guy to blame for the breakdown on defense against the pass – the guys up front didn’t get a pass rush, the secondary played poorly, the linebackers (BOBBY CARPENTER!!!!!) didn’t seem to be involved in that many plays, especially ones that turned out good for the Cowboys. (Seriously, Bobby. Can’t be holding on that play. Didn’t really cost us, but that’s just dumb.)
• The offensive line played great. Romo was never really in trouble, and while Justin Tuck’s injury probably helped ease the strain on the line a little bit, there are still plenty of good rushers on that line. Plus, if you can open enough holes to run for 250 yards, you’ve got to be doing something right. They didn’t even have that many penalties! (Although that tripping penalty on Flozell was one of the worst penalties I’ve ever seen. Just downright stupid, and it cost the Cowboys a huge pass play to Crayton.)
• A big time stink bomb from Tony Romo. By the end of the game, it was a big deal if he was completing a pass. If he wasn’t getting picked off, he was forcing a ball into double coverage. Even the ball that went off of Witten’s foot and was returned for a touchdown was really Romo’s fault. It was unlucky that the ball went off the back of the foot into the arms of Kenny Phillips, but the ball was behind Witten in the first place. Overthrowing Sam Hurd to set up the second interception to Phillips is also inexcusable. The first T.A.I.N.T. was another bad throw. Let’s hope this was just a one-time thing for the guy, but if Romo has more games like this throughout the season, I’m not sure if he’s the guy going forward.

The Cowboys did play the Giants tough. That at least has to count for something. Surely Romo won’t have another disastrous game like this one. The next three games are very winnable; Carolina, Denver and Kansas City are all worse than the Giants. After the bye week, the Cowboys have two home games against Atlanta and Seattle. Both of those should be wins. This is not a game that’s going to sink the season. It was a tough game to lose because it should have been a win, but it’s just one game. Bounce back next week against Carolina and everything will be a lot.

(Delhomme pic from totalprosports.com)