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Week 19 Game Recap: New York Giants 21, Dallas Cowboys 17
What you need to know
| New York Giants |
Backup cornerback R.W. McQuarters intercepted Tony Romo's last minute attempt at a touchdown pass to seal the Giants 21 to 17 victory over the NFC's number one seed Dallas Cowboys. Despite significantly losing the time of possession battle, the Giants were more efficient with the ball. Eli Manning was very good with the ball, throwing two touchdowns to Amani Toomer and more importantly didn't turn the ball over.
Toomer was the Giants leading receiver, as Plaxico Burress seemed to aggravate his injured ankle early on and finished the game with only one catch. Toomer had a great game, catching two touchdowns, the first of which he broke two tackles on his way to the end zone. Steve Smith filled in nicely as a second receiving option, tying Toomer with four catches, and made a couple of really tough grabs.
The Giants running game wasn't spectacular, but it was consistent. Brandon Jacobs led the way with 54 yards on 14 carries, with a one yard score that was the game decider in the second half. Rookie Ahmad Bradshaw contributed 34 yards on six carries in spot duty.
The Giants defense got in Tony Romo's face, particularly towards the end of the game when Romo was seemingly hit on every pass attempt. The pass rush earned two sacks, and the only turnover of the game was the McQuarters game-sealing interception. Starting cornerback Aaron Ross left the game early in the second half with an injured right shoulder.
| Dallas Cowboys |
On fourth and 11 and the game on the line, Tony Romo targeted Terry Glenn in the end zone for the game winning touchdown, but the pass fell into the waiting arms of the Giants' R.W. McQuarters that sealed the loss for the Cowboys. Romo had an off game, only completing half of his passes, throwing one touchdown to Terrell Owens and the aforementioned one interception.
Running back Marion Barber was an absolute beast in the first half, compiling loads of rushing yards and breaking tackle after tackle. Barber didn't have quite as good of a second half, but still finished the game with 129 yards and a one yard rushing score. Barber got his first start of the year over Julius Jones. There had been talk that Jones would still see significant work in this game but it didn't play out that way. Jones only received three carries for the game.
Jason Witten and Terrell Owens were Romo's leading target, both of whom received double digit looks. Witten led the team with seven catches and 81 yards.
The Cowboys defense forced no turnovers, and had two sacks.
What you ought to know
| QB Eli Manning, Pass: 12 - 18 - 163 - 2 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 3 - 2 - 0 |
Manning had a good game. He completed two-thirds of his passes and threw two touchdowns to Amani Toomer. Toomer was his preferred target by double. Manning threw four balls to Steve Smith as Plaxico Burress appeared to aggravate his injured ankle in the first half. He did a great job protecting the ball and leading the Giants on effective scoring drives.
| RB Brandon Jacobs, Rush: 14 - 54 - 1, Rec: 1 - 5 - 0 (1 targets) |
Jacobs had an average game, averaging just under four yards a carry. He scored the Giants' game winning touchdown on a second half one yard touchdown rush.
| RB Ahmad Bradshaw, Rush: 6 - 34 - 0, Rec: 1 - 6 - 0 (1 targets) |
Bradshaw spelled Jacobs effectively with his six carries. He was also the Giants primary kick off returner.
| WR Amani Toomer, Rec: 4 - 80 - 2 (8 targets) |
Toomer did a great job as Manning's primary receiver. He had two touchdowns, including the first where he had a nice run after the catch for a long score. Toomer dropped what would have been around a 20 yard gain in the first half.
| WR Steve Smith, Rec: 4 - 48 - 0 (4 targets) |
Smith made some nice grabs, and caught all four of his targets. He was a reliable second option for Eli Manning with Plaxico Burress ailing.
| WR Plaxico Burress, Rec: 1 - 5 - 0 (3 targets) |
Burress had a sub par game, and seemed to be affected by his injured ankle. He was targeted deep twice, including once in the end zone, but only hauled in one catch.
| TE Kevin Boss, Rec: 1 - 19 - 0 (2 targets) |
Boss caught one of his targets for a nice 19 yard gain. He was targeted in the end zone on his other look.
| PK Lawrence Tynes 0 - 0 FG, 3 - 3 XP, 3 points |
Tynes made all three of his PATs.
| NYG Rush Defense |
New York's rush defense gave up 154 total yards on 33 carries for a 4.7 average. They gave up most of the yardage in the first half, but clamped down nicely in the second. They allowed one touchdown to Marion Barber III and didn't force any turnovers.
| NYG Pass Defense |
New York's pass defense gave up 201 yards on 18 of 36 passing for 5.6 yards per attempt. They gave up one short touchdown pass to Terrell Owens, and sealed the game on a last minute interception. They sacked Tony Romo twice.
| QB Tony Romo, Pass: 18 - 36 - 201 - 1 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 3 - 17 - 0 |
Romo had a relatively off game, as he only completed half of his passes. To his credit though, his receivers did seem to drop an above average amount of passes. Romo's preferred targets were Jason Witten and Terrell Owens, the former of which led the team in receiving stats, while Owens scored the Cowboys' only receiving touchdown. He also scrambled three times for 17 yards.
| RB Marion Barber III, Rush: 27 - 129 - 1, Rec: 1 - 9 - 0 (2 targets) |
Barber was extremely impressive, especially in the first half. He was constantly breaking tackles and ran through Giants defenders frequently. Barber tailed off in the second half but still finished with over 120 yards and a first half one yard touchdown run. Notably, Barber got his first start of the year, finally supplanting Julius Jones despite outperforming him all year.
| RB Julius Jones, Rush: 3 - 8 - 0 |
Jones was benched and only had three carries.
| WR Terrell Owens, Rec: 4 - 49 - 1 (11 targets) |
Owens led the team in targets, and was targeted deep frequently. He caught Romo's only touchdown pass on the game in the first half. Owens finished second on the team in receiving yards. His high ankle sprain didn't seem to bother him during the game.
| WR Patrick Crayton, Rec: 3 - 27 - 0 (8 targets) |
Crayton should have had a better game, but he was hurt by a couple of critical drops that would likely have earned him 20 or more additional yards. He dropped a costly ball in the end zone late in the game when the Cowboys were attempting to rally for the win.
| WR Terry Glenn, Rec: 2 - 30 - 0 (5 targets) |
Glenn got his first catch of the year in the game, and finished with two. He was the end zone target on the game deciding play that was intercepted but never really had a shot at the ball.
| TE Jason Witten, Rec: 7 - 81 - 0 (10 targets) |
Witten led the team in receiving stats. Despite only getting one target in the first half, he got nine in the second.
| TE Anthony Fasano, Rec: 1 - 5 - 0 (2 targets) |
Fasano only had one catch in the game.
| PK Nick Folk 1 - 1 FG, 2 - 2 XP, 5 points |
Folk made field goals of 34 yards and made both his PATs.
| DAL Rush Defense |
Dallas's rush defense gave up 90 total yards on 23 carries for a 3.9 average. They gave up one touchdown to Brandon Jacobs and forced no turnovers.
| DAL Pass Defense |
Dallas's pass defense gave up 163 yards on 12 of 18 passing for 9.1 yards per attempt. They gave up two touchdowns to Amani Toomer and forced no turnovers. They sacked Eli Manning three times.
