Led by defense, Big Blue collapses
EAST RUTHERFORD – When you are in need for the proper perspective, who better to speak up than co-owner John Mara?
“If I had known it would’ve ended like this,” Mara said. “I would’ve kept the lights off.”
Mara was referring to the outage inside the new $1.6 billion New Meadowlands Stadium that certainly is no Motel 6, where they at least keep the light on for you.
Of course, he also could have been speaking of the Giants team as a whole, particularly the defense.
Perhaps they watched the film of the Cowboys last three games and assumed they only had to show up and cover the two-touchdown spread.
Instead, they were on a the wrong end of a 33-20 score that was not as close as the 13 point margin would indicate and now brings questions of the team mental fragility and sudden inability to handle praise and prosperity.
“Today, I don’t think we brought the energy that we had brought the last five games,” said Justin Tuck. “For whatever season, I don’t know.”
What else could explain such a woeful performance? Don’t tell me that the offense played well in this game because even early in the game you could see that the same crispness shown in the last several games clearly was missing.
However, this paled in comparison to what we saw on the other side of the ball.
After a good defensive stand on the Cowboys first drive, smack the Giants in the mouth when Dez Bryant beat Terrell Thomas on a 45-yard reception and then made a great, athletic play hauling in a 13-yard touchdown.
Dallas likely would have scored again needing one yard to go for a touchdown on third down when Jon Kitna tripped over feet on an exchange causing a three-yard loss forcing a field goal.
Maybe the Giants did not know it then, but it was clear that the Cowboys were here to play. This was not the gutless, 1-7 squad who quit on their former coach Wade Phillips. They played so bad Jerry Jones had to fire him six days ago. Suddenly, that team had a sense of belief in what they were doing.
The Giants, boasting statistically the best defense in the league, had zero answers.
“They came out to play,” said safety Kenny Phillips. We didn’t and we didn’t play well. They did what they had to do, but we didn’t take care of our business.”
When backup cornerback Bryan McCann stepped in front of a potential Eli Manning touchdown pass and returned it 101 yards for a touchdown, the sense of dread began to fill New Meadowlands Stadium.
Yet the score at halftime was 19-6. The Giants offense at least was moving the ball, but killing themselves with penalties and backing themselves and long third down situations. However, all the defense needed to do you figured was to stop the Cowboys on their opening possession of the third quarter and get the ball back to have a chance.
They could not.
The defense held them to zero yards on the first two plays as the stadium lights (about half of them) mysteriously went out. Needing to prevent Dallas from gaining ten yards on third down, Felix Jones got 71, taking a screen pass and using his great speed with help from his blockers to sprint all the way to the end zone to increase the Cowboys lead to 20 points.
“It was a great play,” said Antrel Rolle. “They got us at the right time.”
All season the Giants defense has been great at not giving up big plays all year. Only four times had an opponent gained 40 yards or more on a play. In this game, it happened four times.
There was a sense of confusion among the players. Were they complacent or perhaps taking the Cowboys lightly?
Maybe.
If so, they did a great job of talking themselves into believing it wouldn’t happen all week. Yet, it was happening anyway as everything Dallas was doing on the surface appeared to confuse the Giants.
“They played well,” said Osi Umenyiora. “They hit us with a lot of big plays.”
The pass rush could get to Kitna the way it did to Tony Romo in the first meeting.
Because of the Cowboys new scheme to protect its quarterback from suffering the same fate, tight ends Jason Witten and Martellus Bennett in to block and occasionally keeping a running back, thus negating pressure and allowing time to throw, something very few teams have done until Sunday.
With time, receivers were in one-on-one matchups with Corey Webster and Terrell Thomas. Arguably, the two played one of their worst games of the year.
None was more evident that a sequence late in the third quarter when trailing by 13 points, the defense needed to make another stand. The Cowboys faced a third-and-22 at their own 49 when Kitna lofted a pass down the left sideline that Roy Williams brought in for a 27-yard completion for a first down.
On the next play, Miles Austin spun Webster around three times before beating him inside on a post after Kenny Phillips crept close to the line, taking him out of the play. The result was a 24-yard touchdown that sealed any real chance the Giants had of making a comeback.
“They attacked our weakness, and they made plays,” said Thomas. “They went right after us, and they kind of caught us off guard.”
Kitna only completed 13 passes, but threw for 327 yards, the most by any quarterback against this defense this season. The 427 yards was the most allowed all year despite the Cowboys only having the ball for just over 22 minutes as the breakdowns and the big plays opened up an old wound watching last year’s defense torched over the final 11 games.
With the injuries to the offensive line and the wide receivers, the production from the offense is going to drop from the 36 point per game clip they were at over the last four games. It was now time that the defense carry them while they found their way back into the game.
They could not.
It was an ugly loss. Not the fact they blew a chance to cement their standing as one of the league’s elite, but because it bring about questions as to how good this team truly is. Did the Cowboys expose a flaw in the Giants that other teams surely will attempt to exploit, most notably the explosive Eagles attack next Sunday night.
“Maybe this is that wakeup call we can use,” Tuck would say. “I think we are poised to kind of rebound from this.”
After this loss, you wonder if this defense can flip the “on” switch and return to their dominant selves.
“We just have to bounce back,” said Rolle.
If they don’t, as we saw, it may be “lights out” on the season.
“If I had known it would’ve ended like this,” Mara said. “I would’ve kept the lights off.”
Mara was referring to the outage inside the new $1.6 billion New Meadowlands Stadium that certainly is no Motel 6, where they at least keep the light on for you.
Of course, he also could have been speaking of the Giants team as a whole, particularly the defense.
Perhaps they watched the film of the Cowboys last three games and assumed they only had to show up and cover the two-touchdown spread.
Instead, they were on a the wrong end of a 33-20 score that was not as close as the 13 point margin would indicate and now brings questions of the team mental fragility and sudden inability to handle praise and prosperity.
“Today, I don’t think we brought the energy that we had brought the last five games,” said Justin Tuck. “For whatever season, I don’t know.”
What else could explain such a woeful performance? Don’t tell me that the offense played well in this game because even early in the game you could see that the same crispness shown in the last several games clearly was missing.
However, this paled in comparison to what we saw on the other side of the ball.
After a good defensive stand on the Cowboys first drive, smack the Giants in the mouth when Dez Bryant beat Terrell Thomas on a 45-yard reception and then made a great, athletic play hauling in a 13-yard touchdown.
Dallas likely would have scored again needing one yard to go for a touchdown on third down when Jon Kitna tripped over feet on an exchange causing a three-yard loss forcing a field goal.
Maybe the Giants did not know it then, but it was clear that the Cowboys were here to play. This was not the gutless, 1-7 squad who quit on their former coach Wade Phillips. They played so bad Jerry Jones had to fire him six days ago. Suddenly, that team had a sense of belief in what they were doing.
The Giants, boasting statistically the best defense in the league, had zero answers.
“They came out to play,” said safety Kenny Phillips. We didn’t and we didn’t play well. They did what they had to do, but we didn’t take care of our business.”
When backup cornerback Bryan McCann stepped in front of a potential Eli Manning touchdown pass and returned it 101 yards for a touchdown, the sense of dread began to fill New Meadowlands Stadium.
Yet the score at halftime was 19-6. The Giants offense at least was moving the ball, but killing themselves with penalties and backing themselves and long third down situations. However, all the defense needed to do you figured was to stop the Cowboys on their opening possession of the third quarter and get the ball back to have a chance.
They could not.
The defense held them to zero yards on the first two plays as the stadium lights (about half of them) mysteriously went out. Needing to prevent Dallas from gaining ten yards on third down, Felix Jones got 71, taking a screen pass and using his great speed with help from his blockers to sprint all the way to the end zone to increase the Cowboys lead to 20 points.
“It was a great play,” said Antrel Rolle. “They got us at the right time.”
All season the Giants defense has been great at not giving up big plays all year. Only four times had an opponent gained 40 yards or more on a play. In this game, it happened four times.
There was a sense of confusion among the players. Were they complacent or perhaps taking the Cowboys lightly?
Maybe.
If so, they did a great job of talking themselves into believing it wouldn’t happen all week. Yet, it was happening anyway as everything Dallas was doing on the surface appeared to confuse the Giants.
“They played well,” said Osi Umenyiora. “They hit us with a lot of big plays.”
The pass rush could get to Kitna the way it did to Tony Romo in the first meeting.
Because of the Cowboys new scheme to protect its quarterback from suffering the same fate, tight ends Jason Witten and Martellus Bennett in to block and occasionally keeping a running back, thus negating pressure and allowing time to throw, something very few teams have done until Sunday.
With time, receivers were in one-on-one matchups with Corey Webster and Terrell Thomas. Arguably, the two played one of their worst games of the year.
None was more evident that a sequence late in the third quarter when trailing by 13 points, the defense needed to make another stand. The Cowboys faced a third-and-22 at their own 49 when Kitna lofted a pass down the left sideline that Roy Williams brought in for a 27-yard completion for a first down.
On the next play, Miles Austin spun Webster around three times before beating him inside on a post after Kenny Phillips crept close to the line, taking him out of the play. The result was a 24-yard touchdown that sealed any real chance the Giants had of making a comeback.
“They attacked our weakness, and they made plays,” said Thomas. “They went right after us, and they kind of caught us off guard.”
Kitna only completed 13 passes, but threw for 327 yards, the most by any quarterback against this defense this season. The 427 yards was the most allowed all year despite the Cowboys only having the ball for just over 22 minutes as the breakdowns and the big plays opened up an old wound watching last year’s defense torched over the final 11 games.
With the injuries to the offensive line and the wide receivers, the production from the offense is going to drop from the 36 point per game clip they were at over the last four games. It was now time that the defense carry them while they found their way back into the game.
They could not.
It was an ugly loss. Not the fact they blew a chance to cement their standing as one of the league’s elite, but because it bring about questions as to how good this team truly is. Did the Cowboys expose a flaw in the Giants that other teams surely will attempt to exploit, most notably the explosive Eagles attack next Sunday night.
“Maybe this is that wakeup call we can use,” Tuck would say. “I think we are poised to kind of rebound from this.”
After this loss, you wonder if this defense can flip the “on” switch and return to their dominant selves.
“We just have to bounce back,” said Rolle.
If they don’t, as we saw, it may be “lights out” on the season.
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