NFL Playoff Picture: Eli Manning Continues Fine Season with Cowboys Beatdown

NFL fans, consider yourselves spoiled as the playoffs come early in a rivalry clash that will see the New York Giants club the Dallas Cowboys on their way to the playoffs. 

It is rare that we find a game that actually matters in Week 17. It will surely be buried amidst stinkers of contests that feature teams with no hopes going up against squads that will be taking it easy. 

And then there was the Cowboys traveling to play the Giants to consider. It is perfectly situated as the Sunday night game. Fitting considering it will be the final piece to the playoff puzzle. 

The winner goes on and the loser gets to lick their wounds far sooner then they would have liked. That team will be the Cowboys who will find out once again that Eli Manning can close out a game. 

We are only a couple weeks removed from the Giants' fourth quarter rally to sting the Cowboys. On Sunday, that game will prove to have been a sign of things to come.

I have faith in the Giants having a great deal more success in the running game with Ahmad Bradshaw looking far more spry recently. I am equally confident that the Giants have a hold on how to limit the Cowboys on the ground this time around.

The game will obviously come down to the battle of the quarterbacks. The Cowboys will hope that Tony Romo is their man, a tenuous proposition even with a healthy hand. 

Romo will be hampered by a bruised hand and Eli Manning will continue his fine form into Week 17. The only real worry is the consistency of Manning's receivers. 

That corps dropped far too many passes in the past couple of weeks and it will have to be remedied on Sunday. 

With that said, they will no doubt have a tremendous amount of precise passes lofted their way. I am banking on a high-scoring affair that sees the Giants win at home, capturing the final playoff spot. 

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