Despite Mental Mistakes, Giants Prove They Won't Back Down from NFC East Rivals

It wasn't enough, and for that the New York Giants only have themselves to blame—but in the process of Sunday night's loss, the G-Men proved their status as contenders in the NFC East race.

The result didn't show it, but the Giants controlled the vast majority of their season opener, a 27-26 defeat at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys. It took another amazing last-minute comeback from Tony Romo to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

For the better part of 55 minutes in Sunday night's game, New York had Romo and Co. figured out. The Cowboys mustered just 13 points in that span, with the Giants defense constantly forcing the issue.

Up against one of the NFL's top offenses, the Giants flexed their defensive muscle and took over the game. Two game-changing turnovers weren't from fluke plays, but rather the byproduct of a defense taking a toll on its opponent.

Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie's fingerprints laid all over that aspect of the game, coming up with the first big momentum swing. Trailing 6-3 late in the first half, the cornerback gave his squad the momentum entering the locker room:

Without much help from the offense, the defense was forced to bail the Giants out again down the stretch. New York pried the ball free with a hat-on-ball hit from Brandon Meriweather, which allowed Rashad Jennings to punch the ball in from one yard out.

A 23-13 lead quickly became a three-point game when Romo connected with Jason Witten. And as the onus fell on Eli Manning and the Giants offense to seal the victory, things began to get nutty.

As the Giants marched down the field, burning the Cowboys' timeouts and moving inside the 10, there were two simple objectives—get the ball in the end zone, or leave as little time for Romo and the Dallas offense as possible.

Needless to say, neither happened.

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With a 1st-and-goal from four yards out, the Giants went up the middle with Jennings twice and got to the 1-yard line. Just 1:43 remained on the clock with no Cowboys timeouts when Manning worked a play fake and saw the pocket collapse around him.

The Cowboys couldn't have scripted a better result, as Manning sailed the ball out of the end zone—leaving 1:39 to work with when a simple run up the middle would've taken the clock under a minute.

Among the many baffled was NFL legend Boomer Esiason:

The moment in which that happened, you could just feel the comeback on its way. Even after the Giants knocked in a field goal to make it 26-20, it didn't change the Cowboys' plans to march right down the field.

As he's done so many times before, Romo saved his best for last and carried Dallas down the field, even without Dez Bryant. A game-winning touchdown to Witten with seven seconds left effectively ended the Giants' hopes.

Not one to deflect responsibility when things turn sour, head coach Tom Coughlin took the blame for that crucial lapse at the end, per NFL Media:

While Coughlin and the coaching staff shouldn't have put his offense in the position to begin with, there's also the argument that Manning conceded a chance to simply sit down and take the sack.

Throwing the ball away is a great play in many instances—but this time it may have cost New York a win. Clock management is indeed a cruel beast, as Matt Maiocco of CSN poked fun at:

Even Romo was asked about the instance in his post-game interview, but he offered up a softball to reporters and admitted his team may have gotten away with one, per ESPN's Dan Graziano:

When it really boils down to it, winning teams who are aspiring to contend in a tough division have to come up with games like this. But considering how last season started, it's a step in the right direction.

Starting out 2014 left a bad taste in the Giants' mouths that they never really got rid of, after a pair of double-digit defeats in the opening two weeks. Of course, New York finished 6-10 and near the NFC East cellar.

This year appears to be a different story, at least based on how the team fought Sunday, as the Giants' J.T. Thomas said, per the Giants' official Twitter:

"I'm proud of our guys," Thomas said. "I wouldn't want to be in any other locker room and we can only get better at this point. It says a lot about our group, and the reason why I'm so excited is we have many opportunities to get better in front of us."

Thomas had better hope the rest of his Giants teammates take on Week 2 and the rest of the season with that type of mentality. Because they showed on Sunday that as long as they lean on their defense and don't shoot themselves in the foot, they'll be contenders.