Giants-Cowboys: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

What happened to the mojo of the New York Giants? Remember when they were the best team in football? Now they don’t even look like a good team, let alone the best. They’ve looked terrible two weeks in a row.

Sure, they’re just jockeying for home field advantage and a bye in the first round of the playoffs, so there isn’t monumental importance to these last few games, but what happened?

The Good

Nothing ever good comes from the Dallas Cowboys winning. Ever. No matter who they’re playing. Jerry Jones is insufferable. Terrell Owens is insufferable. Tony Romo is insufferable. The only good thing ever associated with the Cowboys is this movie (yes, Bucky Dent starred alongside Jane Seymour and Bert Convy). That’s it.

The Bad

When the most exciting play of the game for you is a safety and your best players on the field are John Carney and Jeff Feagles, you know you’re in trouble. Eli Manning didn’t have a chance in this game. He had no protection, the receivers couldn’t get open, and there was no running game to speak of. He was battered like a piñata all night long.

The Giants have now scored one garbage time touchdown in their last two games. What happened to the highest-scoring offense in football? They miss Brandon Jacobs, that’s what (and Plaxico Burress, but Jacobs more than him).

Derrick Ward is a nice complement to Jacobs, but that’s what he is—a complement. Jacobs can run over defenders, run through them, and run around them. He punishes a defense and wears it down. Ward can’t do that.

Of course, Ward didn’t have any help. The offensive line was offensive. Aren’t they supposed to be the best in the NFL? They didn’t open up any holes for the running backs, and the Dallas D ran right by them when they were trying to protect Manning.

On top of that, Kareem McKenzie had to leave the game with an injury and was replaced by Kevin Boothe, who was beaten on just about every play.

There were 12 sacks in all for both teams in this game, and they combined to commit 18 penalties. Until the last few minutes, the Cowboys were running the ball worse than the Giants. Much of the game was a penalty- and punt-fest. It was like watching a Lions-Raiders game.

The Giants D hit Romo, pressured him, sacked him, and almost knocked him out of the game. But the Dallas QB came through when he had to, making some big throws to his BFF Jason Witten.

The two pals were last seen running off the field, hand in hand, giggling like a couple of schoolgirls, off to watch their Barbie Mariposa DVD that they had cued up in the locker room. T.O., though, shed a lonely tear as he made his way to the tunnel by himself, watching his two teammates exclude him once again. Why, oh why won’t they play with him?

The Ugly

The Giants' O-line gave up eight sacks. That is pretty damn ugly. No holes for the running backs, and Manning was running for his life on every passing play. The Cowboys just plain whipped their butts. The whole team has been ugly the last two weeks. The contrast between the first 12 games and the last two is stark.

They have two more games to get their act together before the playoffs start. Hopefully Jacobs will be back next week, along with McKenzie, because right now they’re limping their way onto the postseason and playing like the Lions, not the Giants.