New York Giants Get Early Holiday Gift from Jason Garrett, Dallas Cowboys

While the New York Giants were giving the undefeated Green Bay Packers everything they wanted in a 38-35 game that wasn't decided until Mason Crosby's field goal at the gun, the race for the final playoff spots in the NFC remained unchanged.

The Atlanta Falcons, who came into the weekend leading the NFC wild-card chase, lost to the Houston Texans' third-string quarterback.

The Chicago Bears, who held the other wild card spot, lost running back Matt Forte and managed to be even more punchless offensively than the Kansas City Chiefs in a 10-3 loss at Soldier Field.

The Detroit Lions, just behind the first two listed teams because of tiebreakers, continued to kill themselves with undisciplined penalties in a 31-17 loss to the New Orleans Saints at the Superdome.

And the Dallas Cowboys, leading the NFC East by a game over the Giants, gave a game away to the Arizona Cardinals.

Because of those results, the Giants remain within striking distance of Dallas—a game back with four to play and both head-to-head matchups still on the schedule.

Perhaps the biggest winners out of all of this are Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid and San Diego Chargers coach Norv Turner. Those two now look like geniuses at end-of-game clock management when compared to what Cowboys coach Jason Garrett did in the desert on Sunday.

To recap, the Cowboys had two timeouts left when Tony Romo hooked up with Dez Bryant for a first down at the Cardinals' 31-yard line and 26 seconds left in a game tied 13-13.

I repeat: The Cowboys had two timeouts left.

Being just inside field-goal range with 26 seconds left seems like a good time to use a timeout, no?

Instead, the Cowboys "rushed" to the line of scrimmage to kill the clock with a spike. Except they didn't really rush. I'm not sure what Dallas did could be classified as meandering.

While the Cowboys milled around before finally snapping the ball to Romo, who thumped it into the grass, 19 seconds ran off the clock.

So with seven seconds to go, Garrett sent the field-goal unit out. The snap was good. The hold was good,. The kick was good. The Cowboys lead the NFC East by two games.

Except they didn't.

Garrett used one of those two timeouts just before the ball was snapped.

Yes, Garrett iced his own kicker.

That's a new strategy. Perhaps this week, Garrett can draw up some schemes to have Jason Witten come off his block to blitz Romo.

The result was what every opposing coach who uses the ice-the-kicker strategy hopes for: After booming the first 49-yard attempt right down the middle, rookie kicker Dan Bailey's attempt after the timeout was awful.

It was wide left but at least it was well short, so it had that going for it.

Compare that to what Aaron Rodgers did at the end of the game between the Packers and the Giants. Already within field-goal range, Rodgers threw the ball again to set up a closer, easier kick for Crosby.

That's because Packers coach Mike McCarthy obviously trusts Rodgers to execute properly in those tense, late-game situations.

It's obvious Garrett does not have the same level of trust in Romo, which leaves us with a huge game at the Jerry Jones Dome next Sunday night: Giants-Cowboys with the winner taking control of the NFC East.

So, Giants' fans, when you're putting together your list of holiday good wishes, don't forget Jason Garrett.

Without him, next Sunday night's game would just be for a chance to get back to within a game of the division lead.