Giants Spoil Cowboys' Housewarming

NFL News - September 21st, 2009 - Written by John

The New York Giants could get used to this record audience thing.

A week after beating Washington in what was later announced as the most-watched game in NFL history, the Giants again beat a division rival in front of another record crowd, laughing the Dallas Cowboys off the stage, 33-31, Sunday night.

This time it was a live audience; the enormous jumbo screens announced that the 105, 121 fans in attendance broke the NFL's previous record of just over 103, 000. Lawrence Tines made it seem like the crowd could've been 10,000 when he punched through a 37-yard field with no time left to silence the stadium and leave Jerry Jones' head shaking.

"Everybody makes a big deal because we spoiled their little party," Giants' defensive end Justin Tuck said on Yahoo! Sports. "Every other game we play in the NFC East will be just as big."

This wasn't the biggest game of the year, though that's probably the way the Cowboys wanted it to appear. Far from it. Despite an electric atmosphere, worshipping Cowboys owner Jones for his Texas-sized credit card, all the dust eventually settled and what was left was just another divisional game that both teams needed to have. Probably more-so for the Cowboys in their first game inside the $1.15 billion stadium.

"People were talking about this like it was the Super Bowl in the second week of the season," said Antonio Pierce on Yahoo! Sports. "We just came here to win a football game."

Instead, the Cowboys looked like just another average team with a huge ego, and a the Giants are now on cruise control. They have started the season with two divisional wins against it's biggest rivals and can easily move to 3-0 with games against Tampa Bay, Kansas City and Oakland. The Raiders are the only team of the bunch with a win after beating the Chiefs.

"The whole team did a good job of gutting it out," Eli Manning told reporters. "This is a good thing to build from."

Tines' kick was actually his second after Dallas coach Wade Phillips called timeout before his first sailed true. It was the eighth lead change of the game.

The Cowboys took the lead just three minutes before when Tony Romo took his team on a 71-yard march to the end zone, closed out by a seven-yard dash up the middle by Felix Jones. On the ensuing drive, the Giants were flagged 10 yards for clipping on the kickoff and faced 1st-and-20. For Manning, it was no problem. He led his team out of it and continued to roll on two third-down conversions before settling on the Dallas 20.

Romo, however, not so much. The four-year starter for the 'Boys threw three interceptions and ruined the Cowboys chances for a win in a game they dominated. Two of his picks were returned for touchdowns and his offense just couldn't score enough to account for it.

"I'm sorry that I wasn’t able to play up to the level the rest of the other guys did," Romo told reporters after the game. "I have to get better at the mistakes I made and I will."

To discuss this and other NFL related stories be sure to check out our new forum at:
https://www.usaplayers.com/forums/