Giants 41, Cowboys 35

In a game nowhere near as close as the final score, the Giants topped the Cowboys tonight on Monday Night Football, 41-35. The G-Men dominated this game, yet couldn’t get out of their own way, as five turnovers led directly to 28 Cowboys points. The other TD came on an 88-yard punt return by Dez Bryant. Eli Manning got off to a horrendous start, throwing two picks deep in Cowboys territory on the Giants’ first two possessions. The Cowboys capitalized, taking a 10-0 lead despite having only 15 total yards of offense at that point. Manning eventually heated up, tossing four TD passes. The Giants’ running backs also looked good, and the defense knocked Tony Romo out of the game and punished 90-year old Jon Kitna until the Cowboys got a bit of life at the end of the game.
Up 38-20 with just over three minutes remaining, the Giants inexplicably threw the ball when they should have been running out the clock. Keith Brooking returned a Manning INT inside the 20, and Kitna found Bryant for a score. The Giants recovered the onside kick and eventually got a field goal from Lawrence Tynes to make it 41-28. The Cowboys drove down the field on a soft Giants defense, and Kitna hooked up with Bryant again to close the gap to 41-35. Never should have gotten to that point, but I’ll take the win despite a bad start and finish. The Giants head into their bye week at 5-2, alone atop the NFC East. I’m cautiously optimistic, although the Giants rolled to a 5-0 start last year before absolutely tanking down the stretch. But in a pretty weak NFC, the Giants should at least make the playoffs this year. As for the Cowboys, wonder if Jerry Jones still thinks his team will reach the Super Bowl. At 1-5 and without their overrated star QB, 6-10 may be a stretch for this overpaid group of underachievers.