 Giants-Cowboys Preview They say the third time's the charm. The New York Giants, appearing to be on an upswing following a brush with destiny, nearly defeating the mythical Patriots in the last game of the season, and coming off a sound victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, have the chance to avenge two regular season losses to division rival Dallas. The Cowboys, riding home field advantage through the playoffs, have the benefit of an off-week to rest and recoup. They look to take the three-zero sweep of the Giants and hope to have Terrell Owens back to help make that possible. When the Cowboys have the ball-Dallas has owned the Giants' defense in the two meetings between the two teams this season, scoring an amazing 76 points total. Dallas almost has a total package offense, ranking fourth in the NFL in passing and a decent, but not explosive, seventeenth in rushing. Tony Romo is poised to join the elite passers of the NFL, throwing for 4,211 yards, thirty-six touchdowns and nineteen interceptions, good for a passer rating of 97.4. He has been very fortunate to have a receiving corps consisting of Jason Witten (1,145 yards, 7 touchdowns), Terrill Owens (1,355 yards, 15 touchdowns) and Patrick Crayton (697 yards, 7 touchdowns). This passing attack has been supported amply by the running back duo of Marion Barber and Julius Jones, good for a total 1,563 yards and twelve touchdowns. In Week One, the Cowboys, despite losing the time of possession battle 32:03 to 27:57, exploited the Giants' defense's early season woes by picking up 142 yards on thirty carries and 336 yards on twenty-five pass attempts. The Giants had nothing to slow down the Cowboys offense, ultimately allowing 45 points. In Week Ten, the Cowboys were grossly overmatched in the time of possession category, running offense only 25:12 against the Giants' 34:48, a difference of nearly ten minutes. They ran twenty-five running plays for only 80 yards; passed twenty-nine times for 243 net yards, but still outscored the Giants, 31-20. The Giants defense, finishing the season ranked eleventh against the pass and eighth against the run, began to take shape in the Week Ten contest. For the Cowboys to have success against the Giants, they will have to have Terrell Owens to keep the passing game open. Without the threat of Owens, the Giants will have much greater success shutting down the Cowboys' passing game, forcing the Cowboys to rely more on their running game. With Owens, the Cowboys passing game will fare much better than Tampa's last week, giving the Giants the same type of up-hill battle it faced with New England. When the Giants have the ball-The Giants have been a very one-sided offense this season. The rushing game has been impressive, anchored by the combined efforts of Brandon Jacobs (1,009 yards, 9 touchdowns), Derrick Ward (602 yards, 3 touchdowns) and Reuben Droughns (275 yards, 6 touchdowns). The Giants posted a total of 2,148 rushing yards, good for fourth in the NFL. By way of contrast, the passing game, revolving around a very erratic Eli Manning, posted 3,154 yards, a dismal twenty-first in the league. Manning, with his twenty-three touchdowns, twenty interceptions and 73.9 passer rating has, overall, been most successful in limited use. He has less than thirty passing attempts in six of New York's eleven total victories this season, including twenty-seven attempts for 185 yards in the playoff victory last week. Conversely, he has over thirty pass attempts in five of their six losses this season. Manning has, however, had success this season against Dallas. In Week One, he threw for 312 yards, a season-high four touchdowns and only one interception. In Week Ten, he had 236 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Both of those games were high scoring for New York, posting 35 and 20 points respectively, indicating the Giants can score off the Dallas defense. The Giants will have to run the ball smartly to have success against Dallas. In Week One, the Giants ran the ball twenty-two times for 124 yards, averaging an incredible 5.6 yards per carry. In Week Ten, the Cowboys adjusted to the run offense of the Giants, holding them to 106 yards on twenty-eight carries, an average of only 3.8 yards per carry. Given Manning's success against the Cowboys, the Giants need to trust him to go to the air more, detracting the Cowboys' defense from the running game and allowing the Giants' rushers to post more meaningful gains. Final Analysis--The edge on offense goes to Dallas and Tony Romo, especially if Terrell Owens is healthy. Their passing game is very similar to the Patriots in terms of quarterback quality and depth of receivers. The advantage New York will have is its experience in Week Seventeen against the Patriots. Even though they weren't able to shut down the Patriot passing game, the exposure to Brady, Moss and Welker will no doubt improve the Giants' ability to read the Dallas offense and cover the big play. New York will be able to stay in this game if Eli Manning is as crisp and efficient as he has been the past few weeks. New York will have to let him open it out a little more to allow the running game to breathe.
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