Week 12: Giants vs Cowboys

I see dead playoff hopes.

So the Giants are officially done. They were on death’s doorstep for quite some time. I even considered this season over as early as week five. It turns out the Giants were as dead as Bruce Willis in the The Sixth Sense. They were dead all along, they just didn’t know it yet. I’m going to recap this
game, but it’s going to be brief. This will be like rehashing a breakup. So I’m going to go ahead and put on Thelma and Louise, put on a Fiona Apple album, burn some memorabilia, and start typing.

First quarter:
The game starts off with back to back to back to back punts. This included a sixty-eight yard punt from Weatherford.
Finally something happened and Antrel Rolle picked off Romo on a pass intended for Dez Bryant.
The Giants didn’t waste any time returning the favor as Victor Cruz was stripped of the ball and that was returned for a touchdown.
The quarter ended in the middle of a Giants’ drive.
Score: Giants 0 - Cowboys 7

Second Quarter:
Giants’ continue their drive but had to settle for three points when they couldn’t get a touchdown, even though they had four plays to score from only nine yards out.
Dallas didn’t settle for three points because Romo connected with Jason Witten for a twenty yard touchdown.
The Giants again settled for a field goal on the following drive. This time, they had only four yards to go but couldn’t get six. That’s not how you win football games.
After a few punts back and fourth the half ended.
Score: Giants 6 - Cowboys 14

Third Quarter:
New York starts off with the ball to begin the half. Their drive stalls, but the Giants elect to go for it on fourth and six from the Cowboys’ thirty-five yard line. It didn’t work.
On Dallas’ next drive, receiver Cole Beasley fumbled the ball and it was recovered by the Giants’ Will Hill. But, hold the phone, because Mathias Kiwanuka was flagged for roughing the passer. So the fumble didn’t count. Throw in a helmet to helmet penalty on Antrel Rolle and it all added up to another Romo to Witten touchdown.
On their next drive, Giants’ tight end Brandon Myers capitalizes on a mental lapse from Dallas. Myers was never touched by Dallas when he dove for a pass, he stood up, dusted himself off, and strolled in for a touchdown.
Dallas punted the ball on their next drive.
After two plays of the Giants’ drive, the quarter ended.
Score : Giants 13 - Dallas 21

Fourth Quarter:
The Giants and Cowboys punted back to back to back to back again. This included a sixty-seven yard boot from Weatherford.
On the Giants’ third possession this quarter, they FINALLY get into the end zone while being less than ten yards out. This touchdown was a pass from Eli to Louis Murphy. The Giants were able to tie the game up with a two point conversion from Andre Brown.
All the Giants had to do was force the Cowboys to punt and the game would go into overtime. But that didn’t happen.
Romo wasn’t under any pressure and, more importantly, he didn’t make any mistakes. The Cowboys drove downfield and drained all of the time on the clock before they kicked the last second, game winning field goal. The Giants’ season is now officially over.
Final Score: Giants 21 - Cowboys 24

This loss ripped my heart out. Like I was one of those sacrificial slaves in the Temple Of Doom. Any chance they had of making the playoffs were cut down with that loss to the Cowboys.

"KALI MA! KALI MAA!"

The Cowboys straight up outplayed the Giants. They were the better team that day.  Can’t complain about the officiating. Cruz’s forward progress wasn’t stopped when he fumbled, that roughing the passer call was soft but a lot of those calls are to begin with, and the Giants got away with a pass interference call.

So what have I learned?

The Giants’ trash talk was about effective as bear hunting with a Super Soaker. They play much better when they other team is talking and they use their mantra, “Talk is cheap, play the game”.

Yup, this air pump water blaster should do the trick...

Those four wins were against mediocre teams at best. They played a good Dallas team on Sunday and they lost. In heartbreaking fashion. Maybe those wins really were a product of inferior teams, not because of the Giants’ playing so much better.

This just wasn’t the Giants’ year. Now that the season is unofficially over I don’t have to waste my December getting tortured by the Giants’ inconsistency. There will be no more “So you’re tellin' me there’s a chance!” talk. Let’s just get through the season as healthy as possible, and try to reload to be contenders next season.