Giants 3
Cowboys 7
The certainty around the Giants is that when they win, it’s often in agonizing fashion. Ditto when they lose.
Their games are always close, offering ample opportunity to bemoan this play or rip that coaching decision.
If there was an edge to live on, the Giants would take up residence.
But not yesterday.
A season that was bumping right along shifted suddenly, kicking in a seldom-used gear that has the Giants – believe it at your own peril – motoring into a faster lane than anyone could have anticipated.
Left for dead two weeks ago when they coughed up a 12-point lead against the Titans, the Giants caught the scent of playoff aroma after they pummeled the Cowboys 37-7 at Giants Stadium.
Two weeks later, after beating up on the Redskins and Cowboys, the Giants (8-6) enjoyed a feel-good day the likes of which they haven’t experienced in a long, long time.
There could not have been a more intoxicating 30 minutes for the Giants. At the start of the game, the situation appeared grim, as the Falcons and Saints – the Giants wild card competition – had both staged comebacks; the Saints took the lead on the Vikings, the Falcons forced overtime against the Seahawks.
In an instant, those games turned the way the Giants needed them to turn. The Saints lost, then the Falcons fell. Then, in another instant, the Giants took control of their own game.
Suddenly, the Giants head to Indianapolis this weekend to face the Colts in a game with legitimate playoff implications. The Giants close out their season at home against the Eagles, and by then Andy Reid’s crew might have clinched their playoff positioning and could have nothing for which to play.
For now, the Giants are very much alive as they bask in the afterglow of their whipping of the Cowboys and ready themselves to face Peyton Manning inside the RCA Dome.
This utter domination was shades of the 41-0 bombing of the Vikings in the NFC Championship Game two years ago. It was the most points scored by the Giants in the regular season in more than two years (33-18 over the Eagles early in the 2000 season). It was the most lopsided Giants victory since a 31-3 trouncing of the Saints Oct. 24, 1999.
It was also the biggest rout in Jim Fassel’s six-year coaching tenure, which probably hushes some of that speculation about his job security.
Here’s another news flash: Someone other than Kerry Collins threw a pass for the Giants. That hasn’t happened since Nov. 21, 1999. Collins took a seat early in the fourth quarter, the victory in the bag.
Sit down for this. The Giants piled on 21 points in the first quarter. How rare is that? The last time they did so much in the first quarter of a game was Dec. 20, 1986, when a guy named Bill Parcells patrolled the sideline and the Giants mauled the Packers 55-24.
The first time they got the ball, the Giants rolled to five first downs, easing 63 yards until Tiki Barber plowed in from a yard out. With 5:36 remaining in the first quarter, the Giants found their way to just their second defensive touchdown of the season, and this one was a beaut.
Micheal Barrow crushed Cowboys quarterback Chad Hutchinson for a 14-yard sack, prying the ball loose. Barrow gave chase but was bumped away by defensive end Kenny Holmes, who scooped up the ball and made like a scat-back. He raced 50 yards for the first touchdown of his six-year NFL career, even shifting the ball from his right to his left hand, just the way running backs are taught.
Holmes slowed up for the last five yards and sauntered into the end zone, an uncommon sight for a team that always is seemingly engaged in a struggle.
A Barber 60-yard run highlighted a brisk five-play, 80-yard drive that culminated with a TD run by Ron Dayne, who was dusted off for this occasion. That made it 21-0, more points in one quarter than the Giants managed to score in seven of their games.
