other side? Oh, that would Bryan McCann, just your average free-agent rookie whom the team cut at the end of training camp, but luckily got him back after he was released by the Ravens. He was on the practice squad for a few games before the Cowboys needed to call him up to add some cornerback depth.
Last week, McCann makes his NFL debut and plays well on kick returns, other than the play he fumbled and the Packers returned for a touchdown, although the play should've been reviewed. Either way, McCann's fumble turns last week's game into a blowout.
This week, McCann make THE play that not only turned around the game Sunday, but who knows ... maybe it turns around the season.
No, I'm not suggesting any 9-7 record for the Cowboys, but for one week, it was refreshing to see a break actually go their way.
Now let's not call McCann's play lucky by any means. The rookie from SMU made his own break - like on the ball - to pick off Eli Manning's pass and return it 101 yards, the longest interception return in Cowboys history.
Talk about a turnaround. The Cowboys are looking at going down 10-9 if the Giants score, instead McCann picks off the pass and runs it back for a score, giving Dallas a 16-3 lead. That's a 14-point swing in a game eventually decided by 13 points.
And what about the third-quarter power outage? The Cowboys have the ball to start the half, trying to extend their momentum. Then the lights go out for a few minutes - three to be exact. Right then, you got the sense something weird was about to happen.
And it did - it was called a Felix Jones touchdown, something he hadn't done all season. Better yet, he actually showed his open-field speed, something we haven't seen since some time last year.
Jones' touchdown gave the Cowboys a 26-6 lead. Now, the Giants came right back and were moving again, before the second power outage hit. And this one was a bit scarier as the entire place went black for a moment or two.
I'm sorry, but there are better places to be, in better cities, with better teams playing and on better weekends than to have an NFL stadium go dark like that, even if it were for a few seconds. It was an odd place to be and several of the players said after the game that they "thought the worst" when the lights first went out.
So eight minutes of that, when you're holding a stunning 20-point lead, you wonder what's going through this team's mind.
Are we going to get to finish this game? Or it something going to happen to pull the plug - literally - from this win?
Well even though the Giants finished off that drive with a touchdown, cutting the lead back to 13, the Cowboys just kept answering.
Dez Bryant went for 46 again and then Jon Kitna hit Roy Williams down the left sideline on a huge third-and-22 connection. The next play saw Kitna connect with Miles Austin over the middle for a touchdown and that's when it really hit me, this just might be their day.
And why not? The Cowboys haven't had many days go their way this year.
Say what you want about what they've done this season - obviously it has and most likely will still be a disappointment. But all we heard the last two weeks was this team had given up and simply quit. They quit on the season, the coach and themselves.
And maybe they had. But for whatever the reason - new coach, new attitude or a little fear they might be the next out the Valley Ranch door, this team resumed play on Sunday.
After the game, an exhausted, but relieved-looking DeMarcus Ware sat in a chair just before heading to the busses. The smile he was sporting covered his entire face.
"We haven't had a lot of breaks this year, but we got some today," Ware said. "It's been a long year, but we're going to continue to fight. You knew at some point it was going to come together and get better - we just didn't have any other place to go."
Other than to ... go figure.
