EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The Cowboys fell behind early but managed to rally in the second half for a huge road win on Sunday night at MetLife Stadium. The Cowboys improved to 8-3 with the season sweep over New York.
Check out the instant reactions from the staff of DallasCowboys.com.
David Helman: I had a feeling this game would be tough, but I wasn't expecting the Cowboys to look so rusty in the first half. The defense that couldn't get off the field or stop Odell Beckham Jr. in the first half looked like the woeful unit from 2013. The offense sputtered, as well. You can absolutely see the development of this team in the way they responded to a 21-10 deficit without panicking, though. Tony Romo was practically perfect, and the defense came up huge. I was absolutely blown away that the Giants' last-gasp drive covered such short yardage -- a tribute to the defense's resiliency. Not the prettiest win in the world, but good teams find ways to win ugly games.
Bryan Broaddus: There was no way that Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell was going to let this Dallas Cowboys offense run the ball on him like teams had during this current five game losing streak. The Giants had been giving up an average of 195 yards a game and with one of the top rushing teams coming into MetLife Stadium it seemed simple enough for them to get bodies down in the box and try to slow the Cowboys running game down that way. With that type of commitment I believe that would open up the middle of the field for these Cowboys tight ends to operate. To the credit of the Giants safeties Antrel Rolle and Quintin Demps did a nice job of choking things off in the middle. It wasn't until the final drive that Jason Witten was able to shake loose and buy some space in routes. Up until then, Romo tried to hit Witten up the seam two different times but he did not have the separation that we had seen from him in previous games where teams struggled with their safety play. The tight ends ended up with 5 catches for 57 yards and one touchdown but honestly I expect much more against this scheme.[embeddedad0]
Nick Eatman: This one will go down as one of the more impressive games of the year simply because of the adversity. I had Dallas winning a close game but in reverse order. I thought the Giants would rally back but come up short. Instead it was the Cowboys having to rally back. I said big games from Williams and McClain but the latter made a huge play on fourth down to win it. Tony Romo was amazing again and maybe even put himself into some very early MVP talks. That's just how great he's playing and with three minutes left you just had a feeling he would pull it out. Big time win for a team that doesn't give up. And now they can focus on the Eagles.
For the initial gut feeling predictions of the staff writers posted on Saturday, click here:
