Well I've been putting this off longer and longer and now the Superbowl already happened I suppose I can write about what I remember from the Cowboys/Giants game from a month ago.
First I'd like to say (and this might sound slightly homerish) that the Cowboys beat themselves more than the Giants outplayed them. The Giants completely outplayed the Packers (and possibly the Bucs I slept through that game and never saw it) and Patriots but I don't think they outplayed the Cowboys. Thats not discrediting the Giants victory I just think if the Cowboys didn't drop some passes or make some dumb penalties they could have won that game. Second I've picked against the Giants every week, they surprised me every week, and I picked against them in the Superbowl (though if I was a betting man I would've taken the Giants and the points.)
Statistically speaking Dallas outgained the Giants by 106 yards (336 to 230) had 23 first downs to 16 was 10-16 on 3rd down compared to 4-9 by the Giants. Dallas even had the ball for 13 more minutes than the Giants.
The problem was the Cowboys had 11 penalties to the Giants 3 and 84 yards worth of penalties to the Giants 25. And Andre Gurode was very slow snapping the ball I'm surprised the tackles didn't get called for more false starts because they were getting off the ball before Tony Romo got the ball. The only complaint I have about the penalties were the Cowboys were twice called for offsides when I thought they weren't offsides, Demarcus Ware is so quick getting off the ball he looks like he's offsides (and sometimes he is) and because of this the refs are keying in on this when watching the Cowboys. On the first drive he was called for an offside that I believe was the wrong call a couple plays later Amani Toomer escapes the poor tackling (and angles) of the Cowboys racing 46 yards for a touchdown. Greg Ellis was a victim of this too (where he wasn't offside) but the Giants had to punt 2 plays later anyways.
Maybe I'm just overlooking the fact that the Cowboys got 186 yards of there 336 on 2 drives that resulted in touchdowns. But then I start thinking about the missed passes by Romo like in the 3rd quarter when they had to settle for a field goal and Romo missed a wide open T.O crossing the middle of the field or Patrick Crayton having his worst game as a Cowboy dropping a pass with a ton of running room when he normally has the best hands on the team. Not to mention on the Cowboys last drive where he cut off his route where if he kept running he had a step on the corner and could have been hit in stride for a TD.
I think this team was lost in 2 places, the drive at the end of the 1st half where the Cowboys gave up a TD (how pathetic) and in the 3rd quarter where the Giants got a 25 yard punt return by R.W. McQarters that put the defense at risk as the Giants only needed 37 yards to score the go ahead (and what ended up being the winning touchdown)Special teams of the Cowboys has been a weakness all season long.
Also I hated the Cowboys gameplan going into the game, I didn't have a problem with Marion 'the Barbarian' Barber starting the game but he was abused in the 1st half and that concerned me (no matter how much it worked) and he was gassed in the 2nd half. What happened to allowing the pass to set up the run that worked all year? I don't understand why they'd go away from what worked all year in a franchise record breaking Cowboys offense. Barber had 16 carries in the 1st half and 99 yards. In the 2nd half he had 11 carries for 28 yards. I still think he can be a great starter in the league but he shouldn't be shouldering the load (and get all but 2 carries) in the playoffs when he's not used to that type of punishment. His running style doesn't allow it. But also Tony Romo along with the playcalling was very questionable in the 2nd half, one play that made me mad was when the Cowboys were backed into a 3rd and 20 at the 49 (after a bullshit intentional grounding penalty) instead of trying to get like 10 or 15 yards to possibly have a shot at a short 4th down conversion or a long field goal he gets this crazy idea that a hail mary would work which was just idiotic when there DB's were playing back to begin the play. And then on the last drive I just think the Cowboys completely screwed themselves on the clock management, after the big gain to Jason Witten that got the Cowboys to the 22 either Tony Romo got a delay of game (which I believe was the case) or Flozell Adams got a false start but that backed them up 5 yards. The next play was a 4 yard play to Witten forcing them to burn there final timeout. 3 plays later the Cowboys throw an INT never even trying a sideline play to get out of bounds before going to the endzone. This is without even mentioning the line just collapsing when Steve Spagnuolo blitzed the entire 4th quarter forcing Romo into some dumb decisions where he took a sack when he should have thrown it and threw it when he should have taken a sack.
And for the 2nd straight year the Cowboys were facing a team with a banged up secondary and instead of going with what works the best we don't take any chances and try and play not to lose or going with a more vertical passing game rather than dink and dunk over the middle in the weak part of there defense or even trying a draw play or screen when they were blitzing relentlessly after Romo.
But if the Cowboys would have won I doubt they win the Superbowl (or make it for that matter) and the Giants capitalized on there chances and the Cowboys misfortunes. I loved watching them after they beat us because they did deserve to win both the Packers and Patriots game. Eli made the right move most of the time (he got away with a few passes in the Superbowl) but his 1 INT was not his fault but rookie Steve Smith's fault (who I liked in college and had a great postseason outside of this blunder)
Some people were saying that this Superbowl was only good in the 4th quarter but I thought it was exciting the whole game and everytime the Giants had to punt the ball I kept thinking, OK here's the time the Pats finally put a drive together and start putting the game away but it never happened. It was a great defensive game until offense sorta took over in the 4th but Justin Tuck and the rest of the G-Men lineman dominated (I wouldn't have minded Tuck taking home the MVP but when Eli makes plays like he did he deserved it as well) The Eli Manning to David Tyree was one of if not the greatest play I've seen, especially given the part of the game it was in and it would have been 4th and 12 I believe had he not caught that ball. Oh and my favorite commercial was no doubt the Thriller commercial with the lizards and the commercials weren't as bad as some said. Just like when people say the same thing next year.
I'm sure I'll give my thoughts on what the Cowboys should do this offseason (as well as a Rangers offseason look and what's wrong with the Mavs) but I've just written the most I've done in a while.
O and if you follow this blog or noticed my rant a couple spots down, Eli Manning was given a hybrid Cadillac Escilade for winning Superbowl MVP. Isn't that grand.
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