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From Newsday

Giants not laughing after dominating Cowboys

BY TOM ROCK | tom.rock@newsday.com
November 3, 2008

Rub it in? Not these Giants.

Although they may have piled on the points and punished the Cowboys with their nearly perfect defense yesterday, there was hardly a word of derision coming from the locker room. No taunts after beating up a division rival, no verbal jabs about putting the Cowboys in a position where even the owner of America's Team, Jerry Jones, admitted that he isn't enough of an optimist to hope for a run at the division crown.

It may have been a laugher on the field, this 35-14 win, but there was hardly a snicker or snort once the Giants (7-1) left the turf of Giants Stadium with their first home win over the Cowboys in three years.

"I laughed the whole game, that's just me, but that's because I was having fun," defensive end Justin Tuck said. "This game, it means a lot as far as right now, but it's only halfway through and we've got a long way to go. Ain't no rejoicing here. Ain't nobody popping Champagne. We've got a lot of football left."

And, they understand, another game against these Cowboys on Dec. 14. Well, not these Cowboys specifically. Not the ones who resorted to Brooks Bollinger at quarterback in the second half and totaled only 183 yards of offense. The Cowboys (5-4) are expected to be healthier for the rematch; the Giants know Dallas at least will be hungrier for that game after this trouncing.

"We understand that when we play them again, they're going to have all of their horses and everybody that they depend on week to week and it's going to be a different ballgame," said linebacker Danny Clark, the Giants' leading tackler with nine. "We understand we have to take advantage of every opportunity we're given."

And that's exactly what the Giants did with their opportunities, converting three of their four takeaways into 21 points and banging in five touchdowns in five trips to the red zone.

The only real blemishes against the offense were the three turnovers by Eli Manning, who lost two fumbles and threw a pick-six to rookie Mike Jenkins in the second quarter. Other than that, Brandon Jacobs had 117 of the team's 200 rushing yards and four players had receptions of at least 13 yards.

"The only thing that is the real negative for me right now is the turnovers," Tom Coughlin said. "The turnovers kind of take the heart right out of the game, so to speak."

The win keeps the Giants in first place and undefeated in the division, which is exactly where linebacker Antonio Pierce wants to be after they play in Dallas next month to wrap up their NFC East schedule.

"We're not thinking about being undefeated in the regular season, we're thinking about being undefeated in our division," Pierce said. "That's being 6-0, and that's the most important record to us."

The Giants drove 75 yards on the opening possession and Manning hit Kevin Boss for a 13-yard touchdown. After Corey Webster's first of two interceptions, Steve Smith caught his first career touchdown pass, a 5-yarder, and the Giants were ahead 14-0. The Jenkins interception made it 14-7, but after Webster's second pick, Amani Toomer caught an 11-yard touchdown pass with 1:28 left in the half to double the lead to 14 points.

Jacobs ran it in from 12 yards after James Butler's interception of Bollinger, and Derrick Ward had a 17-yard touchdown run to cap the Giants' scoring.

Early in the fourth, Terrell Owens caught an 8-yard pass from Bollinger for the Cowboys' only offensive touchdown. They had 72 yards of offense heading into that late drive and 75 on the drive - 15 of them on a questionable roughing-the-passer penalty against Tuck.

The focus of the Giants' defense, running back Marion Barber, was limited to 54 yards on 19 carries.

Though the Cowboys will be healthier next time, the Giants were taking nothing away from the players who were on the field. And Pierce even said he doubts any of those sidelined players would have made much of a difference.

"I think if Romo was there, we would've played the same way, honestly," Pierce said. "It's funny. Everybody puts the blame on Brad Johnson, but this team had lost two games before Brad Johnson, so I don't think it was all Brad Johnson."

That was something Pierce and the Cowboys had in common. Receiver Patrick Crayton wasn't pinning the state of his team on a missing quarterback.

"Right now we stink all across the board," he said. "When you go against a team like this and you don't bring your A-game, you're going to get your -- whupped."

So the Giants took the win for what it was worth, both a lot and a little. They didn't put any extra emphasis on the victory, nor did they apologize for the lopsided mugging of a struggling team.

Copyright © 2009, Newsday Inc.

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