Robert Sabo/New York Daily News
COWBOYS 24, GIANTS 21
The Giants wanted blood and revenge and redemption, and they wanted to prove that they were back. They'd dubbed this game their own personal "Super Bowl," and they wanted a win to get them back on track to make the real thing.
All they got on Sunday afternoon was a reality check more frigid than MetLife Stadium itself.
They arrived with renewed swagger thanks to a four-game winning streak, and they'd done all the bragging and woofing and trash-talking in the days leading up to this game. But that same team that claimed "blood would be spilled" on Sunday afternoon had only its own blood on its hands after a 24-21 loss to the Cowboys in the most critical game of the year.
It was a slow death for the Giants, who battled back from a 21-6 deficit to tie the game late on an Eli Manning TD pass to Louis Murphy (and an Andre Brown two-point conversion run) with 4:53 to play. But Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo drove Dallas 64 yards on 14 plays to destroy the Giants' season on Dallas final drive. Dan Bailey's 35-yard field goal as time expired was a mere formality that all but extinguished the Giants' faint playoff hopes.
Big Blue (5-7) must win its remaining games to even have a playoff shot, and even then, at 9-7, they'll need some help. The Cowboys (6-5) moved into a first-place tie with idle Philadelphia atop the division, and they own the head-to-head tiebreaker after sweeping the Giants.
PHOTOS: GIANT LETDOWN! 'BOYS BEAT BIG BLUE TO END G-MEN'S STREAK
This game was much like the season-opening nightmare in Dallas. The Giants sabotaged themselves, committing a turnover and a series of boneheaded penalties and digging themselves into a 21-6 hole. Victor Cruz, perhaps the only Giant who hadn't made a critical error this season, started the run of errors in the first quarter, when he caught a five-yard pass and tried desperately to make it more, fighting off Cowboys Kyle Wilbur and Orlando Scandrick.
Instead, he coughed up the ball and it was scooped up by safety Jeff Heath, who returned it 50 yards for the game's first touchdown with 4:33 left in the first quarter. That lead would grow to 14-6 by halftime, as Romo would find tight end Jason Witten over the middle for a second-quarter TD. The Giants, as usual, struggled to respond, with two drives inside the Dallas 10 that yielded just a pair of field goals.
Just as they had all season, they seemed left for dead. But an 8-play, 58-yard drive late in the fourth quarter gave the Giants new life, and hope, for just a few minutes. With 4:53 to play, on second-and-goal from the Dallas 4, Manning looked for an open receiver, slid left and found a wide open Louis Murphy for a TD. After Andre Brown rushed in a two-point conversion, the Giants had marched all the way back, tying the game, 21-21.
In an instant, the Giants seemed to have undone a game's worth of mistakes. There had been that early fumble by Cruz, and then a penalties had made it all so much worse. Midway through the third quarter, down just 14-6, the Giants endured their worst of all meltdown moments, when back-to-back unnecessary roughness penalties by Mathias Kiwanuka and Antrel Rolle moved Dallas to the Giants 6, setting up Romo's second TD pass to Witten and giving Dallas that insurmountable lead.
But the Giants had clawed back from that on their next possession, with a little help from Dallas.
The Giants drove all the way to the Dallas 27. And then, on fourth-and-3, when all seemed lost, Manning dropped back and lofted a pass to tight end Brandon Myers, who rolled to the ground. But Cowboys linebacker Bruce Carter and safety Jeff Heath both stood near Myers and watched, thinking the play was dead, while the tight end got up and dashed to the end zone, closing things to 21-13.
It was the only gift the Cowboys could give the Giants on an afternoon when their season all but ended.
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