Despite overcoming a 15-point deficit in the second half, the Giants' four-game win streak eventually came to an end on Sunday with a 24-21 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. With the Giants dropping to 4-7 on the season and a road game at Washington next on the schedule, here is a taste of what they're saying around the league about Big Blue:
No Miracle on the Meadowlands: After an 0-6 start, the New York Giants won four straight and had life. But those four wins came against inferior or injured quarterbacks. Sunday's showdown against the Dallas Cowboys would test whether their comeback was for real. It wasn't. Tony Romo passed for 250 yards and two touchdowns. That was enough for the Cowboys to sneak out of New York with a 24-21 victory and a 6-5 record. The Giants are now 1-3 in the NFC East and 4-7 for the season.
For the Giants, there's just a 4-7 record, and the thoughts of what might have been had they avoided that 0-6 start.
"It's frustrating," safety Antrel Rolle said. "It's frustrating to know that we were kind of holding them the way we wanted to hold them. We played some good defense throughout the course of the game. I don't think anything was pretty at all times on either side of the ball. Both teams fought, you have to take your hat off to both teams. They fought extremely hard and Dallas, you know, they came out on top."
The Cowboys still have their share of issues. But the hope in Dallas is that this win can lead to greater things. Andre Brown ran the ball really well and Eli Manning didn't cough the ball up, but it was surprising that the Giants didn't feed Brown the rock more. The defense couldn't limit Tony Romo enough in the early going or down the stretch and get the ball back.
With no room left for bungling play, even a spirited late rally could not save the Giants, who fell to the Cowboys, 24-21, when Tony Romo led Dallas to a winning field goal on the game's final play. "We had some momentum," cornerback Terrell Thomas said. "And then we didn't." It was a statement that could have described the last month for the Giants, as well as the end of Sunday's game.
It wasn't a terrible defensive performance, but it wasn't nearly good enough. The Giants gave up a long touchdown drive in the second quarter, and another one in the third that included two critical penalties. And when the offense scored 15 unanswered points to tie the game at 21 in the fourth quarter, the defense let the Cowboys march right down the field for a game-winning field goal in the final seconds.
