NFL Completely Different’ Giants Eager for Rematch With Cowboys By Nevel
The Giants enter their rematch against Dallas at MetLife Stadium believing that their season-opening 36-31 loss to the Cowboys proved nothing about the superiority of either team.
“As long as we go out there and put our best foot forward, I’m quite sure we’re going to come out on top,” said running back Andre Brown, who was on injured reserve for the opener.
The Giants outgained Dallas, 478-331, only to self-destruct with six turnovers: three interceptions of Eli Manning and three fumbles. Manning’s first pass was picked off by defensive end DeMarcus Ware; the Giants committed turnovers on their first three possessions.
When Brandon Carr’s 49-yard interception return for a score with less than two minutes left sealed the fate of his bumbling team, Coach Tom Coughlin treated the outcome as one of the most exasperating defeats of his 10-year tenure. “We had, quite frankly, just kind of wrapped it up and handed it to them, and that was the devastation of it for me,” he said of the Sept. 8 opener.
The team watched film from that ignominious beginning throughout the week as Coughlin, who always makes ball security a top priority, hammered the point home. The sloppy opener snowballed into a mistake-filled 0-6 start. The Giants followed that with a four-game winning streak. Manning and his supporting cast are playing more crisply; the defense is suddenly creating crucial turnovers while limiting opponents to two touchdowns in the last 18 quarters, albeit against mediocre quarterbacks.
“I think we’re a completely different team from that first game,” said Victor Cruz, one of the few Giants who have played consistently well throughout the wildly uneven season. “I think we understand how to take care of the ball. I think we understand how to maintain our focus offensively and defensively and maintain ourselves and be able to focus in on our game plan and do what we have to do to win.”
Manning equaled last season’s total when he was intercepted 15 times during the first six games. He has been picked off only twice since. Poor communication with receivers who cut one way while he threw another played a major role in the offense’s woes. “We’re constantly working at that because we can’t have a mistake,” Coughlin said. “We had a couple of mistakes last weekend.”
One of them, when the reserve Louis Murphy Jr. broke in a direction Manning was not anticipating, resulted in a pickoff. But the Giants produced three interceptions of their own against Scott Tolzien, who was making his first N.F.L. start in place of the injured Aaron Rodgers. The Giants’ N.F.C. East hopes were revived when defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul snagged a pass that had barely left Tolzien’s hand and returned it 24 yards to clinch a 27-13 victory at home last Sunday.
The Giants expect such ball awareness from Dallas, who come off a bye at 5-5. The Cowboys are tied for fourth in the league with 22 takeaways: 12 interceptions, 10 fumble recoveries. The Cowboys are tied for second with a plus-11 in turnover differential; the Giants are tied for 29th at minus-11.
“We’ve made a positive impact on games on defense, with the takeaways in particular,” Cowboys Coach Jason Garrett said. “That, obviously, gives your offense more opportunities and, really, some better opportunities with field position.”
Weather conditions are likely to pose as much of a challenge to ball carriers as the prying hands of defenders are. The forecast calls for freezing weather, with winds whipping at 24 miles per hour. Kevin Gilbride, the Giants’ offensive coordinator, conceded that that might rein in his aggressiveness. “You are probably going to be judicious in the amount of deep balls you are going to throw,” he said.
EXTRA POINTS
The Giants listed HAKEEM NICKS, who has an abdominal strain, and BRANDON JACOBS, who has knee and hamstring problems, as questionable. Nicks expects to play. Jacobs said of his status, “We’ll keep them guessing.” COREY WEBSTER, a cornerback who has groin and ankle injuries, is out. ... SEAN LEE, Dallas’s outstanding middle linebacker, is out with an injured left hamstring.
