Third time is a charm for Giants

If Eli Manning didn't silence his critics in last week's win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, then he certainly strengthened his case on Sunday. Manning completed 12 of 18 passes for 163 yards and two touchdowns and the New York Giants defeated the Dallas Cowboys 21-17 in their Divisional Round playoff matchup, earning their first trip to the NFC Championship Game since 2001.

The Giants got off to a quick start, scoring on the first drive of the game. Brandon Jacobs picked up 20 yards on his first three carries, and Manning found Amani Toomer for a short pass that turned into a huge gain, as Toomer shed a couple of tackles and ran 52 yards into the end zone to give New York an early 7-0 lead.

New York forced Dallas to punt on their first possession, and after a promising eight-play drive, the Giants had to kick the ball away as well. The Cowboys' offense then got moving, as Marion Barber mixed in several big gains, highlighted by a 36-yarder, to set Dallas up at the four-yard line. Barber ran 20 yards on a first-down play to get them there. Two plays later, Tony Romo connected with Terrell Owens for a five-yard score that evened the score up at seven. The Cowboys started the drive from their own four-yard line.

New York had to punt again on the ensuing drive, setting up another impressive drive by Dallas. Starting from their own 10, the Cowboys continued to use their ground game to move down the field. Barber carried the ball on the first three player of their possession, rushing for 11 yards and a first down. Romo then scrambled for seven, Julius Jones went for two, and Barber got five more to give Dallas yet another fresh set of downs.

The Cowboys then finally incorporated their passing game into the drive, as Romo threw an 11-yard pass to Terry Glenn on a third-and-seven to set Dallas up at their own 49. Then, on first down from the Giants' 37, Romo misfired on a throw that landed right in the arms of New York's Corey Webster, but the 25-year old cornerback could not hold on to what should have been a sure-interception, giving the Cowboys another opportunity. Dallas capitalized.

Two plays later on third-and-10, Romo found Owens over the middle for a 20-yard gain that positioned the Cowboys at the 17-yard line. The drive, which lasted 20 plays and ate up 10:28 of clock, finally ended when Barber pounded up the middle for a one-yard score to give Dallas a 14-7 advantage with 53 seconds left in the first half.

It appeared that the Cowboys would go into halftime with the lead, but Manning made sure that didn't happen. Starting from his own 29, Manning found Steve Smith 22 yards down the right sideline on the second play of the drive, putting New York at the Dallas 49. Manning again connected with Smith on the next play, this time good for 11 yards. However, a 15-yard facemask penalty on Jacques Reeves gave the Giants the ball at the 23. Manning then completed a 19-yard pass to rookie tight end Kevin Boss to get New York to the Dallas 4, and followed that up with a four-yard pass to Toomer to knot the score up at 14 heading into the half.

Still, it didn't look like the Giants could stop the powerful offense of the Cowboys. Dallas' offense got moving immediately to start out the second half, as a series of short runs and pass plays methodically pushed the Cowboys into New York territory. They got as close as the 16-yard line on the 14-play, 62-yard drive, but had to settle for a field goal to go ahead 17-14. That would mark the last time Dallas would score all game.

The Giants didn't get much going on the ensuing possession, as Manning was sacked for a nine-yard loss after Jacobs ran for gains of eight and four yards to get New York a first down. Jacobs then carried for two and caught a pass for five but was well-short of the first-down marker. The Giants had to punt, and the Cowboys would take over from their own 20. That was when New York's defense began to step up.

The Giants finally began to slow Barber down, and after a 10-yard completion from Romo to Jason Witten was called back due to an unnecessary roughness penalty on guard Leonard Davis, Dallas was driven back and had to kick it away. R.W. McQuarters returned the punt 25 yards to the Cowboys' 37. Manning then completed a 13-yard pass to Toomer to start off the possession, and after executing two throws for a total of 15 yards to Smith to move New York to the nine-yard line, rookie halfback Ahmad Bradshaw ran for eight yards down to the one to set up a touchdown carry by Jacobs, giving the Giants a 21-17 lead they would never relinquish.

New York's defense harassed Romo in the fourth quarter, finally getting its first sack with 10:26 to play as linebacker Reggie Torbor downed the Dallas quarterback. The teams then traded punts, and after Romo was plastered several times by Giant defensive linemen on the Cowboys' second drive of the quarter, Dallas was forced to give up possession again.

New York got the ball with 3:46 to play. The Cowboys had only one timeout remaining, so a first down would have put the Giants in great position to close out the game. That didn't happen, as Manning was sacked by Tank Johnson on a third-and-four to give Dallas one final chance with 1:50 remanining.

The Cowboys were given great field position to work with, as they started out from their own 48-yard line. Romo began the drive by completing a nine-yard screen pass to Barber, and two plays later on third-and-two, the 27-year old flipped a shovel pass to Witten who ran for 18 yards to the New York 22. After a false start by Marc Colombo moved Dallas back to the Giants' 27, Romo completed another pass to Witten, this one good for four yards. Because Witten did not get out-of-bounds, the Cowboys had to use their third and final timeout. That would also be the last pass Romo would convert on the rest of the day.

He threw an incompletion to Witten on the next play, and then overthrew Patrick Crayton, who dropped a couple of easy catches earlier, in the end zone on third-and-11, leaving Dallas with one more chance to get a first down. Romo stepped up in the pocket and fired in the direction of Glenn in the end zone, but the pass was picked off by McQuarters to end the game. It marked the second game in a row that McQuarters finished a game off with an interception.

Romo went 18-for-36 with 201 yards, a touchdown, and the costly pick on the day, and Barber ran for 129 yards. Jacobs rushed 14 times for 54 yards for New York, and Toomer caught four passes for 80 yards and the two touchdowns. Smith caught four balls for 48.

The Giants will travel to Green Bay to face the Packers at Lambeau Field next Sunday to decide who will represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. Green Bay defeated New York 35-13 at the Meadowlands back in week two. However, the Cowboys beat the Giants in both of their regular season meetings, and that didn't matter in the end.