Gritty Giants Ruin Cowboys’ Big Party

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Sunday was supposed to be all about the Cowboys and the debut of their $1.2 billion home. Instead, the Giants spoiled the party.

Dallas prepared for the opening of the new Cowboys Stadium with a Diana Ross-headlined, private get-together on Saturday night. Former President George W. Bush conducted the coin toss, and the Cowboys devoted the entire halftime to celebrating their Ring of Honor.

All the festivities ended late Sunday, though, as the Giants grabbed a gritty 33-31 victory that ended when Lawrence Tynes made a 37-yard field goal as time expired.

"I don't know what they expected," Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce said. "I guess we were the ugliest person asked to come to homecoming, huh?"

The Giants won the game with one of their best pass rushers, Justin Tuck, missing the second half with a busted shoulder. Not only was Tuck out of the game, the Giants also played without starting defensive lineman Chris Canty, who was inactive with a knee injury. Wide receiver Hakeem Nicks was inactive with a foot sprain, and during the game, fellow receiver Domenik Hixon suffered a knee injury, leaving Eli Manning with some inexperience receivers.

Also, Tynes missed a first-half field goal and had to quickly regain his confidence.

New York overcame it all.

"We won the turnover battle, I think it was plus-four," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. "I think we got more points in the fourth quarter, which is something we strive to do -- win the fourth quarter. It wasn't always pretty. We do have errors we do have to clean up."

The Giants didn't register a sack on Sunday night and failed to find the end zone on any of their five red-zone trips -- on the season, they have zero touchdowns in eight red-zone visits.

Yet they're 2-0 on the year, and as Pierce pointed out, with both victories coming within the division, the Giants have an early leg-up on their NFC East rivals.

"The last I checked, we were the defending NFC East champions," Pierce said.

New York quarterback Eli Manning threw for 330 yards with two touchdowns in the victory, while Mario Manningham and Steve Smith beat up the Cowboys secondary. Combined, Manningham and Smith had 20 catches for 284 yards and two touchdowns. Manning completed passes to six different players, helping the Giants offset a very-average 3.7 yards per carry on the ground.

And everything culminated on the last drive of the game.

With the Giants trailing 31-30, Manning led them on an 11-play, 56-yard march that ate the final 3:40 off the clock and set up Tynes' game-winner at the buzzer.

On the drive, Manning completed a key third down pass for 8-yards to Manningham on a pass that was tipped at the line of scrimmage. Smith then caught a 12-yard pass with 13 seconds to play that pushed the Giants to Dallas' 21. After an Eli Manning keeper gave them two yards, a pair of timeouts -- the second of which was called by Dallas coach Wade Phillips, set things up for Tynes. His 37-yarder was perfect.

It ended the party for Dallas, and gave the Giants a lead in the division.

"It's big," Manning said of being 2-0 with wins over Dallas and Washington. "When you looked at the schedule, you see two division opponents from the get-go. We knew it would be tough. These are fun games."