The New York Giants roll into Dallas in a comfortable position atop the NFC East with a three game winning streak. They are playing a division rival with only one win and have a bye week afterwards. The Giants have returned to their roots running smash mouth football and knocking quarterbacks out of games at an alarming rate.
Tony Romo is on notice with his injured thumb. He should expect to spend the day running all over the place unless he wants to end up like Matt Moore, Jay Cutler, Todd Collins and Shaun Hill. "Yeah, we don’t like to see quarterbacks get knocked out," Cowboys' offensive line coach Hudson Houck told ESPN Dallas. "We faced some pretty good defenses the last three weeks. Tennessee was really good and last week [Minnesota] a really good pass rush." No disrespect to this teams, but they are not eating quarterbacks for lunch like the Giants have been. Injuries on the offensive line should make it an interesting afternoon for the Cowboys.
The Giants are coming off three consecutive victories in which they imposed their will on their opponents in all facets of the game. Their defense is now the number 2 ranked unit in the league; allowing only 264.8 total yards and tied with Green Bay for the league lead in sacks with 21. The resurgent Osi Umenyiora leads the way with 8 sacks and trails only Green Bay's Clay Matthews by half a sack for the NFL lead as well.
Regarding how he has a tendency to not only sack QBs but also strip them, Umenyiora told the AP ""A sack is nothing but a tackle for loss." He added "but if you can get the ball out, you can force some turnovers and put the offense in a good position. It's just something I do."
The Giants running game has also found its legs in recent weeks as Brandon Jacobs has stopped being this year's Umenyiora and started producing like the Jacobs of old. Instead of tossing helmets into the stands he is tossing defenders to the ground as he steamrolls his way into the end zone for one of his 4 touchdowns, second on the team only to Hakeem Nicks' 6. He had 5 touchdowns all of last season. His yards per carry is a yard better than last season as well at 4.6 per touch. In addition, Ahmad Bradshaw's assumption of the starting role has given the Giants a two pronged attack that is the envy of most teams. Bradshaw is third in the NFL with 582 rushing yards, combined with Jacobs' 207 rushing yards, the G-men are a force to be reckoned with.
Earlier in the week Giants Tight End Bear Pascoe told the Star Ledger (NJ) “Ahmad… can pull off some moves that are unbelievable, whereas Brandon is just an ungodly powerful back that ... can just punish guys.” He added “Between the two of them, it keeps defenses on their toes and guessing what we’re going to do.”
The Cowboys are 1-4, the Giants are 4-2. On paper they have no chance despite an explosive offense featuring a solid QB in Tony Romo, an effective running back in Marion Jones, two solid WRs and TE Tony Whitten. Matched up with Eli Manning, Bradshaw and Jacobs, Nicks and Manningham, Boss and Pascoe they will have their hands full.
"They are always dangerous," he said. "They're a talented team. They have play makers on both sides of the ball, guys you have to pay special attention to that can change the game." Manning told the NY Post. "If they get a play here, play there, if they get a bounce, their record can easily be reversed. They could have four or five wins. We have to go down there and play great football."
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