[Underdog]

Here Are The New York Giants


IRVING, Texas - A star player finds himself in the wrong situation at the wrong time and winds up suspended. The ensuing week of practice is nothing short of a circus, filled with enough media questions to distract a seemingly unflappable team. The result of the upcoming game is a loss, and suddenly the question marks and red flags are raised. Welcome to the Cowboys' world, Giants. Following Plaxico Burress' arraignment on Dec. 1, the seemingly unbeatable - and not to mention emotionally untouchable - New York Giants were brought back down to earth by the Philadelphia Eagles this past Sunday. Come 7:15 p.m. (CST) Sunday at Texas Stadium, the Cowboys will try to make it two straight losses for the wounded 11-2 Giants and pick up a much-needed win on Sunday Night Football to help their NFC playoff cause.

What's Up?
Dating back to last season, the Giants have found plenty of success because of their ability to turn negatives into positives. But after suffering a 20-14 loss in Philadelphia this past Sunday, New York wide receiver Amani Toomer hinted Burress' accidental shooting distracted his team, saying, "We dealt with this all week, and played our worst game - I'll let you figure it out." Without Burress, Giants' receivers dropped numerous balls, including a would-be 85-yard touchdown pass by Domenik Hixon early in the second quarter. Eli Manning had one of his worst performances of the season, completing just 13 of his 27 pass attempts for 123 yards. And, to add injury to insult, starting running back Brandon Jacobs (knee) and standout cornerback Aaron Ross (ankle) left the game because of injuries.

While the Cowboys haven't had a player-suspended-followed-by-a-media-storm distraction since Week Seven (Adam "Pacman" Jones), they still found themselves on the wrong end of a 20-13 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers this past Sunday. Playing in below-freezing temperatures at Heinz Field, Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo never really got into a rhythm and turned the ball over four times, including tossing the game-losing interception with less than three minutes to play in the fourth quarter. The Cowboys dominated for most of the game, though, holding the Steelers to just 238 yards and one offensive touchdown. Despite the loss, the 8-5 Cowboys still moved into the sixth and final wild-card spot if the playoffs began today, and are now just a game behind the 9-4 Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the fifth seed.

Statistical View

* Tony Romo has taken a lot of heat for the way he plays the quarterback position (and sometimes deservedly so, having committed 50 turnovers in his 36 career starts), but taking a closer look at the numbers, Romo has recorded a touchdown pass in 32 of his 36 career starts, totaling 77 to date. In his nearly-three year starting career, Romo has a career quarterback rating of 96.6 and has racked up the most 300-yard passing performances (16) in franchise history. Plus, he's 26-10 as a starter, and no matter how many times you turn over the ball, winning is all that matters.

* Still not convinced Romo's an elite NFL quarterback? Well, take a look at Giants quarterback Eli Manning, who was last season's Super Bowl MVP and a strong candidate for this year's NFL MVP Award. The former No. 1 overall pick has turned the ball over 86 times in just 70 career games, has a career QB rating of 76.4 and in just five years in New York, is already tied for third on the all-time Giants' interceptions list with 72. Plus, he's just 41-27 as a starter in the NFL.

* The Giants all-time receiving yards and touchdowns leader, Amani Toomer, has compiled 9,422 yards and 54 TDs in his 13-year career. Of those statistics, though, 1,125 yards and seven touchdowns have come in games against the Cowboys.

* Cowboys outside linebacker DeMarcus Ware continued his dominating season last Sunday recording his NFC-leading 16th sack playing on a hyper-extended left knee. Ware has now recorded at least half a sack in 39 of his 61 career starts, and with just one more half sack, he will become the 11th defender to reach 50 career sacks in Cowboys' history. With three games to play, Ware has 30 sacks -and counting - in consecutive seasons, the most by a Cowboys players since Harvey Martin rang up 37.5 in 1976-77, back when sacks were not an official NFL statistic.

Chalk Talk
While Eli Manning tends to get most of the credit for the Giants' success this season, the New York running game is really the engine that makes this team go. The Giants have rushed for more than 112 yards in all but three games this year and have broken the 200-yard rushing mark five times. Brandon Jacobs, who's battling a knee injury that could keep him out of Sunday's game, has rushed for 1,002 yards and 12 touchdowns.

But, in the three games the team has rushed for less than 100 yards, Plaxico Burress has either been hurt or suspended. Against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week Seven, Burress was held out of the first quarter for missing a therapy session earlier in the week, and the team rushed for just 83 yards. In Week 12 against the Arizona Cardinals, Burress left the game early in the first half with a hamstring injury and the Giants ran for 87 yards. This past Sunday, when Burress was serving the first of his four-game suspension, the team rushed for just 88 yards against the Eagles. Coincidence? Not exactly. With receivers like Domenik Hixon and Amani Toomer starting in Burress' absence, the Eagles, Cardinals and Steelers were able to play man-coverage on the wideouts and stack eight in the box to stop the Giants' running attack.

With Burress out again for this Sunday, expect the Cowboys to follow this blueprint to a T. Cornerbacks Terence Newman and Anthony Henry should be on islands against Toomer, Hixon and Steve Smith, while safeties Ken Hamlin and Keith Davis creep up in the box to stop Jacobs and company if they are healthy enough to play following injuries suffered in Pittsburgh. Through 13 games this season, the Cowboys rank ninth in the NFL against the run, allowing just 94.8 rushing yards per game.

Connections
Cowboys offensive coordinator Jason Garrett, who played for four different teams in his NFL career, was a backup quarterback for the Giants from 2000-03 . . . Cowboys special teams coordinator Bruce Reed was on New York's coaching staff from 2002-03 . . . Giants quarterbacks coach Chris Palmer coached the Cowboys quarterbacks in 2006.

Miscellaneous
The Cowboys hold the series advantage against the Giants 54-37-2, but New York holds a 1-0 record against Dallas in the playoffs, and we probably don't need to point out when that victory occurred . . . The Cowboys are 2-0 on Sunday Night Football this season and are 5-1 at home so far this season . . . If the Cowboys pick up a victory against the Giants, they will secure a winning season for the 30th time in franchise history (49 years) and this will become the fifth winning season in the past six . . . Pro Bowl wide receiver Terrell Owens needs just 87 receiving yards to pass James Lofton for fifth place on the all-time receiving yards list. Owens also needs just four catches to pass Art Monk for seventh place on the all-time receptions list . . . Of the past 21 games between the Giants and Cowboys, 12 have been decided by no more than a touchdown - two of the nine by more than a touchdown occurred in the Cowboys' two-game regular-season sweep of the Giants last season.