A mild upset, but those who are most upset are those Dallas fans who thought that their Cowboys would beat the Giants for the third time this season. Sorry to burst the bubble, but the Giants can bring it, and Eli Manning did just a wee bit better than Tony Romo.
With the clock running down, Romo threw an interception that sealed the Cowboys fate, and with it the questions will swirl as to whether Romo's relationship with Jessica Simpson had anything to do with the loss and everyone will wonder what will happen to the coaching staff.
The problem wasn't solely Romo, who had a 50% completion percentage and 1TD/1INT. I'd say the inability of the Cowboys secondary to stop Amani Toomer was a bigger problem. Despite a ball control offense that kept the Giant offense off the field for most of the game, Manning made the most of his chances, and going to his Mr. Dependable made the difference.
Dallas' failure is huge, much bigger than last season's flop in Seattle when Romo botched the hold on a go-ahead field goal in the final minutes.The Giants will next play Green Bay, who is coming off one of the more entertaining games I've seen in quite some time. There is something to be said for watching football with the snow flying. Now, if only they could play the Super Bowl in the snow.
The Cowboys just wasted a 13-3 season, which matched the best in team history. They're the first No. 1 seed in the NFC to lose in this round since the NFL went to the 12-team playoff format in 1990. They also became the seventh team to lose a playoff game against a team they'd beaten twice in the regular season -- joining Dallas' 1998 club.
Worst of all is the extension of all the skids: Romo now 0-2 in the playoffs, coach Wade Phillips 0-4 and the team 0-for-the-postseason since winning a wild-card game in 1996. The Cowboys have dropped five games since then.
The Cowboys might be headed into a stormy offseason. Team owner Jerry Jones said Thursday he would keep Phillips regardless of what happened in the playoffs. Now that will be tested, especially with highly valued assistant coaches Jason Garrett and Tony Sparano interviewing for jobs elsewhere.
Critics may point to Romo's trip to Mexico last weekend with his latest celebrity girlfriend as a disruption, but the problems went a lot deeper. There were all kinds of penalties that hurt Dallas drives and helped New York's, sloppy tackling on defense and special teams, dropped passes and wasted timeouts.
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