Last night the New York Giants went into Carolina and were hitting on every aspect of their gameplan. One week prior, the Giants struggled to defend a weary offense and needed a second half comeback to defeat a last place team from last year. The Cowboys in Week 1 seemed to silence all critics, as Tony Romo looked like a top Quarterback and the team as a whole took out the Super Bowl champs. Through three Giants games and two Cowboys games, a pattern is starting to form that these two teams are consistently inconsistent.
After beating the Super Bowl Giants in Week 1 at Metlife Stadium on banner night, the Cowboys were set to have an impressive season. Romo threw for 307 yards with three touchdowns and outplayed the two time Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning. Dallas' run game, headed by Demarco Murray was strong, breaking through the defensive line of Osi Umenyora, Jason Pierre Paul, and Justin Tuck. The shock of them all was that Romo seemed to find a new target in Kevin Ogletree, who had 114 yards and two touchdowns. Everything on opening night was working for the Cowboys.
The next week seemed like a cupcake game for Dallas, as they were going up against Seattle, who took a loss the week before to Arizona. Defensively, Dallas gave up 27 points and let rookie Quarterback Russell Wilson pass efficiently (15-20, 151 yards, one touchdown). The offensive side of the ball was putrid, only scoring once and Romo was a ghost of the week before. He threw 17 incomplete passes and only averaged 6.3 yards per completion. Ogletree was only targeted once after the stellar opening game. Dallas missed on a huge opportunity to be 2-0, and now will play host to the Buccaneers Sunday.
The Giants fell flat on their face opening night to the Cowboys as they were outplayed and coached in every aspect of the game. Last week, the Giants hosted Tampa Bay, who was riding high after defeating division rival Carolina in Week 1. After a struggled first half, behind three Eli Manning interceptions, the Giants trailed 24-13. After halftime though, Eli started playing ELIte. Throwing for two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, Manning finished his day with an outstanding 510 yards. Both Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz had over 175 yard receiving and over 10 catches. The Giants woke up and over came a second half 14 point deficit.
Last night, despite not having starters Ahmad Bradshaw, David Diehl, and Hakeem Nicks, the Giants stepped up once again. Bradshaw was not missed, as fill in Andre Brown carried the ball 20 times for 113 yards with two touchdowns. The same could be said for Nicks, as no name Ramsey Barden caught 9 passes for 138 yards in the winning effort. The defense was all over Cam Newton, as the former number one pick was held to 40.6 Quarterback rating. Newton, who seemed frustrated all night, looked like a shell of himself. The Giants improved to 2-1, and will now wait over a week to play the currently undefeated Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday Night Football.
Two and a half weeks in we have seen the best and worst of both the Giants and Cowboys. Attempting to gauge where these two teams will be at season end is impossible. The little we can gauge though, is that both teams have shown their flashes of greatness. In a division loaded with talent, the question is: can these two inconsistent teams survive their grueling 16 game schedule?
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