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ARLINGTON, Texas — Give the Giants a hand.
Oh, how they needed it.
“I’ll take breaks, I’ll take luck,’’ Justin Tuck said.
The Giants needed that, too, as a game that at first seemed too easy had become impossibly difficult and now was lost. Their 23-0 lead was a distant memory and their five-point lead in the closing seconds was history when somehow, Dez Bryant got behind a gasping defense and cornerbacks Corey Webster and Michael Coe for a leaping and devastating 37-yard touchdown reception to put the Cowboys ahead 30-29 with 10 seconds remaining.
“Sickness, I felt pretty sick,’’ Osi Umenyiora said.
“Couldn’t quite believe it … couldn’t quite believe they were able to hit a touchdown in that situation,’’ Eli Manning, helpless on the sideline, recalled.
Amid delirium, with 94,067 at Cowboys Stadium howling at this remarkable comeback, the Giants detected a glimmer of hope.
“I kept looking for the replay to see if he caught the ball,’’ Manning said. “They never showed the replay so I thought that’s probably a good sign.’’
Smart guy. The touchdown didn’t survive the booth replay challenge, as the sky-walking Bryant touched down with his right hand, by inches, scraping the white turf just outside the end zone. The call was reversed, and three desperate Tony Romo passes later, the Giants had survived, winning 29-24 in a game none of them knew exactly what to make of.
“They just took a shot at the end zone and they called it a long fly ball,’’ Webster said of the touchdown that wasn’t. “You know you hit those ones out of the park but it goes on the other side of the yellow pole? They don’t give you a home run for that.’’
Webster paused, then added “Another crazy one, another classic battle.’’
“Classic’’ might have to step aside for “bizarre.’’ It is rare when a team can win despite blowing a 23-point lead, but that’s what the Giants did. They led 23-0 early in the second quarter, trailed 24-23 late in the third quarter and never really regained control. But they did regain the lead, thanks largely to Lawrence Tynes making his fourth and fifth consecutive field goals before they had to hang on for dear life.
The Giants forced six turnovers — one became Jason Pierre-Paul’s first career touchdown, on a 28-yard interception return — held the Cowboys to 19 rushing yards and sacked Romo four times, but at the finish were more relieved than rejoicing. Manning’s offense could only muster one touchdown and converted a miserable 3 of 13 on third down.
“Every time we come here it’s a nail-biter in some way, shape or form,’’ Tom Coughlin said. “You can’t always describe it.’’
No, you can’t. But the Giants are now 4-0 all-time in Jerry Jones’ $1 billion football palace. Although it became harrowing, it shaped up to be a glorious day for the Giants (6-2 with a four-game winning streak), as before they even took the field their two rivals in the NFC East had already both lost, the Eagles (3-4) to the unbeaten Falcons and the Redskins (3-5) to the Steelers. The Cowboys are 3-4.
Pierre-Paul punctuated his first NFL touchdown by spiking the ball over the crossbar, putting the Giants up 23-0 only two minutes into the second quarter. The crowd was howling at Romo, jeering him after his third interception and the Cowboys were on the brink of getting blown out.
It was 23-10 at the half. “We allowed them to get back in the game,’’ Tuck said. “Their crowd got into it. That team is dangerous.’’
Once the tide turned the Giants found it difficult to get back upstream. The Cowboys scored 24 straight points, 10 in the second quarter and 14 more in the third quarter, pulling ahead 24-23 when Romo flipped the ball to tight end John Phillips with 3:43 left in the third quarter.
“We’ve been pretty good at winning these close games,’’ Manning said. “We were able to finish strong.’’
Manning hit Hakeem Nicks for 29 yards to trigger a 60-yard drive that ended with Tynes’ fourth field goal to put the Giants ahead 26-24 with 10:20 remaining. Felix Jones lost a fumble — Stevie Brown recovered on the Dallas 45 — and Tynes’ field goal No. 5 made it 29-24. With 1:03 to go, Brown intercepted Romo and that appeared to end it, but the Cowboys got the ball back with 44 seconds left and would have finished off the Giants if Bryant had kept his hand inbounds.
“Thank God for replay,’’ linebacker Michael Boley said. “All you can do is throw your hands up and be happy.’’
paul.schwartz@nypost.com