Cowboys running back DeMarco Murray rushed for 131 yards on 20 carries on the Giants’ Super Bowl defense last night, but none hurt more than the 48 yards he gained on a broken play late in the third quarter.
Those 48 yards were as much responsible for the Cowboys’ 24-17 win in last night’s NFL season opener at MetLife Stadium as any play in the entire game.
With the Giants having just trimmed a 14-3 Dallas lead to 14-10, Murray twice appeared to be stopped in the backfield — first by Giants linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka then by Giants defensive end Justin Tuck.
When the play was over, though, Murray’s great escape, which began on the Dallas 27, moved the Cowboys’ offense to the Giants’ 25, driving a dagger into the positive momentum the Giants had just created with their first TD of the season.
Four plays later, the Cowboys got a field goal and took a 17-10 lead that would later become a 24-10 lead before the Giants tacked on a garbage-time TD.
“We’ve just got to tackle better,’’ Kiwanuka said. “It was an incredible effort by [Murray] and a complete breakdown by myself and the defense. We’ve got to tackle him there, that’s the bottom line. I’m not taking anything away from him. It was a tremendous run. But the bottom line is when defense was called, we were in position to stop that play and we didn’t get it done.’’
Giants linebacker Michael Boley wasn’t on the field, but he watched in agony from the sideline and felt the consequences, calling the play “a big momentum killer.’’
“We just did a poor job of tackling,’’ Boley said. “We have to corral him. We just didn’t make the play. It wasn’t anything too spectacular on their end. We just didn’t tackle well. It’s very frustrating when you see that we had a couple guys hit him in the backfield that should have tackled him for a loss and get their offense to the sideline.’’
Giants safety Antrel Rolle said, “It was just a busted play. We had him in the backfield and he was able to break free.’’
Murray and the Cowboys broke free all right — riding that momentum-changing play all the way back home to Dallas with a 1-0 record and an early one-game NFC East lead on their most hated rival.