After a heated battle won in incredible fashion, the New York Giants head to frigid Green Bay and probably wont feel even a chill.
They kept their season alive in dramatic and improbable fashion, beating the Cowboys 21-17 in a wild and wooly NFC divisional playoff game at stunned Texas Stadium.
Tony Romo’s final pass of the day, intended for Terry Glenn, was intercepted in the end zone by R.W. McQuarters with 9 seconds remaining, setting off a wild celebration on the Giants sideline and sending them into Sunday’s NFC Championship game against Brett Favre and the Packers at historic Lambeau Field (FOX, 6:30).
The No. 1 seed in the NFC had been 17-0 in divisional games since the 12-team playoff format was adopted in 1990.
Incredibly, the Giants (12-6), seeded fifth, move on and the No. 1 Cowboys (13-4) go home, still looking for their first playoff victory since 1996, their season now a dismal failure.
The Cowboys broke on top with a Nick Folk 34-yard field goal for a 17-14 lead midway through the third quarter. The Giants responded with a key drive of their own, sparked by a 25-yard punt return by McQuarters to midfield. Manning on third-and-6 converted with an 11-yard pass to rookie Steve SmithSteve Smith , as the Giants clearly targeted cornerback Jacques Reeves. Brandon JacobsBrandon Jacobs finished the job by pounding into the end zone from 1 yard out and with 13:29 left to play the Giants led 21-17.
After that, it was an excruciating fight to the finish, with the Giants frantically trying to weather the storm, battling with a makeshift defensive backfield going without their top three cornerbacks.
Sam Madison and Kevin Dockery were inactive because of injuries, and rookie Aaron Ross went down in the second quarter and out for good in the third with a shoulder injury.
The Giants forced a Cowboys punt with 3:46 left, with Dallas down to one remaining timeout. With a first down, the Giants could have put the Cowboys in deep trouble but went three-and-out, with Manning getting sacked on third down by Tank Johnson. After a 42-yard punt by Jeff Feagles, the Cowboys took over on the Giants 48-yard line.
On third-and-2, Romo made like Favre with a scrambling shovel pass to Jason Witten for 18 yards to the Giants 22. The Giants held on — then they celebrated.
The Giants did what they needed to at the start with a crisp opening drive, pounding away with Jacobs then getting a huge play when Manning fired a strike to Amani Toomer, who caught the pass on the Dallas 42-yard line and proceeded to dance around the feeble tackle attempts of Greg Ellis and Anthony Henry.
Toomer raced down the left sideline to complete a 52-yard scoring play and the Giants led 7-0 barely three minutes into the game.
After that, it was an impressive game of keep-away by the Cowboys. In the second quarter, the Cowboys held the ball for 10:39, leaving the Giants a mere 4:21 to work with. Strangely, the game was tied at halftime, in most improbable fashion.
Romo through the air and the punishing Barber with his churning legs seized control of the remainder of the first half. Barber, making his first start of the season, ripped off runs of 36 and 20 yards, carrying defenders most of the way, before Romo lofted a fade to Owens, who had no trouble shedding soft coverage of Corey Webster for a 5-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the second quarter.
Three minutes later, Manning was sacked by Chris Canty and the Giants gave the ball back to the Cowboys, who embarked on a dive of gargantuan proportions. They took over with 11:21 remaining in the first half and by the time the Giants got the ball back they had a mere 47 seconds to go. In between, the Cowboys ran off 20 plays, traversed 90 yards, sliced 10:28 off the clock and converted six third downs. Romo picked apart the gasping Giants secondary and, fittingly, Barber ended the marathon by crashing in from 1 yard out to make it 14-7.
That’s the way it looked as if the score would sit at halftime, but the Giants had other ideas. They matched the Cowboys’ time-consuming drive by traversing 71 yards in seven plays, all in a mere 46 seconds.
Manning hit rookie Steve Smith for a leaping 22-yard grab, hit Smith again for 11 more, and got 15 bonus yards on a penalty when Reeves hauled Smith down by yanking on his facemask. A 19-yard pass to another rookie, tight end Kevin Boss, set the table for Manning’s bullet to Toomer for a 4-yard scoring pass with seven seconds left in the half.