NFL

Giants LB Boley made critical fourth-down stop

After hearing from all their doubters for much of the season, Michael Boley said the way the Giants finished off the Cowboys 31-14 last night to claim the NFC East title “kind of showed some people we mean business.’’ Boley did his part to show the Giants defense meant business with a key stop to help blunt a momentum swing.

Once down 21-0, the Cowboys narrowed the deficit to 21-7 and early in the fourth quarter faced a fourth-and-1 on the Giants’ 10-yard line. Dallas coach Jason Garrett eschewed a chip-shot field goal attempt in favor of a Tony Romo quarterback sneak attempt that was snuffed out when Boley, anticipating the play, launched off his feet and met Romo in the air, dropping him for no gain, with help from Jason Pierre-Paul.

“It was very big,” Boley said. “They had a lot of momentum going on that drive, they were riding high, trying to get it in and for us to come up with that stop, it was amazing. It took all the wind out of their sail.’’

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* Wide receiver Hakeem Nicks, battling through a strained hamstring that limited him last week against the Jets, had five catches for 76 yards and finished strongly with a 36-yard reception and then a game-sealing 4-yard touchdown catch.

“I felt pretty good, I kept it warm all game and wasn’t really thinking about it at all,’’ Nicks said of his hamstring. “I had it wrapped up pretty tight. Coming into this game my mentality was just move the chains. I didn’t know if I was going to have the deep threat. I knew I wanted to be a part of this game, just my presence alone, I felt like I could be a factor.’’

* For the first time all season, the Giants won the toss and, with a steady rain at the start, coach Tom Coughlin elected to defer, giving the Cowboys the ball first in exchange for getting it after halftime. Coughlin said he wanted to see if his defense could force a turnover with Romo and his bruised hand handling a wet football. … Coughlin chastised himself for calling a timeout with 14 seconds left in the first half, hoping to get the ball back before Cowboys kicker Dan Bailey missed a 52-yard field goal. “It was a dumb play by me and I outsmarted myself,’’ Coughlin said.

* Leading 7-0 in the first quarter, the Giants nearly turned the ball over when Will Blackmon made an ill-advised attempt to field a punt on the move. Blackmon muffed the punt and Alan Ball was there for the recovery for the Cowboys. Ball, though, couldn’t get control of the football and rookie Greg Jones pounced on it for the Giants.