Cowboys Victory Over Giants Part 2
Continuing the subject on the memorable moments from the Cowboys and Giants game and the aspects that both teams need to work on, as many challenging games await the franchises, we review some points to discuss.
Complete backfields
We saw the perfect example of what is considered a complete backfield. On the side of the Giants, Rashad Jennings, Shane Vereen and Andre Williams were complemented, each bringing different skills in specific situations, to produce 80 yards, numbers very similar to what was achieved by Joseph Randle, Darren McFadden and Lance Dunbar from the Cowboys.
Although the distribution seems ideal for both teams, production should improve as 80 yards per game and nearly 3.5 yards per carry is not very impressive and would not scare anyone and perhaps place the teams among the worst in the league.
The game clock management
Both teams had blunders in their management of the game time, but the biggest mistake was from the Giants, who in the fourth quarter, up by 3 points with 1:43 to play, on third and goal from the 1-yard, after having been stopped twice on runs through the center from Jennings, decide to pass; with pressure in Eli Manning he throws the ball outside the field, allowing the Cowboys (no more timeouts) about 40 seconds.
To complete the error, Head Coach, Tom Coughlin, decides the best way to go is with a Field Goal attempt, kicking up by 6 points their lead on the scoreboard but leaving more than a minute and a half on the game clock for the opponent to take the win.
If in any way he would only go for the 3 points, it would have been better that Eli held the ball taking the sack and let the clock run some 35 seconds and then score the 3 points. Otherwise, as the clock stopped, he could have played for the fourth down and the 7 points; in the worst case, if they were to fail, the Cowboys offense had had 99 yards to go in a minute and a half, and needing at least a touchdown to win.