Can't beat Giants-Cowboys at pressure

There could not be a more fitting final month to a Giants’ season of highs and lows than the one that awaits them: Four games to go, three against NFC East rivals Dallas and Washington, the other against the Jets, and a playoff berth hanging in the balance.

And what better way to start a dramatic stretch run than against the Cowboys, rivals for more than a half-century.

Giants-Cowboys serving as late-season bookends now and in the finale is the perfect way to finish a season that has been as unpredictable, nonsensical and bewildering as any.

After all, who’d have thought that the Giants, after getting to the halfway mark at 6-2 and then losing four straight, still would have their postseason destiny in their hands? But with Dallas up Sunday night, and then again on New Year’s Day in a potential winner-take-all scenario — with the Redskins and Jets in between — well, this doesn’t get any better.

Since the Giants’ first game against the expansion Cowboys in 1960, you’d be hard pressed to find a sports rivalry to match its consistent drama. And the teams are separated by only a game after the Giants’ 38-35 thriller of a loss to the Packers and the Cowboys’ clunker of an overtime loss to Arizona.

There’s still a chance that both teams can reach the postseason, but the Giants know their best path to January is to win out. A sweep of the Cowboys, coupled with wins over the Redskins and Jets, would give the Giants a 10-6 record and the divisional title. But a loss or two down the stretch, and the Giants’ playoff hopes are greatly imperiled.

“Hopefully, we can take some momentum from the game,” Eli Manning said.

“A lot of good things, a great fight, great determination coming back from being down at times and fighting back and tying up the game. Those are the things you like to see.”

Manning has had his share of highlights against the Cowboys, but none more important than the 2007 divisional playoff at Texas Stadium. It was there that the Giants upset the top-seeded Cowboys on their way to a Super Bowl championship.

Manning also won the first game at Cowboys Stadium in 2009, and created a bit of controversy when he left his autograph on the locker room wall, accompanied by the words “First win in the New Stadium.”

The Cowboys took umbrage, vowing revenge in the rematch. That didn’t come, because Manning beat them at the Meadowlands that season.

“It’s always a big game against the Cowboys,” said Manning, who has won three of his last four at Dallas.

“They’re going to come ready to play, and we’ve got to try and match their intensity. We’ve got a chance to win a game and get back tied for first place in the division.”

No looking back, Manning said, even with a four-game losing streak.

“It doesn’t matter what you did the week before,” he said. “It’s about what lies ahead. It’s a huge divisional game.”

Ever since Cowboys rookie coach Tom Landry shocked his former team in a 31-31 tie to begin the rivalry, it has staged so much NFL history:

Emmitt Smith’s incredible performance despite a separated shoulder in a 16-13 overtime thriller in the 1993 finale that clinched the divisional title for Dallas.

Joe Danelo kicking the winning field goal in overtime in 1981 to give the Giants their first playoff berth since 1963. The 2003 game at Giants Stadium, when Bill Parcells returned as Cowboys coach to beat the Giants in overtime despite trailing 32-29 with 11 seconds to play.

And now, a chance for two more memorable installments, the first before a prime-time audience Sunday in Big D.
Great theater for a great rivalry, with enormous stakes for both teams. Giants-Cowboys.

As it should be.