Romo
weathered a positively scary-looking Giants pass rush to complete 29 of 37 passes for 289 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. It was a strong
performance that's downright inspiring given his bruised right
hand looked like it had
been on ice at an Arlington morgue all week.
Unfortunately for Romo and the Cowboys, Eli Manning was that much better.
The outrageous seasons of
Rodgers, Brees and Brady will render Manning an MVP afterthought, but it's hard to
argue anyone is
more valuable to their team than Manning is to the Giants. He absolutely carried New York for large stretches of the season, and he played an almost perfect game
in the
"Loser Leaves Town" showdown with the Cowboys on Sunday night.
Manning's numbers -- 24 of
33 for 346 yards and three touchdowns
-- were fantastic, but they
don't begin to tell the story of how
in control he was. NBC's Cris Collinsworth had a bona fide man crush
on Manning by the end of the night, and you couldn't
blame him.
The Giants have gone from "The
Walking Dead" to Super Bowl sleeper over
the course of two weeks. Credit goes to a resurgent defense, a jelling offensive line and the all-pro play of Victor Cruz. But Manning is the straw that stirs the drink in New
York.
It's unbelievable to think that the regular season has come and gone. Wasn't
it just
yesterday that we saw Jason La Canfora sweating out another
three-hour
lockout meeting?
Perhaps even
less believable is that
the Bengals -- a team almost no one gave any chance in August -- made the
playoffs this season. But we start our first look at this weekend's first
round with a look at a game that
involves
another big surprise: the New York football Giants, who went
from an almost-hopeless 6-6 record
to 9-7 and the NFC East title.
Atlanta must protect Matt Ryan. The G-Men's front four had Tony Romo running for his life much of the game Sunday night. The talented receiver duo of Roddy White and Julio Jones will never take off without their quarterback getting to the seventh step in his dropback.
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