So I was wrong. Plain and simple. When it comes to predictions there is no middle ground, you're right or your wrong. Unfortunately for me I happened to be wrong with the first game of the season. I've slept on it, and thought of my top five key reasons as to why the Cowboys were victorious going into MetLife Stadium.
5. Jason Witten is a Man
When a player can lacerate his spleen and come back and play just a few weeks later you know he's one tough cookie. Witten did not need to do anything huge and he didn't need to catch any monster passes. Honestly I think on a purely fundamental level he probably hurt the Cowboys more than he helped. He let up a few key blocks and he dropped a pass or two. But he instilled a sense of pride within his team. If you're looking at your pass and run blockers and you see a man with a lacerated spleen staring down the barrel how are you not going to give every play everything that you've got? Witten raised the stakes for his teammates whether he meant to or not, and the offense stepped up.
4. Another Third Wide Receiver for Dallas
Anybody remember Laurent Robinson? He was the man that Jacksonville just gave a boatload of money this past offseason because he benefitted from being the third wide receiver in an offensive scheme that has two premiere wide receivers. With Dez Bryant and Miles Austin being so dangerous on any given play, even if they are a little dinged up, corners are going to be getting a bunch of help from safeties over the top. This leaves so much room for that slot receiver or third wide out to just dance around and make an extra little step to get into the free space. Ogletree did everything right. On his first touchdown he saw open space as the safeties had left the middle of the endzone and he made a very simple wide open catch. On his second touchdown he made the Giants secondary look foolish. He played the corner like a fiddle, got him to bite on a nice little double move, and saw nothing but one wide open endzone. Laurent Robinson got eleven touchdowns last year, Ogletree is already at two.
3. The Giants Offensive Line Versus the Cowboys Defensive Line
The Giants line was not what I expected. I was expecting a good line, something that would have provided Eli some time, or Ahmad Bradshaw some room. Eli got a hand in his face more times than not, and Bradshaw only had enough room to get maybe two decent runs. The Cowboys defensive front was awesome. They were in Eli's face, they were great at stopping the run game, they just did everything that they needed to do. The defensive front plugged gaps and they moved the line how they needed to to get Ware in position to get a few good sacks. Rob Ryan's defensive front impressed me. A lot.
2. Brandon Carr and Morris Claiborne
Neither of these guys were on the team last year and after four pre-season games I completely overlooked them. Last year in two match ups against the Giants the Cowboys gave up twelve catches and 200 plus yards to Victor Cruz along with thirteen catches and 200 plus yards to Hakeem Nicks. So what do the Cowboys do? They throw millions at Carr and move up to the sixth overall pick to snag Claiborne. The result? Cruz had six catches for 58 yards alongside Nicks' four catches for 38 yards. Well played Cowboys. The Boys made a bold move with those two additions in their secondary and last night those two paid them back.
1. The Giants Secondary
The Giants secondary was very bad and incredibly banged up. Going up against receivers like Bryant and Austin you need to have your strongest and fastest in the backfield. How did the Giants make up for the lack of skill with their corners? They put the safeties into double coverage against the dangerous wide receivers that the Cowboys employ. What did this do? Ogletree. The Giants front seven were good. They put pressure in Romo's face, they took him down a few times, they made him run around for his life. The only interception the Giants had was from a linebacker. The cornerbacks and safeties looked abyssmal. If they want to contend against Romo, Vick, or the rookie RG3 in the NFC East they are need to get healthy and they need to get better.
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