Joe Buck and Troy Aikman greet us to start the broadcast, with the most American show on Earth preparing to go curtains-up behind them. The New York Giants, representing the US’s largest city, must overcome a hostile playoff atmosphere at Texas Stadium, home of their dreaded rivals and self-proclaimed America’s Team, the Dallas Cowboys. Despite being 7-point underdogs in the eyes of Las Vegas, the general football cognoscenti see a New York team that is more than capable of pulling an upset. These Giants very nearly beat the undefeated New England Patriots in the last game of the regular season (man, wouldn’t that have been a crazy upset? Just imagine!) and confidently dispatched Tampa Bay, champions of the NFC South, in the Wild Card round to ensure this matchup. Pam Oliver, the ever-present FOX sideline reporter, describes the vibe succinctly. As the music begins to blare and the roar of the crowd reaches a deafening fever pitch, she says that the Giants “feel it’s simply their turn.” How right they’d turn out to be.
The first notable contrast between the game we see here and today’s NFL happens before the game even starts. The Giants win the coin toss, and elect to receive. In the atmosphere of the modern NFL, where offense wins championships and whoever gets the ball last tends to win, this would be a blunder. The chance to cobble together two subsequent possessions by controlling the ball as the first half ends and then receiving the second-half kickoff can draw a two-possession game back to even without giving the other team any possible recourse. Looking back on it, it’s pretty surprising it took so long for teams to see the value in deferring the kickoff. It’s the little things like this that win and lose games.
Anyways, the Giants receive the kickoff, and immediately I am taken aback. As the starters for the Giants offense crawl across the bottom of the screen, I see it. Starting at fullback is Madison Hedgecock.
Were the 2007 Giants were a particularly run-heavy offense? Nope, their 408 rushing attempts in the regular season were the 11th-fewest in the league. So what the hell is a fullback doing on the field on 1st and 10, let alone on the very first play of the game? Well, it turns out that heavy formations were all the rage in 2007. This is something that went right over the head of a 10-year-old me at the time, who was hardly watching football, let alone trying to comprehend formations. This would go on to be a recurring theme in this game.
By the way, bald heads were all the rage on the 2007 Dallas Cowboys defense, huh?
Anyways, the Dallas defense very nearly gets off the field early, but a pretty questionable offsides call on Demarcus Ware keeps the Giants afloat. Let’s take another look at that call real quick.
Seems like the Giants catch an early break here. New York converts the 3rd-and-inches, and the drive continues. To the surprise of everybody on Earth, they do this by QB Sneaking with Eli Manning instead of handing it to their human wrecking ball, Brandon Jacobs, who just finished a regular season of 5.0 yards per rush.
The very next play, the Cowboys misfortune costs them dearly. Cowboys corner Anthony Henry and the cameraman both have a rough play, and Amani Toomer takes a short pass to the house. 7-0 Giants.
So how does this play happen?
The route that Toomer runs on this play, a simple curl route, is in pink above. The route that Henry seemingly expects Toomer to run is a post route, in red.
This causes some confusion. Since Henry is expecting Toomer to run into the space being covered by his safety over the top of him, he stops following his man. By letting the receiver drop, Toomer is able to find a soft spot in the coverage. Ken Hamlin, the safety, immediately sees what is happening, but it’s already too late. Manning spots the wide open man, and after a few poor tackles, the Giants have drawn first blood.
The Giants nearly blow the game wide open on the Cowboys first play from scrimmage. A perfect helmet-to-football shot by Michael Strahan knocks the pigskin out of Marion Barber’s grip, but an egregious facemask keeps the ball with Dallas.
Remember when I said that these teams loved heavy formations? Here’s another example. After an incompletion to Terrell Owens on 1st down, Dallas faces a 2nd and 10. Over the years, football has become more and more optimized, and situational playcalling has taken huge strides. During the 2021 season, teams in this exact down and distance passed the ball considerably more often than they ran it (66% passing plays vs 34% running plays), and good offenses almost always do so. Of the nine teams that passed at least 75% of the time in these scenarios, five were in the top nine of total offensive DVOA.
This is, by all means we understand today, a passing down. These Cowboys, however, see convention and spit in the face of it. They set up an offset I formation with seven men essentially on the offensive line. They have only one receiver out wide. Jason Witten is lined up at fullback. Not only is Dallas making the objectively wrong decision to run on second and long, but they are making it obvious. This play is a run a mile off to anybody who cares to look at it. They, as expected, run left towards the strong side. The Giants see it coming. Dallas gains 0 yards and now faces 3rd and 10. Knowing now that the Cowboys absolutely must pass here, New York blitzes Dallas QB Tony Romo. Seven Giants rushers easily overwhelm Dallas’ six blockers, the pressure gets to Romo easily, and a swat to the arm causes the attempted pass to fall incomplete. Possession over.
I won’t point this out every time something like this happens in this game because I would lose my mind, but just know it happens a lot.
The next Giants possession is pretty unremarkable. Most of the plays involve handing the ball off to Brandon Jacobs and then his smaller and more nimble counterpart, Ahmad Bradshaw. After a few sequential successful meanders by the duo, a play action sees a cornerback hesitate, which allows Plaxico Burress to get open on a deep post, which Manning overthrows. Good call, just doesn’t work out. Just the way life goes sometimes, ya know?
The play that interests me most, however, is a play that never happens. After a Bradshaw run comes up short of converting a 3rd and 2 by about a foot at the Cowboys 44 yard line, Giants head coach Tom Coughlin doesn’t hesitate a moment to call out the punt team. This surprised me. If Brandon Jacobs converts (which I imagine he could do in his sleep), you are about one more first down from being in field goal range. The resulting punt from New York’s Jeff Feagles is exquisite, however, and pins Dallas at their own 4 yard line, keeping the decision from being a calamitous misstep.
It didn’t matter. Dallas’ succeeding drive was fueled almost entirely by the legs of Marion Barber, most notably a 36-yard scamper on 2nd and 13 that shot the Cowboys into New York territory. Sometimes running on 2nd and long works out I guess. Whatever.
The environment that Marion finds himself in with this Cowboys team is absolutely ideal. Although the Dallas offense of 2007 doesn’t run the ball often, they do so wonderfully when they opt to. The offensive line boasts Pro Bowlers at LT, C, and RG. Jason Witten, their Pro Bowl TE, nearly always lines up on the line and is a good blocker. Even Terrell Owens (who also made the 2007 Pro Bowl) is more than capable of some downfield blocking if the play calls for it. All these things combined for Barber to accumulate just shy of 1000 yards from the ground on 4.8 yards per carry, good enough to earn him a Pro Bowl berth of his own.
The first quarter ends with the Giants defense on the ropes. The unit manages to stack Barber at the line of scrimmage to force 2nd and Goal to put the quarter to bed, but the preceding pair of 13 yard scampers by Barber have already done their damage.
Dallas closes the book on the possession quickly. On the very first play of the quarter, TO beats his man immediately off the line of scrimmage, and Romo drops it right in the bucket. Tie game.
It’s a good idea that coaches started waiting to get confirmation from somebody with the TV angle before throwing out the challenge flag. Michael Strahan manages to convince Coughlin to challenge the play, and Owens is very clearly inbounds with possession and two feet down. I get the whole “What is a catch, really?” joke, but c’mon now.
Alright, some credit where credit is due real quick. I’m hardly Troy Aikman’s biggest fan, but I’ll admit, calling a playoff game right above your very own number retirement plaque is pretty damn baller.
Anyways, the Giants get the ball back at their own 31 yard line after a sizable return. The Dallas defense is almost off the field quickly, but yet again, an iffy offsides call gives the Giants new life. The Cowboys recover nicely however, and manage to get to Manning twice in three plays.
These two plays succeed for different reasons. The first, a 1st and 10, succeeds due to scheme. Dallas, at first glance, seems as though they may be rushing seven. However, one edge rusher splits out to match the fullback, and DeMarcus Ware drops into coverage. This, in theory, leaves five rushers to match up with the five New York linemen and Brandon Jacobs. Advantage Giants.
However, in what Aikman would describe as a linebacker twist (look at me, out here learning fun new football terminology!), they manage to overload one side of the line. Two of the four down linemen occupy the LT and LG, and the LB who was in line with the LG collides with the center. The other MLB, Akin Ayodele, now has an opening. By moving across the center, he can now move through the A-Gap between the center and LG. The RG, who may have been initially expecting to pick up Ware or Ayodele, now has neither in front of them and is looking for work. Ayodele breaks through the 4v3 on the left side of the line, powers through a block by Jacobs, and flushes Manning out of the pocket before eventually bringing him down for only a gain of two yards.
The next play is much simpler. Dallas only rushes four in order to drop seven into coverage on a likely passing down. Chris Canty employs a quick swim move to easily beat the LG, Rich Seubert, and immediately gets to the QB. The 10 yard sack ends the drive.
The Cowboys next drive is plodding and methodical. It begins with over 11 minutes left in the second quarter, and only ends as the first half begins to wane. Perhaps no one play sticks in the mind (other than maybe a dropped pick by Corey Webster), but a few useful nuggets can still be gleaned off this drive.
For one, refs were way more chill about late hits to a QB. Look at that play again and tell me there isn’t a 100% chance that play gets flagged in 2022.
Furthermore, this is the drive where TO makes his first major contributions outside of his short touchdown earlier. After running on seven of the first eight plays of the possession, Dallas needed to keep the Giants on their toes, and the All-Pro receiver was game.Twice in a row the Cowboys would face 3rd and long on this drive, and both times Romo found Owens for a timely conversion. Barber would cap the drive off with a 1 yard tumble into the endzone to cap off a first half where he accumulated over 100 yards on the ground. 14-7 Dallas.
After that drive, only 53 seconds remains in the second quarter. Surely that’s not nearly enough time for a New York team that had -2 yards of total offense this quarter to put together a scoring drive, right? Well, you remind me of myself in my college calculus classes, because you’re very wrong!
Within a five play stretch, the Dallas defense allows passing plays of 22, 12 (with an additional 15 tacked on after a facemask penalty), and 18 yards to set the Giants up at 1st and Goal from the five with 11 seconds left. One play later, Manning finds Toomer on a short crossing route for his second touchdown to tie the game.
So much of why this could happen is the Charmin-soft coverage the Cowboys employ this drive. As a Packers fan who lived through way too many close games that should have been put out of reach during the McCarthy era, this annoys me to no end.
I mean, look at this! Not only are the corners being instructed to not even attempt to cover until nearly the first down marker, but there is one safety so far back he is never even seen prior to the snap, who is apparently backup to the one safety who barely sneaks into frame 15 yards downfield.
Of course, I understand the mentality here. Sure, let them nickel-and-dime us to their heart’s content, they’ll burn all their timeouts and be stranded way outside of field goal range by the time the clock bleeds out. Far better to let them get some easy yardage and maybe let them into field goal range than get burned for a deep touchdown! The only issue is, if you keep letting the opposing offense have these 10 and 15 yard chunks, they’ll get to the endzone anyways. But what do I know?
Dallas starts the third quarter with a drive not unlike their last. It’s quite long (over 8 minutes long, in fact) and is largely the work of Marion Barber and the outstanding offensive line. Despite moving the ball into the redzone, a false start on 3rd and 7 takes a touchdown out of the question and they settle for a field goal to take a 17-14 lead.
During the drive, Michael Strahan is done the disservice of having an anti-highlight reel played for all of America to see, despite having an alright game. Ouch.
There was a play I wanted to break down this drive. I’m not much of an X’s and O’s football guy, so when I notice a specific kind of a defensive formation, I get excited and want the world to know.
It’s 2nd and 7, and Dallas is pretty deep in their own territory. New York is in their base 4-3 formation. Dallas has 6 men with their hands in the dirt and at the line of scrimmage and TE Anthony Fasano at fullback. Even if New York sends all seven men, the Cowboys can match hat to hat. They are selling a run to Barber.
But then the Giants make their move. Safety James Butler creeps to the line and shows blitz. Now, even if New York knows that this is a passing play (they do) and sends linebackers out to cover accordingly, there are 6 rushers and only five linemen to block them. Not only do the linemen all need to win 1v1 against a fearsome Giants pass rush, but Marion Barber needs to pick up and disrupt the blitzing safety. Fortunately for Dallas, the play is sending both tight ends to run routes away from the pressure, and with the corner so far back, one of the two tight ends should be open past the line of scrimmage.
So, what actually happens?
Surprise! Michael Strahan does not rush the quarterback. He instead follows Witten, initially wasting the RT on the play. Now not only is Witten covered off the line and Fasano picked up by LB Kawika Mitchell, but Butler is flying towards Romo. This is called a creeper blitz! Cincinnati likes to run these nowadays because Trey Hendrickson, who plays the role Michael Strahan does here for the Bengals, is relatively decent in coverage.
Dallas still manages to convert the first down here because three things go right for them:
- The RT, Marc Colombo, adjusts well and helps double team Fred Robbins before he gets in Romo’s face.
- Barber stays sharp and does well to block Butler.
- Jason Witten, the First-Team All-ProTE, manages to beat Michael Strahan in coverage. Shocker.
The first time the Giants touch the ball this half, they create a more explosive play than anything they produced in the second quarter. Domenik Hixon returns the Cowboys kickoff to the 50 yard line to give Eli Manning and the Giants offense a short field.
The Giants offense remains stagnant. After a promising start behind two strong rushes from Jacobs with Hedgecock leading the way, New York has an easy first down and is knocking on the door of field goal range with ambitions to take the lead. Demarcus Ware has other plans.
To begin the new set of downs, Ware blows past the RT as if he wasn’t even there. Manning has no chance and takes a brutal sack. Just about all the progress the Giants had made on this drive is wiped out with one play.
On the very next play, Ware is now on the other side of the line. Initially, he drops back into coverage, likely to keep tabs on Kevin Boss (it is 2nd and 19, after all…), but he quickly adjusts to the run, sheds the block from Chris Snee with minimal effort, and brings down the formidable Jacobs for a minimal gain. Being the team-oriented sport that it is, it’s nearly impossible to single-handedly dominate a football game from a non-skill position, but over this two-stretch play, Demarcus Ware gets about as close as you possibly can.
The Giants concede defeat on this drive. They toss a short little screen to Jacobs, then hand the ball to the punt team. Drive over. New York’s chances to take this game back are beginning to run short.
With the 3rd quarter running low and the lead already in hand, Dallas has a chance to deliver a devastating blow. A long scoring drive like the ones they’ve already put together this game would well and truly have the Giants against the ropes. Instead, you can call them Lemony Snicket, because they are about to face a series of unfortunate events.
On the second play of the drive, Witten runs a clean out route and picks up an easy first down. It was not meant to be, however. A very late hit from RT Leonard Davis on Strahan cancels out the play, and turns 1st and 10 from the 33 into 2nd and 18 from the 11. Ouch.
But not all is lost! The Cowboys offense is hilariously loaded, surely if any offense can dig themselves out of this whole, this Dallas team can, right?
A pass to Witten on 2nd down that only picks up 4 yards hardly helps matters. On 3rd down, a miracle nearly takes place. Romo, sensing pressure and not seeing anybody open downfield, leaves the pocket. He scrambles right, avoiding pressure and dodging rushers. Receiver Patrick Crayton, recognizing his quarterback’s efforts, improvises downfield and finds a soft spot in the coverage. Romo sees him and delivers a perfect ball while on the move, sidearmed, and with a defender in his face. It’s the kind of play that the likes of Patrick Mahomes, Kyler Murray, and Lamar Jackson have made super cool all these years later. It’s the kind of play Crayton will tell his grandkids about. More than anything, however, it keeps the drive alive, and brings Dallas one step closer to putting their divisional rivals away for good.
Or at least it would if Crayton holds on. It’s 4th down. Dallas punts.
The Giants stay hot on special teams. RW McQuarters (great name) evades some would-be tacklers and scoots about 25 yards down the field to set his offense up at Cowboys 36 yard line. Once again, New York has a short field. They must come away with something to show for it.
Amani Toomer is left wide open once again for an easy first down to start the possession, and on the first play of the fourth quarter, Manning finds Steve Smith (no, not that Steve Smith) to convert on 3rd and 6 and set them up with a 1st and Goal from the 9. Surely now they will score their first points in the second half, right?
Don’t worry, they do! On first down, a pull from Snee and a big block from Madison Hedgecock (how wrong I was to judge you, my friend) delivers Ahmad Bradshw down to the 1 yard line.
Both these teams have both been apt to put a lot of weight on the line of scrimmage, but the Giants take it to the next level on 2nd and Goal. With eight men on the line of scrimmage, Hedgecock at fullback, and Brandon Jacobs at tailback, the next play could not be more obvious. Everybody on Earth knows the ball is coming to Jacobs, and all 11 Cowboys on the field are united behind one purpose: stopping him.
11 players isn’t nearly enough. Jacobs bursts through the Cowboys defensive front, then lets the play clock know who’s the boss.
Now, at this point, I had a feeling I knew how this game would play out. I am certain the Giants will win this game, as they are on their way to winning the Super Bowl in only a few weeks time, and with how both the defenses are playing, it’s hard to imagine there will be much more scoring. But fret not, dear reader, I’ll see this game through anyways!
As it has all day, dumb penalties immediately hurt Dallas again. After a respectable kickoff return, a block in the back penalty moves the start of the possession back to the 13 yard line. The penalty count stands at 8 against Dallas, and only 1 against New York.
Despite a negative run on first down and another drop by Crayton on 2nd down, the Cowboys convert on 3rd and 11 to keep any semblance of momentum alive. Despite Strahan finally getting home, Romo finds Jason Witten coming out of a perfectly run route to move the chains. Witten has now been targeted five times by Romo, and converted a first down on four of them. That’s First-Team All-Pro material right there.
Patrick Crayton catches some flak for his key drops in this piece, so it’s only fair that I also show off this great catch he makes over Corey Webster. Damn.
This vaunted Cowboys line has done well to keep Romo upright and clean all day, having yet to allow a sack, but the dam finally bursts. After a first down that saw Barber once again stopped for minimal gain (a recurring theme of this second half), Dallas is looking for a big gain. Miles Austin gets hilariously open downfield (he can be seen streaking downfield in the gif above), but 3 Giants immediately getting through the line scrambles the play. This has to be one of the biggest “what if” plays of this whole postseason. Austin certainly scores easily if Romo has the time to deliver to him, and suddenly the Cowboys would have the lead. Would the Giants offense, which has had to fight for every inch for most of this half, been able to take the lead back? If not, would Dallas also be able to fend off the visiting Packers in the NFC Championship Game for the second time this season? Would either of them have the same kind of magic these Giants had to beat the mighty Patriots and besmirch what would undoubtedly have been the crown jewel of Tom Brady’s illustrious career? We’ll never know for sure.
Anyways, the Giants blitz once again manages to get to Romo and force an incompletion. Dallas punts, but a picturesque 58-yard bomb from Mat McBriar pins the Giants at their own 2. If New York wants to put this game out of reach, they’ll have to traverse nearly the entire length of the field to do so.
They don’t get anywhere close. After three runs by Brandon Jacobs only nets 9 yards, Dallas gets the ball right back. Victory is still within sight for the Cowboys.
Crayton’s slippery hands almost spells disaster for the Cowboys once again. Get it together, man.
The torrent of pressure continues. After a pass interference call gifts Dallas easy yards, disaster strikes. Romo is once again immediately flushed from the pocket, and he refuses to take advantage of the ample opportunities to throw the ball away and concede defeat on the play. Instead, Tony desperately tries to keep the play alive, and the offense pays dearly for it with a 14-yard sack that brings up 2nd and 24.
Just then, an interesting (and strangely prophetic) graphic pops up on the screen. Until now, the #1 seed has never failed to advance to the NFC Championship game since the playoff format was updated in 1990, but the sterling record of the NFC’s most elite team is now at risk. There’s blood in the water, and everybody can smell it. And, as we’d come to learn, these Giants were certainly not intimidated by being on the business end of an undefeated record. Don’t look so upset Tony, that fat CBS contract will be in front of you before you know it!
A 20 yard grab by Witten gives the Cowboys some room to work with, but a series of penalties by both teams jostle the ball up and down the field for the next several plays. Witten appears to once again have the first down the next play, but an illegal formation call moves the ball back to the NYG 46 and a 3rd and 9. Some beautiful coverage from Corey Webster on TO downfield should have made it 4th and 9, but an objectively poor pass interference call keeps the drive hobbling along. Now, once again faced with a first down at the Giants 41 yard line, Dallas flubs their golden opportunity. With a clean pocket for the first time in forever, Romo tosses the ball out of bounds with no receiver in the area and is promptly called for intentional grounding. For the second time this drive, it’s 2nd and 20. Two incomplete passes later, and the Giants are receiving McBriar’s punt and starting yet another drive with the chance to truly put this game away.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one; with an opportunity to seal the win, the Giants offense fails to execute. If I didn’t know better, you could have told me that I was watching the exact same Giants possession twice in a row. Once again, the Giants run the ball on first and second down and gain minimal yardage. Now, suddenly realizing that actually gaining a first down would be to their advantage, the offense switches it up with a passing play, but it’s too little, too late. Tank Jonhson sacks Manning, and once again, the Giants have decided they would rather give the ball back to the star-studded Dallas offense with a short field than risk stopping the clock with an incompletion on first or second down.
After receiving the Giants punt, the Cowboys are almost immediately facing a key 3rd down. Of course, this late in the game the Cowboys would absolutely go for it on 4th down, but with only one timeout to their name and less than a minute to play, every down is precious.
The Giants only rush four, which gives Romo some time to think and assess the field. Seeing nobody open (New York did send seven into coverage, after all), he improvises. He scrambles first to his right, and then his left, where he sees Witten streaking across him, open for what feels like the hundredth time this half. The superstar TE takes the short little shuttle pass and keeps the Cowboys offense above water.
For just a moment, a promo for the ill-fated Terminator TV show flashes across the screen. A famous franchise still desperately trying to hang on to relevancy decades after its heyday has passed it by… why, that sounds like a certain Texas-based NFL franchise I know!
Anyways, after a false start precedes a four yard snag by Witten (who else?), Dallas faces 2nd and 11 with only 26 seconds remaining. They wouldn’t gain another yard.
Osi Umenyiora nails Romo in the back as he throws. Incomplete. 3rd down.
Romo can’t quite connect with Crayton. 4th down.
At this point, the Dallas Cowboys had not won a playoff game since 1996. In 2007, it seemed everything had finally come together to end their streak of postseason woes. The offense was an embarrassment of riches with its 6 Pro Bowlers. The defense was absolutely ferocious, led by soon-to-be (if the Football Gods are good) Hall of Famer Demarcus Ware and sporting 5 Pro Bowlers of its own. The proof of concept was clear too; a 13-3 regular season put them at the top of the NFC. Most expected that at the very least, they should challenge the undefeated New England Patriots for the Super Bowl. Perhaps they were even the team to fell Brady and Co..
But now, suddenly, they were against the ropes. If they can’t convert this 4th down and score, all those accolades will be for naught, all the hype misplaced. And perhaps most bitterly of all, it will be the Giants, the lowly Wild Card team they had beaten twice already this season, that did it. Surely such a magical season wasn’t really about to end, was it? It can’t be over already!
It was. Romo, knowing that the only realistic chance Dallas had of winning was to score on that very play, heaves a pass to the endzone, hoping Terry Glenn would break to it on time. The coverage by R.W. McQuarters is perfect, however, and the only turnover of the game also ends it.
The Giants advance.
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Ultimately, the Giants won this game because of three things:
- Penalties. The Giants were called for 3 penalties, knocking them back a total of 28 yards. Dallas’ 11 penalties, on the other hand, cost them 84 yards. Having so many possessions derailed by penalties very likely ended up costing the Cowboys some points somewhere along the way. If Dallas only needed a field goal on that last possession instead of a touchdown, the outcome is probably very different.
- Special teams. The Giants had several short fields to work with due to some great punt and kickoff returns. The offense never quite found its footing, so having the advantage of not needing to go far to score was a crucial factor in New York’s victory.
- Defensive adjustments. The Cowboys offense was looking as though it would take over the game in the first half. Marion Barber was running all over the Giants, Jason Witten was dependable as always, and while he was hardly setting the field on fire, Terrell Owens was just about on pace for a 100-yard day. While Witten had a great second half, both Barber and Owens were practically absent. Barber managed only rushing 28 yards on 11 attempts after halftime, and Owens did not record a single catch. By blitzing often and stacking the box, New York refused to allow Barber to continue to gash them while simultaneously keeping Romo under pressure and forcing him into quick decisions.
The Giants, of course, went on to defeat the undefeated Patriots to win the 2007 Super Bowl as well as Super Bowl XLVI, also against the Patriots, in 2011. The Cowboys wallowed in mediocrity for years, and have only won 3 playoff games since 2007. They still have yet to appear in an NFC Championship Game since their last appearance in 1996.
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