The Giants defense could barely get out of its own way as they fell to the Dallas Cowboys 45-35. New York gave up 478 yards of offense, allowed Dallas to convert 55% of its third downs and let several players have career nights, including tight end Jason Witten, who exposed the middle of the field with six receptions for 116 yards and a touchdown; Terrell Owens, who abused the Giants secondary with three catches for 87 yards and two touchdowns; and quarterback Tony Romo, who completed 15 of 24 pass attempts for 345 yards.

Meanwhile for the Giants, despite the fine play of quarterback Eli Manning who was 28 of 41 for 312 yards and four touchdowns, the loss was a costly one in terms of injuries as defensive end Osi Umenyiora suffered a knee injury early in the first quarter, running back Brandon Jacobs suffered a sprained MCL, reserve corner Kevin Dockery sprained an ankle and Manning himself suffered a bruised shoulder.

Despite the apparent devastating effects of the loss, there were many positive signs throughout, as the Big Blue continued to fight back, even as their defense continued to falter. After jumping out to an early 6-0 lead on their first possession on a 60-yard touchdown pass from Manning to Plaxico Burress on a first quarter post, the Giants saw the host Cowboys reel off 17 unanswered points.

The first of those scores was a 31 yard field goal by Nick Folk, capping a 67-yard 14-play drive to cut the Giants’ lead in half, 6-3.  Then in the second quarter, the Cowboys took the lead 10-3 on a big fourth down conversion by Marion Barber, who ran 18 yards amidst three missed tackles by Antonio Pierce, James Butler and Corey Webster.

Dallas continued to pour it on in the second quarter as Jacques Reeves picked off a Manning pass intended for Burress on a third and 29. The interception, which occurred when Burress slipped to the turf, gave Dallas possession on the Giants’ 23 where five plays later, Romo connected with Jason Witten, who beat Giants linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka, for another touchdown.
 
To their credit, The Giants battled back. The Giants started their next drive with Manning hitting Burress with a 27-yard pass to the Dallas 48-yard line. Manning then calmly drove the Giants down the field, before calling a timeout with 38 seconds to play.

With first and goal from the Dallas five, Manning hit Amani Toomer on a short pass on first down, but he was tackled at the five before he could get out of bounds, causing the Giants to call another timeout. On third-and-goal with 25 seconds to play, Manning hit Burress for their second score of the night, as Burress managed to get inside position on Jacques Reeves, for a five-yard touchdown that cut the Cowboys lead to 17-13.

The Giants then caught a major break as on the ensuing kick-off, Tyson Thompson fumbled the ball after being hit by rookie Michael Johnson. The loose ball was recovered by Kevin Dockery on the Cowboy 27 where two plays later, it was Lawrence Tynes kicking the 44-yard field goal to cut the lead to just one, 17-16 at the intermission.

Dallas started their first drive of the second half on their own 23, and got another big first down on third-and-7 when Romo hit Patrick Crayton, starting for injured Terry Glenn, for 14 yards. On the next play, Jones to the ball to the outside and ran 21 yards to the Giant 40-yard line. That set up Romo’s first completion to Terrell Owens, an 18-yard gain over the middle, and just like that, it was first-and-10 at the Giant 22-yard line.

On the next play, Owens made his second reception of the year, a brilliant one-handed grab in the end zone from 22 yards out, and the Cowboys, with the PAT, had padded their lead, 24-16.

But still the Giants didn’t give up. On their next Giant possession, Manning again moved the offense down field with a pair of completions to both Burress and Toomer, advancing to Cowboy 33-yard line with just under seven minutes to play in the third quarter. However, the drive stalled with a pair of incompletions, setting up a 48-yard field goal from Tynes to make it 24-19.

After the two teams traded a pair of three-and-out defensive stops, it didn’t take long for the Cowboys to resume their offensive onslaught – just four plays to be exact. Once again, Romo found Witten over the middle to start the drive, completing a 38-yard pass off a play-action fake, before Barber raced untouched for 20 yards, setting up a first-and-goal from the Giant 10. 

On second-and-goal, Romo was flushed out of the pocket but managed to scramble for the TD, the first of his career, and with the PAT, the Cowboys were once again up by 12, 31-19, with 1:12 to play in the third quarter.

Rookie Ahmad Bradshaw did his best to inspire another Giant comeback, returning the ensuing kick-off to the Giant 41, and his teammates responded, as Ward, on second-and-6 from the Giant 45, raced 44 yards to the Dallas 11–yard line on the final play of the third quarter. The Giants then ran the ball twice into the middle with Derek Ward, who was in for the injured Jacobs, but the Dallas defense forced a third-and 10 from the 11.

Manning then forced a throw into traffic, trying to find Smith at the goal line with no success. That set up Tynes’ third field goal of the game, from 24 yards out, which brought the score to 31-22 with 13:25 left to play.

Once again, the Giants looked to their defense to make a big stop, but Romo swiftly hit Crayton for a 25-yard gain over the middle to advance to the Giant 49. Then, on second-and-11, Romo found Owens (three receptions for 87 yards) wide open to the left side, and after breaking a tackle, Owens raced the remainder of the yards to complete the three-play, 71-yard drive, and give the Cowboys a 38-22 lead.

Derek Ward, who rushed 13 times for 89 yards, got his team to within 10 with a reception of a nine-yard TD on a screen pass. However, the two-point conversion failed, with Manning suffering his injury on the play when Anthony Spencer burst through for a sack.

The defense finally came up with a big play as with 7:20 left, Gibril Wilson picked off a pass intended for Witten. Following a pair of short gains, the Giants faced a third-and-3 from the Dallas 15, when Manning found Smith for the first down, setting up a first-and-10 from the Dallas 11.  Two plays later, Manning found Burress in the back of the end zone with a ten-yard touchdown pass to close the gap to 38-35.

But then the Cowboys put the game away for good as Thompson returned the kick-off to their 45-yard line.  Then, after a pair of defensive stops, Romo found Sam Hurd with a 51-yard touchdown strike on a slant, beating corner R.W. McQuarters to seal the deal.  

Giant back-up quarterback Jared Lorenzen, who entered the game after Manning suffered his shoulder injury, tried to bring the Giants back, but the Cowboy defense held firm, leaving the exasperated Giants with a crushing opening day loss and questions abound concerning the health of Manning, Jacobs, Umenyiora, Dockery and their defense.  

Game Notes
The Giants inactive list consisted of FB Robert Douglas, LB Gerris Wilkinson, and WR David Tyree, all of whom are injured. Also, inactive were S Craig Dahl, OL Adam Koets, G Kevin Boothe, and DT William Joseph. Wright has moved ahead of Joseph on the unofficial depth chart. Also, Anthony Wright dressed as the third quarterback.

The Dallas inactive list included OG Joe Berger, CB Courtney Brown, LB Greg Ellis, OT Doug Free, WR Terry Glenn, CB Terence Newman, and WR Isaiah Stanback.
As expected, defensive end Justin Tuck got the start over Michael Strahan. However, Strahan ended up getting more snaps than originally planned due to the injury to Umenyiora.