The Cowboys offensive line, led by center Travis Frederick produced 233 yards on 41 carries, a touchdown and just one sack in the loss to the Giants. Photo by Andy Lewis / contrastphotography.com

EAST RUTHERFORD: Turnovers in football are probably the biggest deciding factor in determining who wins and who loses.

There is a great example of that in the Giants 27-20 win over the Dallas Cowboys Sunday evening at MetLife Stadium. With the win the Eagles loss to Carolina, Big Blue’s 4-3 record has them alone on first place in the NFC East.

Big Blue did not turn the ball over, the Cowboys lost a fumble and quarterback Matt Cassel threw three interceptions including a pic six to former Eagle Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. Cassel was in for and ineffective Brandon Weeden, who was in for starter Tony Romo, who has been out with a shoulder injury since week two.

“It’s a huge momentum shifter,” said right guard Geoff Schwartz in the Giants locker room after the game. “Your offense is going in one direction, then all of a sudden…boom!…we score a touchdown. It’s tough on them in that situation.”

In addition to playing a turnover-free game the Giants averaged 5.3 yards per carry on the ground, a vast improvement from their average coming into the game.
“We ran the ball well,” Schwartz said. “We wanted to start this game off with running the ball and I think we did a good job of that.”

The Giants produced a total of 132 rushing yards and Eli Manning completed just 13 passes for measly 170 yards and no touchdowns in the air.

Second-year running Orleans Darkwa, buried on depth chart behind Rashad Jennings, Andre Williams and Shane Vereen, put in his bid to receive more carries in the future with 48 yards rushing on eight carries and a hard-earned touchdown…the Giants only offensive TD of the game.

Schwartz said he was fine with Giants scoring from all three units.

Giants guard Geoff Schwartz said winning the turnover battle was the difference Sunday against the Cowboys.
Photo by Andy Lewis / contrastphotography.com

“We had a special teams touchdown a defensive touchdown and we had one,” Schwartz said. “But we ran the ball well which is an improvement for us up front, we need to do that.
“When you are a plus in the turnover department you’re going to win games. And that’s what we strive for.”

Manning, who was 13 of 24 and sacked twice, said it was probably a good thing to keep it simple on Sunday coming off a tough turnover-filled loss the Eagles the week before.

“Well, we didn’t turn the ball over,” Manning said at his post game press conference. “I think that’s the most important thing; protected the football. You know, offensively, I thought we ran the ball well, started off getting positive yardage, built a couple big ones at the end. Orleans came in and had a couple great runs for us. I thought he hit a couple big plays down the field.
“Hit one to Rueben [Randle] down the right sideline, we’re backed up on our own five-yard line or so. Hit Dwayne [Harris] on one right before the two minute. Had a couple of other opportunities. So, we hit some big plays—we’ve still got to be a bit more efficient offensively, didn’t score enough points.”

Manning said he realizes he can’t hope to get touchdowns from special teams and the defense.

“We gotta do better down in the red zone, getting touchdowns in those scenarios,” manning said. “Third down—I don’t think we were very good. In the second half didn’t have the ball very much at all, but some of that’s when you have kickoff returns and you have turnovers and you have interceptions and touchdowns, sometimes you don’t get the ball that often, but we’ll take those points any day of the week.”

Cassel looked solid in the first half going 11 of 16 for 123 yards, no sacks or turnovers. The second half was a nightmare.

The 11-year veteran went 6 of 11 for 104 yards three interceptions and a 25-yard touchdown pass to Devin Street. The interceptions, two picked off by Rodgers-Cromartie., came on three consecutives drives.

“I thought we had a good first half,” Cassel said. “Obviously when you come out and get three turnovers in the second half, that’s not how you want to come out and perform. Turnovers are what killed us today. It lies on my shoulders, obviously. A few of those throws I’m thinking that I can get it in there. One was a comeback, one was an in-cut. The one that got away from me on the go route came out of my hand funny. I’ve got to correct those things and give our team an opportunity to win. If you don’t take care of the ball in this league, I know it’s tough to win.”

The Cowboys offensive line probably deserved better. Dallas rushed for an impressive 233 yards on 41 carries including a great performance from Darren McFadden who carried the ball 29 times for 152 yards and a score.
The line was tight-lipped in the post game locker room.

“It’s hard to overcome turnovers,” center Travis Frederick said. “It’s about the turnover ratio. We’ve got to get some on defense, hold on the ball on offense. But it comes down to us doing our job on offensive line. We need guys to make plays.”

It does not get any easier for the Cowboys. They have a resurgent Seattle Seahawks team to face next week at home followed by the Eagles coming off a bye week.

“We are sure expecting a challenge with Seattle coming in here next week,” Frederick said. “We’ll evaluate them starting tomorrow.”

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