Giants Defeat Cowboys after Romo Breaks Collarbone (Part 1)
Tony Romo had no chance to defend himself. After throwing a pass, he turned to see 223-pound linebacker, Michael Boley, coming at him at full speed. Romo was hit hard, and suffered a broken collarbone, putting him out for six to eight weeks.
However, there’s no pointing in the Cowboys holding their breath, seeing as they’re 1-5, and chances to get to the playoffs are not looking too good, especially after the Dallas Cowboys lost to the New York Giants Monday night, 35-41. Unless they get lucky,
like the 1970 Cincinnati Bengals, who are the only team who were 1-5 to make the playoffs.
"I'm staying optimistic," Romo said. "This football team has a lot of high-character guys, a lot of competitive individuals who aren't going to give in to a tough situation."
Even after stricter regulations about hard hits, Boley’s hit was ruled as clean seeing as it was a technical example of a hard hit.
"The guard didn't see me," Boley said. "I came in scot-free. ... I didn't think he was going to lay down. I thought it was a normal hit. After I got up and started running, I looked back and saw he was down."
When Romo left the Cowboys were ahead by three and managed to extend their lead by 13, to 20-7. But after the Giants’ scoring frenzy, much of the crowd started to leave during the third half, and the remaining crowd knew that the Cowboys were fighting a
lost battle. Instead, they showed support for a rather successful Texas team, the Rangers, who have advance to the World Series this year, with chants of “Let’s go Rangers!”
Dallas’ backup QB was Jon Kitna, who hadn’t played since October 5th, 2008. He did look quite rusty, whether from being 38, a long time off the field, or both.
The game started with the Giants winning the toss and choosing to receive. David Buehler kicked off for 60 yards to the NYG 10 yard line. Darius Reynaud returned the kick for 11 yards to the NYG 21. From there, QB Eli Manning attempted three passes, two
of which were incomplete, and the third which was intercepted by Terence Newman at the NYG 35, and advance 30 yards to the NYG 5. After only 33 seconds of play, the Giants gave up the ball to the Cowboys.
The Cowboys got possession of the ball with 14:27 left in the first quarter, with Marion Barber rushing for 1 yard to the NYG 4, and the Romo passing to the right to Jason Witten for the TD. Buhler’s point-after was good, putting Dallas ahead, 7-0.
With 12:02 left in the first, the Cowboys once again had possession of the ball and Buehler kicked a 26 yard field goal, from the NYG 8 on 4th and 8, which was good. The Cowboys extended their lead to 10-0.
With 9:08 left in the first, and then five 1st downs from the NYG 21 to the DAL 7, Manning passed left to Hakeem Nicks for a 7 yard TD, after which Lawrence Tynes kicked a good point-after to make the score 10-7, still to the Cowboys.
At the end of the first, the score was Cowboys, 10, Giants, 7.
With 12:20 left in the second, after Romo was injured, Dallas’ Buehler kicked another field goal, from the NYG 23 on 4th and 4, for 41 yards. The Cowboys were now even further ahead, 13-7.
With the Giants at 4th and 6 at their own 24, Matt Dodge punted 69 yards to DAL 7, with Cowboys' Dez Bryant returning the punt for a 93 yard touchdown, the longest in the franchise’s history since 1974. Buehler’s extra point was good, keeping
the Cowboys’ lead, 20-7.
The rest of the game will be discussed in the next articles.
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