NFL: Dallas Cowboys 24-17 New York Giants - Match Report

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCzThprCRD4 The Dallas Cowboys went some way towards getting revenge on the New York Giants for last season with a ruthless and efficient 7 point victory. With the Cowboys surprise loss to the Giants on New Years Day this year, a result that cost them the NFC East title and allowed the Giants to go on to win the NFL Championship, still in the memory on this season opener, Dallas came out strongly to eventually dominate a game that ended with the scores a bit closer than they should have been. Dallas will be most pleased with new 3rd receiver Kevin Ogletree's performance, with the Queens-born player grabbing 2 receiving TD's thanks to some excellent box play by QB Tony Romo. Ogletree looks set to play a more pivotal role in the Giants season after constantly fooling New York's cornerback's to get 8 receptions for 114 yards on a night that thoroughly belonged to him. With Eli Manning eager to live up to the expectations he had set for himself last season, he could only manage one touchdown pass with main receiver Victor Cruz looking slightly shaky with his handling, and was constantly pressured by an organised Dallas defence. The first half was a frustrating affair for both teams on offence as a huge crowd of 82,287 showed up for the first football of the season. The 1st quarter was scoreless, before Dallas and Demarcus Ware started the second quarter with a huge sack on Manning at 1st and 10 for a loss of 15 yards, eventually gaining possession back only to see Romo throw an interception in on 3rd and 8 in the following drive. The interception from Boley was impeccable, with the player incredibly forcing his way to the 2 yard line and giving the Giants a great chance to get the first score. However they failed to capitalise on the opportunity and were forced into a 22-yard field goal with just over 10 minutes of the half to go. Manning cut a frustrated figure as he was continuously forced to throw under pressure and rely on the hit-and-miss rushing attempts of David Wilson and Ahmad Bradshaw. As the two minute warning sounded, Romo then made a big play with a superb pass deep right to Bryant for a gain of 38 yards, putting the Cowboys just 15 yards from the end zone. And then came Ogletree, with 2 receptions in a row, the second securing a TD after Romo burst out of the pocket to find him. The game opened up a bit in the second half, with Romo and Cowboys RB Demarcus Murray constantly exploiting poor blocking to gain yards before Ogletree popped up again to catch a 40 yard pass to secure a second touchdown with 5 minutes of the 3rd quarter gone. At 14-3 the Cowboys looked to be coasting, but the Giants quickly hit back on the resulting drive. Manning found his range for a superb 39 yard pass to Hixon, who executed a flying catch to bring it down on the Dallas ten yard line.# And Bradshaw exploited the space to run into the end zone for the Giants first real successful running play of the game. Things were beginning to tick for New York and Manning, who's play-calling improved as the came went on, but Dallas further stretched their lead with a 33 yard Field Goal from Bailey with 40 seconds to go in the 3rd. The Giants misfired in their first drive of the 4th, before the Cowboys finished off a superb 8 play drive with another TD, with Romo once again finding his man in the end zone, with Miles Austin making the catch for a 34 yard touchdown. New York's final assault culminated in a TD for Bennett with 2 minutes left on the game clock, but it was too little too late as Dallas saw out the game to make it a triumphant start to their season.