An Offseason Of What-ifs For Dallas Cowboys Can Finally Be Silenced Against Giants

 A perpetual game of what-ifs has been played around the Dallas Cowboys’ team complex since last January’s season-ending loss to the Giants in Week 17.  It’s to be expected when you lose a firm grasp on the division in one meeting, and then watch someone else steal it right out from under your nose during the next.  What if Tony Romo’s hand hadn’t been swollen like a purple pumpkin from contact with a helmet a week earlier?  What if Demarco Murray had been in the backfield instead of on the sideline with a broken ankle?  What if Dan Bailey’s kick that would have forced overtime three weeks previously at Cowboys Stadium had gone through the uprights, rather than off the hand of Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul?  What if the Cowboys had won the NFC East instead of the Big Blue G-Men?  The suppositions go on and on…

The Cowboys entered that month of all months, December, with a 7-4 record, but collapsed down the stretch, finishing with an 8-8 mark.  There was no season-ending celebration, no playoffs.  Instead, the Cowboys got to recline in a tub of ice while the Giants marched through the NFC Playoffs and all the way to a Super Bowl championship.

The Cowboys’ entire off-season program of free-agent signings, the draft, and mini-camps, has been geared to beat the Giants, winners of five of the last six meetings in the series.  Cornerbacks Brandon Carr and Morris Claiborne join safety Barry Church for what is expected to be a much better secondary than the one Eli Manning torched at will twice in the season’s final months. 

These three pieces, among others, have the Cowboys feeling confident of their chances this time around.  You can hear it in their voices, see it in their walk.  The Cowboys know the challenge ahead, yet realize the opportunity.  The Giants are the champions, but are not invincible.  Last year’s down-to-the-wire contest in Arlington that ended on a blocked field-goal proves that.

And here we are, eight months later, on the other side of training camp, preseason and final cutdowns, with the Giants directly ahead.  It’s time to put an end to this game of what-ifs, and could’ve-would’ve-should’ves.  The Cowboys say they want the crown for themselves.  Well, now is the time to go and take the first major step in winning it.