Sports Then and Now

The Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants have experienced this before. Playing each other in New York in the regular season finale with the winner claiming the NFC East Championship. Almost 18 years ago to the day, the two teams played arguably the most significant game in the longtime series between the two bitter division rivals.

On Jan. 2, 1994, the teams met in the old Meadowlands stadium in New York

 in the 1993 regular season finale with the division title on the line. While the stature of that game was a bit bigger than what is on the line tonight in New York when the two teams meet to decide the division title in the regular season finale, tonight’s battle is easily the biggest game between the two teams since that fabled game in 1994. Back then, Dallas was the defending Super Bowl champions with “The Triplets” – Michael Irvin, Troy Aikman, and Emmitt Smith – all of who would later be enshrined in the pro football hall of fame. New York had Giants all time greats in Phil Simms and Lawrence Taylor.

Those marquee players are replaced by names today like Tony Romo, Jason Witten, Dez Bryant, DeMarcus Ware, and Jay Ratliff for the Cowboys. New York offers Eli Manning, Brandon Jacobs, Ahmad Bradshaw, Justin Tuck, and Osi Umenyiora. All good players, some even great. Overall, a notch below the cast for each team a generation ago and not a sure fire hall of famer among them.

While the stakes are high tonight with a division title and along with it the NFC’s final playoff berth on the line, there was even more at stake 18 years ago, at least for Dallas. A win meant home field advantage, a week off, and the top seed in the NFC playoffs. Both teams also entered the 1994 game at 11-4 while tonight’s game features teams stuck in mediocrity with identical 8-7 records. Still, a huge game is a huge game.

Emmitt Smith, who suffered a separated right shoulder just before halftime

Emmitt Smith sustained a separated right shoulder on this play after being tackled by the Giants' Greg Jackson (47) just before halftime on Jan. 2, 1994.

 in the 1994 game, played through it finishing with 168 yards on 32 carries. Smith also had 61 yards on 10 catches as the Cowboys won 16-13 in overtime following Eddie Murray’s 41-yard field goal. The game is memorable at least in Dallas lore as Smith cemented his legendary status as a warrior who could play with the burden of a significant injury and will his team to victory. To this day it is remembered as one of the top displays of courage and toughness in the history of sports.

Injury is also on the table again for the Cowboys in tonight’s game, this time entering it. Romo has a bruised right throwing hand which he suffered in last week’s 20-7 home loss to Philadelphia. While he has been dealing with swelling in the hand all week, he is scheduled to start Sunday night’s showdown. He will likely be wearing a protective wrap on his hand that leaves his fingers exposed to ensure a sure grip on the ball.

Playing hurt is nothing new to Romo who has displayed his own brand of toughness and courage this season. Next to Smith’s performance with his separated shoulder, Romo arguably comes up next in courageous performances while playing injured in Dallas annals.

Playing with a broken rib and a punctured lung suffered during the first half at San Francisco back in September this season, Romo returned to the game to lead the Cowboys to a 27-24 overtime win over the 49ers. Romo’s 77-yard connection to Jesse Holley in overtime set up a 19-yard field goal by rookie Dan Bailey to clinch it. Romo finished 20-for-33 for 345 yards and two touchdowns while compiling a 116.4 quarterback rating. One of the most clutch performances of his career, all while enduring severe pain that at times tested his ability to call out signals and after the game made it hard to talk during the postgame interview where he needed help to get up and off the podium.

Dallas tight end Jason Witten tries to escape Giants linebacker Michael Boley during the team's first meeting in Dallas back on Dec. 11 (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images).

Romo continued to play, starting each and every game this season as trainers nursed his way back to health. It would be about midseason before both the rib and lung were totally healed.

By then Dallas was on a roll, playing its’ best ball of the season. A 34-7 loss at Philadelphia on Oct. 30 was followed by a four-game winning streak that put the Cowboys at 7-4 and in first place in the division. During that same time, the Giants were fading. Following a big 24-20 win at New England, New York was 6-2 at midseason. Four straight losses followed, three coming to 2011 division champions in San Francisco, New Orleans, and Green Bay. That put them at 6-6 heading into the first Dallas game.

Trailing by 12 points with 5:41 to play, the Giants scored 15 straight points to post a come-from behind win which saved their season. It was secured when New York’s Jason Pierre-Paul blocked Bailey’s potential game-tying field goal after a successful attempt just seconds earlier was nullified by an icing timeout called by Giants coach Tom Coughlin in the 37-34 win.

Since logging its’ fourth straight win with a 20-19 overtime win over Miami on Thanksgiving Day, the Cowboys have gone 1-3, the only win coming at Tampa Bay on Dec. 17. The loss to New York in the first meeting was significant for both teams as it tightened the race for the division title.

The outcome left both teams at 7-6 overall and 2-2 in the division. Each

Brandon Jacobs runs for a touchdown during the first half of the Giants' win in Dallas back in December (AP Photo/Sharon Ellman).

 team had three games to play with both facing two division opponents. However at the time, the Giants had the division lead by virtue of its’ head to head win over Dallas. It looked as if things would still come down to the final regular season game when the two met in New York.

That is exactly what has happened. There is no tomorrow. The winner wins the division and goes to the playoffs. The loser goes home and has a long offseason.

The only question is how will this game stack up to that memorable game from 1994? If history is any indication, it should be a dogfight. All the marbles are on the table and it is for anyone’s taking.

Tim Tebow led another fourth quarter comeback to put the Denver Broncos in first place in the AFC West.

Tim Tebow again took all the plaudits as the Denver Broncos took control of the AFC West with a 13-10 overtime victory over the Chicago Bears.

The Broncos had been shut out for almost 58 minutes by the Bears and were down two scores as the two-minute warning approached. But Tebow somehow inspired Denver to come back from 10-0 down before they won it in overtime. Those following the NFL betting online will have been astonished.

Matt Prater kicked a 59-yard field goal with three seconds left in regulation to tie the scores up at 10-10 and then converted from 51 yards in overtime to win it.

The victory leaves the Broncos with an 8-5 record and left cornerback Champ Bailey to say of Tebow: “He comes through at crunch time every week. Every single week it’s like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me’.” Read the rest of this entry →

The Washington Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys have been one of the National Football League’s best rivalries for decades. In fact, some pro football pundits might rank the matchup as the second best rivalry in the game behind the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears, who just met for the 183^rd time on Sunday. Regardless of ranking, there is no doubt that the Redskins and Cowboys battle each other harder than any other opponent they play, just like any rivalry. Even when the scoring might not be much to talk about.

Such was the case on Monday when the two teams played each other to

Dallas rookie kicker Dan Bailey boots one of his six field goals in a win over Washington on Monday night (Matthew Emmons/US Presswire).

another dramatic finish, a mark of the longstanding series, especially in recent years. Including Monday, nine of the 13 games since 2005 have been decided by seven points or less. In the process, the games have been decided in the late stages of the fourth quarter and even within the last two minutes.

Monday night was more of the same. With Tony Romo ailing due to a broken rib and rendered ineffective for much of the game, Dallas escaped with an 18-16 win over Washington in its’ home opener at Cowboys Stadium. Rookie kicker Dan Bailey kicked a 40-yard field goal with 1:52 left to provide the final margin. Bailey accounted for all of Dallas’ points on the night by going 6-for-6 which tied a Cowboys’ rookie record for most field games made in a game. Romo finished 22-for-36 for 255 yards and had one interception.

While the game lacked touchdowns and big play offense, it was still a back-and-forth game. Both offenses stalled in the first half as the two teams split six field goals for a 9-9 halftime tie. Romo took several hits in the first half alone which tested his threshold of pain. While his punctured lung from a week ago had mostly healed, he had to take two pain-killing injections for the rib to get through the game. Once again Romo’s toughness and perseverance showed when it mattered most.

In the span of two weeks, Romo has gone from goat on the young season, to a successful clutch performer for America’s Team. After opening the season with a fourth quarter meltdown against the Jets in New York, where his fumble and interception aided the Jets comeback victory, Romo has come nearly full circle.

Romo’s performance in rallying Dallas from a 24-14 fourth-quarter deficit at San Francisco last week with a broken rib and a punctured lung followed by last nights’ gutty performance have cast Romo in a new and better light than in the past. That of a leader who is determined and focused. Up until now, Romo is best known for botching the hold of a snap on a possible game-winning field goal attempt in a playoff loss at Seattle following the 2006 season. Yet, Romo could still use an entire season of success to stake his claim to being an upper-echelon NFL quarterback. The season is still young.

As are the Cowboys, especially on the offensive line. Right tackle Tyron Smith, left guard Bill Nagy, and center Phil Costa are all rookies or second-year players with all three in their first year as starters. That unit is still a work in progress and needs time to become cohesive. Gone from the front wall is five-time pro-bowl center Andre Gurode who was released in training camp. Read the rest of this entry →

Pro Football Hall-of-Famer Emmitt Smith, the National Football League’s all-time leader in rushing, now has company on the same page in the Dallas Cowboys’ history books. The page noting courage and toughness while playing injured. Present day Dallas quarterback Tony Romo is his new neighbor.

Dallas' Tony Romo passes the ball as he is about to be tackled by the 49ers Aldon Smith (99) and Justin Smith (94) last Sunday in San Francisco (AP/Tony Avelar).

Romo’s heroic performance of playing with a fractured rib in leading Dallas to a 27-24 come-from-behind overtime win at San Francisco last Sunday placed Romo in the same conversation as Smith in this category. Along the way, it answered questions about Romo’s toughness, both mentally and physically.

In compiling a legendary 15-year career as an NFL running back – 13 of which were in Dallas – Smith’s epic game of playing with a separated right shoulder while leading the Cowboys to a division-clinching win over the arch rival New York Giants at Giants Stadium on Jan. 2, 1994 is widely recognized as his signature performance. This showed his love, heart, and passion for the game in addition to his courage and toughness. It also demonstrated his commitment to the Cowboys and that he played more than for the money, especially in a year where he saw the Cowboys open 0-2 in his absence due to a contract dispute.

After sustaining the injury following a 46-yard run with two minutes left in the first half, Smith persevered physically by refusing to come out of the regular season finale. The Cowboys needed to win the game to lock up home field advantage in the NFC playoffs.

Running against a defense featuring Lawrence Taylor, who had one sack in the game, Smith resorted to sheer guts and willpower in rushing for 168 yards on 32 carries and adding 61 yards on 10 catches, one which went for a touchdown. Smith did much of this with one arm throughout the second half. Of Smith’s 229 yards from scrimmage in the game, 78 came after the injury. Read the rest of this entry →

The Big East may be losing, and gaining, some schools for College Football.

The Big East, and Big 12, have been at it for a couple of weeks. However, not only the conferences are working towards aligning their respective “divisions”  differently, the schools are. Here’s the Big East Merry Go Round:

Pittsburgh and Syracuse want out. The Big East for College Football has fallen to the cellar of any College Football Conference Ranking. The conference just can’t win the big games. Did you see Connecticut last year? They won the Big East, but then got run over by Oklahoma 48-20. There’s no way for a Big East team to win a BCS game right now, it’s impossible.

I’m questioning and pondering why Pitt and ‘Cuse want out. They plan on moving over to the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), but every fan knows that they can’t win their either. Sure, recent NFL Players have come out of Pittsburgh, Lesean McCoy, Larry Fitzgerald, and you can even go back with Dan Marino, Mike Ditka and Tony Dorsett. It’s the truth, the University of Pittsburgh has a stellar football program, the thing is, they can barely win in the Big East, and I can’t imagine them tearing up the ACC like they plan on doing. Fine, Duke, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech and Virginia are all easy teams to beat, but North Carolina, Virginia Tech and Clemson will wallop the Panthers. All I have to say about Pitt, is there is just no point in switching Conferences.

Syracuse, has a little different story. The Orangemen were a prominent team way back when, but they have struggled at the Carrier Dome, and every field, for recent years. The Orange, have turned it around a little bit, but still haven’t found any formula for winning games, and the Big East in general. ‘Cuse hadn’t had a winning season since 2001 after their 8-5 campaign last year, and haven’t reached a BCS Bowl since 1998! We’ll see if the Orange can turn it around, or Syracuse will find themselves being the pushover in the ACC.

Possible Contenders: There has been rumors flying in all directions about the Big East, but this is true: If anyone in the Big East leaves, the Big East will replace them. Possible schools to fill the gap are Army, Navy, Air Force, Temple, Villanova and East Carolina. Notre Dame, Memphis, Houston, Central Florida and Southern Methodist are all longshots, but are definitely still in the running. Even add Connecticut to the “I want out” list, as the defending Big East Champs may want to follow the leaders. Read the rest of this entry →

A defense that includes former All-Pros Shawne Merriman (#56) and Nick Barnett has fans excited in Buffalo.

All of a sudden Buffalo Head Coach Chan Gailey and General Manager Buddy Nix are starting to look like geniuses.

Until a week ago, even the most loyal, optimistic Bills fans were being tempted to doubt. After a mostly dismal pre-season, the popular prognosis for the Bills ranged from regression to no improvement to a 6-10 record at best.

But then Buffalo spanked the Chiefs 41-7 for their most lopsided opening day win since the O.J. Simpson era. Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick had a nearly flawless game, and the Bills defense was looking like a cross between the classic Purple People Eaters and the Steel Curtain– or maybe– the much heralded “No-Name” Dolphins defense of the ‘70’s.

It was impressive and surprising for everyone. From the most subjective Bills fan to the most jaded pundit, everyone was left speechless– except, perhaps to say, “Wow!”  In fact, one NFL journalist had predicted a 42-7 score favoring Kansas City just days before the season opener. Wow! No, really. Wow!

But of course the question was, how real was that? Was it a fluke? Could the Bills repeat the performance against another tough running team like the Raiders? Certainly not, most handicappers insisted. Even The Buffalo News predicted a 20-14 loss.

And then, as the home opener commenced in front of a sold out Ralph Wilson Stadium, and Oakland jumped out to a 21-3 halftime lead, most people– even the most loyal fans, if they were to be honest– had to be thinking the Chiefs game really was a fluke.

“Same old Bills. Get our hopes up just to dash them. We’ll be 1-1, and the Patriots are coming next week.”

Well, at least that’s what I was thinking, hard as I tried to stay hopeful.

But then the second half started and a football game broke out. Bills fans began to wonder where the real Bills had been hiding in the first half, and who were those imposters spotting the Raiders 18 points? The team that took the field in the second half came out with a vengeance, scored 21 unanswered points, and then got into a barn burner of a shootout that reminded those of us who are old enough to remember, of a Monday night game in 1974 when the Bills beat the Raiders at home, after exchanging touchdowns twice in the final minute of the game. Read the rest of this entry →