The NFL season kicked off last night with a classic match up between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants. The NFL always knows how to do things the right way by having the defending Super Bowl champion headline the opening night of football.
The anticipation had been building for months.
The problem is someone forgot to inform the Giants.
They must have misplaced their "Little Orphan Annie" decoder pin to figure out what was in store for them against the Cowboys.
Lucky for me I did have mine handy and this is what was to be deciphered.
Be sure...
Be sure to...
Be sure to what???
Be Sure to cover Ogletree!
Ogletree!!! A crumby third string receiver!!!
That was the important message?!?
It turned out to be.
It was obvious from the first few possessions the Giants were hell bent on using their attacking killer pass rush and try and take away Miles Austin and Dez Bryant. This left Kevin Ogletree to basically exploit their lack of depth in the secondary and burn them for two touchdowns and over 100 yards.
The production they didn't expect from Ogletree, pictured left, allowed Dallas' running game to gain much needed yardage and continue to grind out the clock. Tony Romo, who others and I have questioned about, was superb last night. He only made one mistake, an interception with a man in his face, and was able to throw 300yds, 3 TD's, and play a complete four quarters.
He out dueled Eli Manning and his "star" receiver Victor Cruz the whole night. It might have been a different outcome had Cruz not dropped three very crucial passes that could have kept drives going and had a potential for scores. The Giants, who were last in rushing a year ago, were no better this go around either.
Their inability to run the ball on a consistent basis really hinders them especially if Eli's receivers are not catching the ball. Being one dimensional on offense is hard enough but being zero dimensional is down right impossible.
Eli has been able to over come this deficit in the playoffs and manage games with the help of a super aggressive defense. If the Giants though are not able to get to the quarterback it will be another rough regular season for them.
If they are struggling in these areas, especially in a very stacked NFC, it will be hard to see them making the playoffs. I don't want to over state the outcome of the game but these areas were very glaring last night. For one night the Cowboys were better. The Giants will have their chance to return the favor later in the year.
The game plan was great and the coaching late in the game was what every football fan wants out of their team. You play to win the game, as Herm Edwards always says.
The Cowboys were winning and in a 3rd and 11 situation with just 2:11 on the clock in the fourth quarter. When most teams would have run the ball and let the clock dwindle to the two minute warning then punted. The Cowboys and Jason Garrett took the game into their own hands and went out and took the win.
Garrett showed confidence in his starting quarterback when others in the league, and including myself, would have just gone the safe route. He called a very skilled slant route and found his man, Ogletree, for the first down and ultimately the win.
Looks like Jason Garrett and Tony Romo had their decoder pins handy too!
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