Before I dive into the delicious pre-Thanksgiving appetizer that was the Dallas Cowboys 24 to 21 victory over the New York Giants this past Sunday, a nod is in order to our Canadian friends and neighbors. Congratulations to the Saskatchewan Roughriders http://www.riderville.com/ of the Canadian Football League http://www.cfl.ca who defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 45 to 23 in the 101st Grey Cup, winning their fourth league championship in club history. It was a hot time in Regina, Saskatchewan Sunday night!

Onto Cowboys Quarterback Tony Romo, who late in the fourth quarter watched the Giants march down the field scoring a touchdown and successfully completing a two point conversion which tied the game 21-21. Romo yet again was called upon to make miracles happen and bail out the Cowboys defense with just 4:45 left.

Nov 24, 2013; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Jason Hatcher (97) reacts after sacking New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning (not pictured) during the third quarter of a game at MetLife Stadium. The Cowboys defeated the Giants 24-21. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

With cool efficiency, Tony led the offense down the field on a 14 play 64 yard drive to the Giants 16 yard line, setting up a Kicker Dan Bailey 35 yard chip shot field goal for the walk off win. Earlier in the game, Romo threw his 200th career touchdown pass to Tight End Jason Witten, which is the Dallas Cowboys franchise record for TD’s thrown. The touchdown was also Witten’s 50th score leading all Dallas Cowboys Tight Ends.

Entering the contest, New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz was a league leader in reception yards and also had just posted his fourth straight 100 yard game. However, the Cowboys secondary led by cornerback Orlando Scandrick held Cruz to just 2 catches for 27 yards and no touchdowns.

When asked about former Chicago Bears Coach Mike Ditka’s comments regarding the Cowboys inability to cover Cruz, Scandrick responded, “Ditka said we couldn’t cover Cruz. Cruz had one catch on me that he fumbled, and it was returned for a touchdown.”

Scandrick mirrored Cruz most of the game in what many believed was Orlando’s best man coverage game in his career.

The New York players themselves also did a bit of pregame talking, as Giants cornerback Terrell Thomas guaranteed a win.

“No doubt we’re going to win this game. You can tell them, put it on a bulletin board.”

Defensive End Jason-Pierre Paul got into the trash-talking leading up to the contest when he spoke of “blood being spilled”.

But in the end it was Cowboys Defensive Tackle Jason Hatcher with the last laugh as he smeared fake blood all over his face and exclaimed,

“They said blood would be shed…just finished eating a Giant.”

Hatcher was a monster all day getting two sacks, two tackles for a loss, and hitting New York Quarterback Eli Manning twice as well.

With the win, the Dallas Cowboys now take sole possession of first place in the NFC East with just five games to go and a struggling Oakland Raiders team visiting AT&T Stadium on Thanksgiving. The Cowboys seem to be in the playoff driver seat, but face competition against a surging Philadelphia Eagles team coming off their own bye week.

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