The loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Saturday is now behind the Dallas Cowboys and now it is time to look ahead to the New York Giants. The Eagles loss means nothing in the grand scheme of things but the Giants game will mean everything.

The most important thing for the Cowboys, and this is especially true of the Eagles loss, is to come into the Giants’ matchup at 100-percent. That means that losing to the Eagles, because they rested Tony Romo and Felix Jones, was exactly the right decision. Dallas also has to hope that defensive players, like cornerback Mike Jenkins and linebackers Sean Lee and DeMarcus Ware are also ready to go.

Tony Romo

Tony Romo injured his hand on this second pass attempt of the Eagles’ game when he knocked it against the helmet of a rushing Jason Babin. It was really the closest that Babin, the NFL sack leader, got to a Dallas quarterback in the game, which says great things about that maligned offensive line.

X-rays were negative and the hand bruised and swelled. It is thought to be broken vessels in the hand but it should be healed and ready to go for the big Giants’ game. The hope is that there is no soreness in the hand. Romo has not thrown an interception since Week 12 against Miami and he has eight touchdown passes since that game.

Felix Jones

Felix Jones had back-to-back 100-yard games heading into the Eagles matchup. However, early in the week he showed up on the injury report with a tight hamstring. When this started is unknown, but once Romo left the game and Dallas learned the Giants won, they pulled Jones out to allow him to rest his leg. There should be no worries here as Jones averaged 6-yards a carry before leaving the game.

Mike Jenkins

Mike Jenkins has been battling injuries all season but Dallas needs him in the lineup against the Giants. With the playmakers that New York has, and Eli Manning able to throw the ball all over the field, the Cowboys secondary needs all the help it can get.

DeMarcus Ware

You can’t get Ware out of the lineup. Even after Dallas learned that the Giants won, and the Eagles game meant nothing, he remained in the game and finished with two more sacks, moving his total to 18 on the season. He has been dealing with a neck injury but has not missed a game. He needs two more sacks to tie his own personal best.

Sean Lee

Sean Lee injured his hand in the first game with Philadelphia. He missed one week and has been playing with a cast ever since. In this game, he injured his hamstring. He says he could have come back into the game but didn’t because of the Giants win. He finished with five tackles before leaving the game. He says he will be ready for the Giants.

Author Shawn S. Lealos has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma (2000) and has been a Dallas Cowboys’ fan since he was a child. His favorite players range from Roger Staubach and Tony Dorsett to the Triplets of the 90s and he enjoys talking about all Cowboys’ related news, good or bad

Source: dallascowboys.com

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

The Dallas Cowboys lost DeMarco Murray for the season in their loss to the New York Giants, one of many injury losses for the Cowboys’ team in Week 14.

The most serious injury was to Murray, who was a large part of the team’s four-game winning streak that led them to the top of the NFC East division rankings. Without Murray, the chance of regaining their composure and knocking off the Giants at the end of the season is slim.

Dallas signed Sammy Morris on Dec. 13 to take Murray’s place in the lineup and he will back up Felix Jones for the rest of the season. Morris is not expected to do too much in the game plan except give Jones some rest to help preserve him for the playoff run. The 11-year veteran played in 16 games for New England in 2010 and only finished the season with 56 rushing yards and 77 through the air.

Even more distressing is the injuries to defensive players, including Mike Jenkins and Barry Church. With Terrance Newman starting to give up big plays in the secondary once again, these are huge losses for Dallas. Jenkins missed four games in a row, ironically the four-game winning streak for Dallas, before returning in Week 13. Jenkins has only 19 tackles on the season and one interception but provides needed depth in the secondary.

Church, used mainly in the nickel defense, ended up on the injured reserve on Dec. 13. He separated his shoulder against the Giants and Dallas felt it was better to find a replacement. Church finished the year with 28 tackles and no turnovers. Dallas signed Mana Silva from the Buffalo practice squad to replace Church on the roster, although he won’t see much playing time.

Center Phil Costa left the game with a concussion and since Dallas uses the shotgun regularly, that might be a loss to watch carefully. Rookie Kevin Kowalski replaced him in the Giants’ game.

Finally, the big scare was when DeMarcus Ware continued to come off the field late in the Giants’ comeback. Ware came into the game limited with a stinger and had to continue to come out to remain at full strength for the rest of the game. Ware finished the Giants’ game with four tackles and no sacks and looks to bounce back in Week 15 against Tampa Bay.

Author Shawn S. Lealos has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma (2000) and has been a Dallas Cowboys’ fan since he was a child. His favorite players range from Roger Staubach and Tony Dorsett to the Triplets of the 90s and he enjoys talking about all Cowboys’ related news, good or bad

Source: dallascowboys.com

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

The Dallas Cowboys were on a four game winning streak and headed into what looked to be an easy win against Arizona. The New York Giants had lost three straight and looked like they would drop a fourth to drop two spots below Dallas in the NFC East. By the time Dec. 4 ended, Dallas had lost to Arizona in overtime while New York fell to the undefeated Green Bay Packers.

Now, the Sunday night football game in Week 14 between Dallas and New York will determine, for one week at least, the NFC East leader. Dallas had the chance to create separation between them and the Giants and failed to do it against the Cardinals. Meanwhile, the Giants gave the Packers their toughest game of the season.

Despite a four-game losing streak for the Giants and a Dallas team that has won four of their last five, it seems like New York is coming into Dallas with the advantage.

On Nov. 13, Dallas blew out the Buffalo Bills 44-7. After that they beat Washington (4-8) in overtime, Miami (4-8) on a last second field goal and then lost to Arizona (5-7) in overtime. Now, optimistic fans can say Dallas hit teams who were on hot streaks.

Arizona had won three of four heading into Dallas including a win over Philadelphia. Miami was on a three-game winning streak and just knocked off Oakland to make it three of four, Dallas their only loss. Washington was a hated rival and records rarely matter when playing each other. But those are excuses.

The New York Giants need no excuses. In their last five games, they beat New England (9-3) before losing four straight to San Francisco (10-2), Philadelphia (4-8), New Orleans (9-3) and Green Bay (12-0). If you call Washington a rival game for Dallas you have to do the same for Philadelphia and the Giants. The other three losses were to division winners.

Dallas has struggled to beat hot teams who are also-ran’s in the NFL. The Giants have lost to divisional winners and the Saints were the only bad loss of the bunch. New York is tested and ready to retake the NFC East. Dallas has a lot of work to do if they want to overcome these sleeping Giants.

Author Shawn S. Lealos has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma (2000) and has been a Dallas Cowboys’ fan since he was a child. His favorite players range from Roger Staubach and Tony Dorsett to the Triplets of the 90s and he enjoys talking about all Cowboys’ related news, good or bad

Source: Yahoo! Sports

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

The 49ers are 7-1, the second-best record in the league, and are widely considered one of the surprises of this NFL season.

Well, not by everyone.

Even though he spent only one season there in 2010, Giants backup quarterback David Carr was more surprised that the 49ers were 6-10 last season than by their seemingly sudden ascension to pro football’s elite in the last two months.

“They’re a very talented team,” Carr said this past week as the Giants prepared to face the 49ers in San Francisco on Sunday afternoon. “I said that when I got there. If they’re not the most talented team in the league, they’re one of them. They just needed some direction, and they got it.”

Giants center David Baas spent the first six years of his career with the 49ers. His teams were below .500 in five of those seasons and 8-8 once.

“It’s definitely going to be a tough challenge,” he said of facing the 49ers. “Everybody might not have said that a couple of years ago, but they’re definitely doing things different and it’s working for them.”

It was only this summer that quarterback Alex Smith was teetering on busthood, coach Jim Harbaugh was going to be a flop in his first season because of the lockout and Frank Gore was an injury-plagued running back.

Now the 49ers are a team that could mathematically clinch the division title before Thanksgiving.

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There still are plenty of doubters waiting for the 49ers to fall back to reality. In fact, they may have drawn more attention this season for a handshake scuffle between Harbaugh and Lions coach Jim Schwartz than they have for their record or their imposing defense.

“They still don’t give us the props,” Gore said, “but we don’t worry about that.”

The 49ers’ turnaround would not be possible without the Smith turnaround. He was the first overall pick in 2005 out of the University of Utah — the 49ers famously selected him over Aaron Rodgers — and stumbled through his first six seasons with 51 touchdown passes and 55 interceptions.

This year he’s found his groove. He has 10 touchdown passes and two interceptions in a run-oriented offense. While Eli Manning and Tom Brady are coming off their head-to-head battle over the hierarchy of NFL quarterbacks, Harbaugh has thrown Smith’s name into the mix. “He’s every bit the elite quarterback as there is playing in the game right now,” Harbaugh said.

The Giants certainly see that from him. “I think he’s managing the game much better,” Tom Coughlin said. “He’s more confident. I think he realizes, or believes, it’s his team, and he’s played well under his new tutelage. … He’s leading his team.”

“I always thought he was a good quarterback,” Baas said. “It’s very tough when you’re being thrown a different playbook and being asked to do eight million different things every single year by eight million different people. You want to talk about pressure? That’s what he’s had on his shoulders for the last six years. I think they do a good job of taking that off of him and just allowing him to play.”

Baas said the offensive lines he played with in San Francisco never lost faith in Smith.

“We always stuck by him no matter how many different people tried to tear him down,” he said. “We always knew that he was a great guy and that he would have success at some point.”

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Cardinals (1-2) vs. Giants (2-1) | Sunday | 1:05 p.m. | University of Phoenix Stadium

TV: Channel 10 (Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston); Radio: 92.3 KTAR-FM (Dave Pasch, Ron Wolfley, Paul Calvisi), 710 KBMB-AM (Gabriel Trujillo, Rolando Cantu). Latest line: Giants favored by 1.5.

Noteworthy: This week’s game between the Cardinals and Giants is the 125th meeting between the two teams in a series that dates back to 1926. It is the Cardinals’ third-oldest rivalry (Chicago, Green Bay) and the Cardinals have faced the Giants more times than any other NFL franchise. … Between 1950 and 2001, the Cardinals and Giants played twice a year (except in 1968 and 1982) as members of the NFC East before the Cardinals joined the NFC West in re-alignment.

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