“They hate us and we hate them,” the defensive end said in all seriousness.
That’s just the way it is for games between America’s Team and the Giants. It’s the All-Pros against the All-Joes. It’s glitz vs. blue collar. It’s the outspoken Jerry Jones against the tradition-laden Mara and Tisch families.
Make no mistake, despite being Super Bowl champions, the Giants carry a chip about anything having to do with Dallas.
That’s why today may be a get-even day for the Giants.
Picked to finish behind Dallas in the preseason polls, the Giants (6-1) head into the midpoint of the season with a chance to bury the injury-ravaged Cowboys (5-3) in the NFC East. A win over Tony Romo-less Cowboys would open a three-game lead in the division and leave Dallas with plenty to worry about heading into its bye week.
“We don’t get the respect that other people get,” Giants middle linebacker Antonio Pierce said. “We got names, but some people have bigger names and get more credit. For us, that doesn’t matter. I want some more hardware and we’re working on that this season, winning the division and getting to the playoffs.”
This just has not been Dallas’ year, on or off the field.
Injuries have devastated the lineup and more off-field problems led to the suspension of troubled cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones.
The biggest injury is Romo. The quarterback will miss his third game this weekend with a broken right pinkie and be replaced by Brad Johnson.
Safety Roy Williams and punter Mat McBriar are out for the season, and the Cowboys have several other starters who are question marks: tight end Jason Witten (ribs), cornerback Anthony Henry (thigh) and guard Kyle Kosier (foot).
Instead of looking to get a measure of revenge for their playoff loss to New York in January, the Cowboys are merely trying to hang on entering their break.
“We’ve dealt with so much already this season that we hadn’t had time to think about that at all,” Cowboys defensive end Marcus Spears said of the playoff loss. “It’s done, they’re Super Bowl champs and we have to gain our respect back from them because right now, they’re the best team in football until another one is crowned.”
The Giants come into the game off an impressive 21-14 win against the Steelers in Pittsburgh. It was a typical New York game, with no mistakes on offense, making just enough plays, and pounding quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
“It’s a team that presents a lot of challenges for us,” Dallas defensive end Chris Canty said. “A win would do a lot for us. I don’t think anybody’s going into this game thinking that it’s going to be anything but a dogfight. I don’t think anybody in this locker room goes into this game saying that that football team is going to roll over. They’re going to fight us to the end, they’ve always been like that, so there’s no reason to expect anything else.”
Giants coach Tom Coughlin has gone out of his way this week to say how much talent Dallas has, pointing out it played an excellent game in beating Tampa Bay Buccaneers 13-9 last weekend. He noted Johnson did not turn the ball over and the Cowboys’ defensive front seven is as good as any in the league.
Coughlin also shot down any talk about opening a three-game lead.
“We haven’t talked about that,” he said. “I don’t usually talk about the standings in our division until the end of the week and we all know they are 5-3. I don’t know if I will put it in those kinds of words, but they know the significance of the game.”
With Romo sidelined and Witten bruised, the Giants seemingly are not focusing their attention on receivers Roy Williams, recently acquired from Detroit, and Terrell Owens. The defense wants to stop halfback Marion Barber.
If New York can shut down the running game, it feels it can put more pressure on Johnson.
“Obviously Marion Barber is an elite back in this business,” Pierce said. “You watch him week in and week out and he is a tough back to bring down for everybody. He is a phenomenal back, so for us as linebackers and linemen, we have to take pride in showing that we can stop the run and then we can talk about that other quarterback.”
