By PFW staff
Jan. 14, 2008

With only 230 yards of offense on 44 plays, the Giants needed every one of their 21 points to win their divisional-round playoff game Sunday in Irving, Texas. But credit the team’s defense, engineered by coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, for the victory. Despite injuries on that side of the ball, the strong game plan helped fluster QB Tony Romo, limit big plays and survive, despite the Giants allowing 154 yards rushing and getting walloped in time of possession. (Dallas held a 13-minute advantage.)

The first-half game plan defensively for the Giants was evident: Don’t get killed by the big plays. The Giants had grown tired of watching Terrell Owens run those deep crossing routes against them in the first two matchups and made sure that was not going to happen again by sticking with two- and three-deep coverages and applying steady pressure (though without a lot of blitzing early) up front.

The linebackers were aggressive, but there was room to run as seen by the Cowboys’ 113 first-half rushing yards. But in giving up the short stuff, it forced Dallas into a slower tempo than it normally plays. And given that the Cowboys had been off for two weeks (and really didn’t play with the regulars in Week 17), they struggled to get a consistent passing rhythm. It didn’t hurt that Owens clearly was hobbled and a bit run down by the second half, as the Giants were able to execute their game plan without really doubling him. The Cowboys’ longest pass play all day through the air was 20 yards.

CBs Corey Webster and R.W. McQuarters covered Owens for much of Sunday, and in the second half their physical jamming of him took its toll on the wideout. Owens was not able to power out of his breaks with the sore ankle and was a non-factor (zero catches) after halftime.

The crucial moment of the second half came when CB Aaron Ross went down with a shoulder injury he re-aggravated on a Marion Barber run play. With Ross, Sam Madison and Kevin Dockery all out (the latter two were inactive with injuries), the Giants were brutally thin at the position with only Webster, McQuarters and Geoffrey Pope, who was making his NFL debut after being on the practice squad almost all season.

Instead of trying to protect their thin CB spot by playing softer zones or going to nickel or dime packages to flood the secondary with extra defenders, Spagnuolo got aggressive. He called for more blitzes and pressures, hoping that the extra rush would shorten the time that Romo had to get rid of the ball and that his makeshift secondary had to cover the Cowboys’ receivers. It worked to perfection.

The Giants’ defenders appeared to be energized by the defensive calls. They played with a burst in the final quarter and consistently looked like the aggressors on defense, rather than playing back on their heels, which Romo can make some groups play like. Romo completed only 10-of-22 passes for 119 yards in the second half, getting sacked twice and hurried and hit numerous times. That pressure flushed him out of the pocket and might have caused the Cowboys to play more recklessly and with less discipline in the second half.