This always seemed inevitable, right from the moment the NFL released the schedule in April. When they put the Giants and the Cowboys together on the final day of the regular season, somehow, some way, it was destined to come down to this.
I had a feeling that s what they were preparing for, said Giants linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka . To be able to play at home, last game of the regular season against a divisional opponent and have everything on the line and it s not just that one team could possibly knock off the other. It s us or them.
That s one of the biggest stages for the regular season that you can have. This is the big one.
Indeed it is. The final regular- season game of the 2011 season is the biggest regular- season game in franchise history. When the Giants take on the Cowboys Sunday night, it will be a playoff-like atmosphere. The winner takes the NFC East title and a home playoff game in the first round.
The loser gets a long winter possibly one filled with radical changes to ponder what went wrong.
You just have to win, said. There s no margin for error in something like this.
This is what you live and die for if you re a football player, savbraid , to be in a situation like this.
The fact that the Giants are in this situation is remarkable. Their impressive 6-2 start evaporated into a near disaster with just two wins in their next seven games. That included a four-game losing streak that started their second-half collapse. The Giants then had to bail themselves out on Dec. 11 in Dallas, when they mounted a furious rally to beat the Cowboys, 37-34.
That win saved their season. Then two weeks later they had to save it again, with a 29-14 triumph against the Jets on Christmas Eve. Had the Giants lost that game they could have already been eliminated from contention.
Instead they are staring at another opportunity, desperate not to it throw away.
It didn t have to be this way, said safety Antrel Rolle . I think we definitely could ve made things a little easier on ourselves. But everyone says the Giants fight hard when their backs are against the wall. You can t get any more back there than we are right now. May the best man win. Lose, go home. No one remembers second place.
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