Jon Kitna threw for 327 yards and three touchdowns, Bryan McCann returned an interception a franchise-record 101 yards and the Dallas Cowboys ended a five-game losing streak with a stunning 33-20 victory over the New York Giants on Sunday.
The Cowboys played with much more intensity under interim head coach Jason Garrett, who replaced Wade Phillips on Monday after a 1-7 start.
Dez Bryant had three catches for 104 yards and a touchdown and Felix Jones had a 71-yard touchdown catch-and-run for Dallas (2-7), which sealed the victory when Alan Ball picked off Eli Manning at the Cowboys’ 17-yard line with 2:45 left.
Dallas gave Garrett his first career win by shocking one of the hottest teams in the NFL. The Giants (6-3) had won five straight and were coming off a 41-7 shellacking of Seattle.
Manning threw for 373 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. He had a 48-yard touchdown pass to Hakeem Nicks negated by a holding penalty that would have pulled the Giants to within 33-26.
The penalty on Kevin Boothe turned out to be the biggest play of the game.
Moments after Nicks’ touchdown was wiped out, Manning fumbled and Dallas recovered at the Giants' 21-yard line. When David Buehler missed a 34-yard field goal, it gave the Giants new life.
But Ball’s first-career interception thwarted any thoughts of a comeback.
Dallas | N.Y. Giants | |
Felix Jones | Player | Ahmad Bradshaw |
14 | Attempts | 20 |
51 | Yards | 73 |
3.6 | Avg Yards | 3.6 |
0 | Touchdowns | 0 |
12 | Long | 9 |
Dallas | N.Y. Giants | |
Dez Bryant | Player | Mario Manningham |
3 | Receptions | 10 |
104 | Yards | 91 |
34.7 | Avg Yards | 9.1 |
1 | Touchdowns | 1 |
46 | Long | 44 |
Yards | Scoring | Defense | ||||||
Team | Tot | Rus | Pas | TD | FG | INT | Sck | FF |
Dallas | 424 | 100 | 324 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 1 |
N.Y. Giants | 480 | 107 | 373 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 |