Thursday, September 6, 2012

The Kickoff Special


Week 1 Game:

24-17: (1-0) Dallas at (0-1) New York Giants

 
Defending Super Bowl champions, the New York Giants lost their home season opener and the first game of the 2012 season to the Dallas Cowboys.

SundayNight Football on NBC broadcast the game in a special Wednesday edition. Fears about the replacement referees were not realized; the game ran smoothly and ended on time.

Both teams had good and bad plays (interceptions, dropped catches), and at times both teams looked like it was the first game of the new season. Training camp and pre-season games don’t replicate the regular season, and the final player roster has not been in place for long.

The Giants had two conversions on fourth down versus one failed attempt by the Cowboys. The Cowboys had 13 penalties for a total of 86 yards, compared to 4 penalties for 33 yards for the Giants.

At 2:36 in the 4th quarter and needing a touchdown to tie the Cowboys, the Giants opted not to try an on-side kick; instead, they kicked off and apparently hoped to get the ball back on downs or via interception.

Neither scenario happened. Dallas kept the ball long enough to get to the two-minute warning, and then took a knee on the resulting downs to run the clock down and win the game.

The next game for both teams is Sunday, September 16: the Giants host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers; the Cowboys travel to the Seattle Seahawks. With ten days to practice the current roster, both teams should look better in their next outing.

Week 1 continues with 13 games on Sunday, September 9. Two games will be played on Monday Night Football: the early game is Cincinnati Bengals at Baltimore Ravens; the late game is San Diego Chargers at Oakland Raiders.


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