Even Jack Bauer has had 24 hours with less action. In between Monday and Tuesday afternoons, the Cowboys lost quarterback Tony Romo for up to four weeks with a broken pinkie, although he is trying to convince coaches to let him risk further injury and start against the Rams this week. Dallas also lost cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones with a broken brain and traded for Roy Williams, one of the top young wide receivers in the NFL.
All the Giants lost was a football game.
Former Cowboy quarterback Troy Aikman said he believes the news the Cowboys got off the field Monday afternoon was much more damning than the way their NFC East rivals, the Giants, played on the field Monday night in their 35-14 loss to the Browns.
“It’s not quite the same, but it is similar to Tom Brady going down in New England,” Aikman said about Romo’s injury, which could sideline the quarterback for a Nov. 2 game against the Giants. “[The Patriots’] Matt Cassel doesn’t have the experience of Brad Johnson, but you still lose the big-play ability. If people are thinking Dallas still has plenty of playmakers, they underestimate what he (Romo) meant to them as far as big plays.”
Eli Manning and company reeled off three roadplayoff wins, a Super Bowl victory over the Patriots and four straight W’s to open the 2008 season before the streak ended in Cleveland, but that might not be a bad thing. “Sometimes a loss is maybe what a team needs to get refocused,” Aikman said. “I was a part of some teams that losing a game got us where we needed to be and got us to quit thinking we were better than what we were.”
Although his former team did not show the same resolve after dropping a home game to the Redskins.
“I thought the same thing about Dallas when they lost to Washington and then they did not play well against Cincinnati, a team that had been really struggling,” Aikman said. “And then they went out and lost to Arizona. So then you start thinking, maybe something’s not right here.” The lowly 49ers might be the perfect remedy for the Giants. San Francisco travels cross-country on a three-game losing streak.
“I think this is a chance for the Giants against ateam that has some problems, to show that they are the team that we think they – this is a game they should come out and play very well in,” said Aikman, who will be calling the game for Fox.
Sunday’s game puts an end to the easy portion of the Giants’ schedule. Big Blue faces the Steelers, Eagles and Cowboys after this week’s matchup.
But an unlikely loss against San Francisco, against whom the Giants are favored by double digits, would put an end to the Super Bowl honeymoon.
“I don’t think you could look at any game and chalk up a win,” Aikman said. “But there are games that you have where you are simply better than the team you are playing, and that is the case for the Giants.
“I would be concerned if they don’t come out favorably and play well against the 49ers at home.”