I am planning on writing a lot more about the Giants' stunning 21-17 upset of the Cowboys (either by way of an update to this post or a separate post), but a few preliminary observations come to mind:
1. The Giants were completely unable to tackle Marion Barber in the first half, and mostly contained him in the second half. A few of us watching the game observed that the Giants were tackling him much lower in the second half, which stopped Barber from evading the first tackle. If Coughlin and/or his assistants were the ones to address this at halftime, it is a tangible example of excellent coaching.
2. The Giants' offensive numbers were somewhat unimpressive, but that may have been due to the solid field position they were given by the solid kickoff and punt returns they enjoyed most of the day (when was the last time kick returns were one of the reasons the Giants won a game?)
3. R.W. McQuarters . . . Open Bar and I forgive you. For everything. What a game.
4. Eli Manning. He is far from Tom Brady at this point, and there are still plenty of reasons to be skeptical, but in his last three games (two of which were playoff games), Eli is 54 of 77 for 599 yards, eight touchdowns, and one interception. This quarterback and this team picked a spectacular time to play their best football of the year.
5. I would have paid money for the shot of T.O. crying after the game to reporters. It's tremendously satisfying to see a guy with that much arrogance ("getcha popcorn ready") cut down a few notches.