6:30 p.m., Monday, Cowboys by 3 1/2
Last meeting
Giants won 17-10 at the Meadowlands on Dec. 4, 2005.
Spotlight on: Eli Manning
Peyton’s little brother continues to make strides, but, make no doubt, he isn’t a finished product. He’s second in the league with 11 TD passes, but he has also thrown a troublesome seven INTs. Not only that, but like a lot of young QBs, he has a tendency to force throws into coverage under pressure. To wit: He ranks 25th in the league in third-down passing efficiency and leads the league with four third-down INTs.
Who knew?
A victory in this one and the Cowboys would stand alone as the winningest team ever on “Monday Night Football.” As we speak, they have 39 wins, tied with Miami for the most in MNF history. Now for the interesting part: For whatever reason, they’re all but unbeatable vs. the Giants on Monday nights. They’re 7-1 vs. the G-Men on Mondays, including 4-0 at Texas Stadium, and have scored 30-plus points in six of those seven wins.
Etc.
At the risk of telling you something you already knew, Tiki Barber is going to lead the league in rushing. He went for a buck-85 vs. the Falcons last week, pushing his season total to an NFL-best 533 yards. … This just in: Bill Parcells says he’s tired of talking about how tired he is of talking about Terrell Owens. … How clueless is T.O. anyway? Doesn’t he know the Big Tuna would love him if he bought doughnuts for the coaches? … Drew Bledsoe by the numbers: seven TD passes, seven INTs, 7.0 in the 40. … New Yawk TE Jeremy Shockey had career-best 129 yards, five catches in most recent meeting in Big D. … Ugly number du jour: Cowboys yielding 7.1 yards on first down, last in the league. Chargers, who stand No. 1, have given up 3.5. … Is it just us or did you, too, think life with the Cahboas was more fun when T.O.’s goofy publicist was doing news conferences? … Owens, by the way, has 15 career TD catches on MNF, second only to that Rice dude who used to play for the Niners.
Prediction: Cowboys 32, Giants 23
