The New York Giants needed a fast start on the road against the Dallas Cowboys in their NFC East rivalry match-up. Tony Romo helped provide that.
Romo tried to avoid a sack near the goal line, but could not manage to regain his balance and ended up going down in the end zone for a safety that opened scoring the first quarter in the Giants' favor. On the subsequent Giants possession, Eli Manning found Hakeem Nicks to get New York deep into the Dallas red zone, but two misfires on fades to the corner of the end zone forced the Giants to kick a field goal and make the score 5-0 in the Giants' favor.
The Cowboys came back and scored a touchdown on the next possession, with Romo piloting them and finding John Phillips on a throwback screen for a touchdown pass to make the score 7-5 for Dallas. That score held to the end of the first quarter.
It could have been 7-0 Dallas earlier in the quarter if Cowboys cornerback Terence Newman had snagged the interception on an out route he jumped perfectly, but Newman couldn't hang on to the ball with a full field of nothing but green space in front of him.
The Giants played the first quarter without Ahmad Bradshaw, who didn't start. According to Al Michaels on the NBC broadcast, that was because of a violation of team rules, understood to be a curfew violation. Brandon Jacobs has filled in admirably, running for 43 yards in the early goings.
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