EYES ON THE PRIZE
JINTS DREAM OF NO. 1 SEED
What looked like a pipe dream for the Giants less than a week ago isn’t farfetched at all anymore.
Don’t look now, but the NFC East title and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs are suddenly within reason for Big Blue in the wake of their victory over the Cowboys.
And should the 9-4 Giants beat the 9-4 Lions at MetLife Stadium on Sunday afternoon and the 11-2 Cowboys follow with a home loss to the surging Buccaneers later that night, talk of a potential No. 1 seed for Ben McAdoo’s team would go from a whisper to a roar.
“If we win and the Cowboys lose one more, then it’s going to be like, ‘Ahhhh!’ [for Dallas],” Giants guard Justin Pugh said Friday. “That’s going to put a little bit more pressure on them.”
Even the Giants now are willing to consider the top seed a legitimate goal, assuming they can get past Matthew Stafford and Detroit this weekend. The reason: The Giants and Cowboys would be the only teams in the NFC still able to reach 12 victories, and Big Blue would own the tiebreaker over Dallas if both finish 12-4 by way of their sweep of the season series.
If the Giants win Sunday, look for them to become big fans of Tampa Bay because an upset by the 8-5 Bucs in Dallas would put the Giants just one game behind the Cowboys with two to play.
It also no doubt heartens the Giants to see their 10-7 victory over Dallas suddenly and surprisingly throw the Cowboys into turmoil over the status of rookie quarterback Dak Prescott.
With Prescott enduring his worst game as a pro in the loss to the Giants and Dallas a combined 2-for-24 on third downs the past two games, Jerry Jones has fanned speculation about a switch to Tony Romo by repeatedly refusing to rule it out.
A second consecutive loss could result in a benching of Prescott that might roil the Cowboys’ locker room at an inopportune time — with Dallas likely needing to sweep a difficult finishing kick of Detroit at home and the rival Eagles in Philadelphia to save the No. 1 seed.
That’s a ton of “ifs,” obviously, but the Giants even factoring into such a scenario is remarkable, considering their chances of simply making the playoffs seemed to take a huge hit just 13 days ago with a 24-14 loss to the Steelers.
It also is going to make the Cowboys-Bucs game must-see TV for the Giants should they prevail over Detroit.
“I’ll definitely tune in to it,” Pugh said with a grin. “If we win, it would definitely become a watchable game, you could say.”
On the flip side, however, the Giants’ quest for the top seed also includes almost no margin for error. A loss (or tie) Sunday to the Lions combined with a Dallas victory over Tampa Bay would clinch the East and the No. 1 seed for the Cowboys.
Even making the playoffs at all is no sure thing for the Giants, despite their 9-4 record.
That’s because seven other teams in the NFC still can finish with 10 wins, so it looks like two more victories in their final three games — they finish with road trips to the Eagles and Redskins — might be necessary to end Big Blue’s four-year postseason drought.
The Giants also can’t count on the Cowboys cratering completely. Dallas finishes with the Lions at home, then Philadelphia at Lincoln Financial Field, where the Cowboys are 4-0 since 2012.
But having the No. 1 seed suddenly become a possibility has put an extra bounce in the Giants’ step.
As cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie said Friday: “It’s definitely a fun thing to at least
think about a little bit.”