National Football League

Cowboys don't fall for Giants' trap, improve to 6-1

Published Oct. 19, 2014 9:01 p.m. ET

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ARLINGTON, Texas - It had all the makings of a trap game. The Cowboys were rolling at 5-1, the Giants were reeling after getting embarrassed the week be-fore.

Good NFL teams lose games like this all the time. It happens every weekend in the NFL, especially when divisional rivals meet. Even when one of the rivals is as injury-riddled as the Giants.

It didn't help that professional jinx Alex Rodriguez was in the building. A-Rod had to to sidestep Tony Romo as the quarterback ran from the locker room.

Yet the Cowboys overcame all the ominous signs, including minor injuries to DeMarco Murray and kicker Dan Bailey, and eventually put away the Giants, 31-21.

"The best thing about this win is that when we came back in the locker room, guys aren't satisfied," middle linebacker Rolando McClain said. "We knew we can play better. We expect to play better."

The Cowboys are now the NFL's only 6-1 team. They finished the game as one of just four teams with one loss, along with Philadelphia, Arizona and Denver.

The Cowboys have won six in a row and if they take care of business they way they did Sunday, they should be 7-1 with the hapless Redskins coming to town next. That sets up a showdown with 5-1 Arizona in two weeks before heading off to London to face the Jaguars.

After going 8-8 the last three seasons, the Cowboys should easily have eight wins by Thanksgiving.

Not that the previous six wins were easy. But the 2014 Cowboys have shown a resilience missing in previous years. It was certainly on display Sunday against the Giants.

At halftime, the "Any Given Sunday" factor was still very much in play. The score was knotted at 14-14 and the Cowboys looked a little sluggish. Romo had been sacked twice and intercepted once. The interception, when Dez Bryant fell down, led to a Giants touchdown.

"The biggest issue for us early on on offense were some of those holding pen-alties, a couple of those minus plays that got us behind the chains," coach Jason Garrett said. "We were kind of  digging out."

In the second half, it was the Cowboys who made the big plays and caused the key turnover.

Murray did his part in becoming the first player in NFL history to rush for 100 yards in each of the first seven games. Even after all these years, when you break a record held by Jim Brown, that's doing something.

It's easy to forget that prior to this season Murray had a history of injury trou-ble. Murray tweaked an ankle in the first half, but got it re-taped and wound up rushing for 128 yards and a touchdown.

"He's tough," Cowboys owner/GM Jerry Jones said. "He stepped back out there after, obviously, twisting his ankle a little bit. But he stepped back out there and competed. His teammates need him, and we need him."

Murray made key run after key run to keep possessions alive keep the ball away from the Giants.

He did it behind an offensive line that was missing a starter, right tackle Doug Free, who broke his foot the week before. Jermey Parnell filled in and had a quiet game, which is what you want from an offensive lineman.

The other injury of note was to Bailey, who came up limping after he was hit kicking an extra point. Bailey has arguably been the Cowboys' best player the last couple of seasons and has been a huge factor in this year's run.

Like Murray, Bailey had no trouble shaking it off and booting a 49-yarder with 4:29 left to all but seal the win.

Bryant shook off a slow start and finished with 9 catches for 151 yards. He continues to make plays that only he can make, especially the twisting catch he made to set up Murray's touchdown for a 28-14 lead.

Another offensive threat emerged in tight end Gavin Escobar, who had two touchdown catches. The 2013 second-round pick didn't show much last season, but Sunday he showed a knack for getting open when Romo rolled away from pres-sure.

The Cowboys defense showed it can be relied upon, too. Garrett made a ques-tionable to punt early in the fourth quarter with a fourth-and-one at the Giants' 40. Safety Barry Church made Garrett look good by forcing a fumble on the ensuing drive.

"We can't read into the clippings," Church said. "We've got to keep our heads down and keep focused."

Linebacker Justin Durant forced another fumble with 35 seconds left to re-move any doubt about the outcome.

"At the end of the game we came back and did what we needed to do to get the stops," Garrett said. "You get those big strips at the end of the game, those are huge."

The Cowboys are getting huge themselves because of their ability to over-come adversity. A week after winning a hyped-up road game at the Super Bowl champion Seahawks, they managed to avoid the traps set by a home game with lit-tle build-up against a struggling rival.

Big win or little, they all count the same. And now the count is up to 6-1 and could go higher.

Follow Keith Whitmire on Twitter: @Keith_Whitmire

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