Imagine the Cowboys would have won against the Giants. We'd be in the playoffs. With some luck, we might even have gotten a win against the Falcons in the wild-card round, or perhaps not. In any case, the season would have been considered a moderate success.

We could have looked back on the season and surmised that the Cowboys were actually better than their W/L record indicated. After all, we were just a little unlucky during the course of the season, losing four times by four points or less and once in overtime. And surely, those five blown fourth quarter leads were just a fluke.

We could have argued that the Cowboys had a pretty good pass rush. After all, they finished seventh in the league with 42 sacks. Or we could have argued that the secondary wasn't really that bad, after all, the Packers, Patriots and Saints all ranked below us in passing yards allowed. Even the O-line wasn't that bad, after all, they ranked 18th in sacks allowed, right?

Heck, a couple of upgrades here or there and we'd have been ready for a Super Bowl run in 2012. You think I'm kidding? Here's Jerry Jones after the game:

"Just hours ago I thought this core group had an opportunity to go very far into the playoffs," Jones said. "So I'm very disappointed. I'm frankly surprised that we didn't do better and that we didn't win this ballgame.

[... Not until] right up until the end of the fourth quarter did it really dawn on me that we probably weren't going to be in the playoffs. And that's a shame, because we've got a team in here that I think is good enough to play and play well, but we didn't show it tonight."

Thank God we lost to the Giants.

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The 2011 season has come to an end.

In a do-or-die, winner moves on, loser goes home contest, the Cowboys we hoped to see didn't arrive until they had already dug themselves a 21-0 first half hole. Amidst a slew of bad effort, bad play and bad bounces, Dallas wasn't able to perform the necessary epic comeback.They fought valiantly to open the second half, stonewalling the Giants offense and finally getting their own on track to close within 21-14. The Cowboys, however, didn't have enough left in the tank and ended up losing, 31-14.

The Cowboys barely pressured Giants quarterback Eli Manning, barely protected Tony Romo and made mistakes everywhere in between.

Follow the jump for more recap, and remember to stay civil in the comments section.

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It's week 17. The Dallas Cowboys are off to New Jersey to face the New York Giants to decide the NFC East crown, and love is in the air. It's time for the weekly visit to the opponent's SBN franchise. For the cute and cuddly Giants, that is Big Blue View.

No need for a lot of build up here. Let's just jump right in with their review of the Tom Coughin press conference after the Giants' win over the Jets.

No one had to remind New york Giants head coach Tom Coughlin about the importance of Sunday's regular season finale against the Cowboys. TC is doing everything in his power to make sure his G-men understand what is at stake, and if his team comes out flat, it won't be for lack of preparation.

I have to admit, there is a part of me that likes the idea of our classic rivalry meaning something again. And this one question will let you know that the Giants are feeling that they are not getting treated well by those guys in black and white.

Q: Did you get an explanation on any of the calls that didn't go your way?

There is also one comment in the thread for this article that I had to pull up.

It's cause we are a class act, S-M, despite the "girls" dig.

S-M?

Nah, not going there.

More after the jump.

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By late Sunday night we'll know the fate of the Dallas Cowboys - either they're a playoff team or one of the masses that failed in their mission. To get to the playoffs, the Cowboys must defeat the New York Giants. So once again, we check in with Ed over at Big Blue View to get his take on some key elements of the game.

Blogging The Boys: Give us the quick update on the injuries. Will Osi play and how much, what about Jake Ballard, Hakeem Nicks and Mario Manningham? Any others we should be concerned with?

Big Blue View: Well, Osi surprised by practicing early this week. I'd assume he will play unless he has a setback, but as well as Jason Pierre-Paul and Justin Tuck are playing I can't imagine Osi doing much more than playing as a pass-rusher on third down. Let's face it, Pierre-Paul is the Giants best defender and maybe a candidate for Defensive Player of the Year. Taking him off the field is just doing Dallas a favor.

The Giants expect Nicks and Manningham to play, although how healthy they will be I just don't know. Ballard is iffy, and he is a huge loss. Without him, the Giants just don't have much of a threat at tight end.

Four more...

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