IRVING, Texas - Forget the bye week. Forget the Redskins game after that.
Forget pinkies, hamstrings and groins. Oh, and let's also forget quads and ribs, too.
Forget all of those things that might matter in the big picture because they don't mean a whole lot in this one-week window.
It's the Giants. It's the Super Bowl champs. It's the team with the best record in the NFC. It's the team that knocked you out of the playoffs last year.
Plain and simple, the Giants are the team to beat.
So, go beat 'em.
Yeah, just like that. Go win the game. Go up to the Meadowlands, with the M.A.S.H. unit that you've got and go win the game.
Am I saying the Cowboys will win this game? No, I'm not saying that. But they definitely have a chance.
This is more than having the deck stacked against you. This is going to be quite a challenge for the Cowboys. But make no mistake, it would've been an uphill climb with a healthy Tony Romo, Felix Jones, Kyle Kosier, Anthony Spencer, Roy Williams and Terence Newman. It's going to be tough with or without Jason Witten and Anthony Henry, who both could play this week, but chances are it's more plausible to hold those two out as well and try to get them ready for after the bye.
That's fine, just keep pouring it on. I would imagine head coach Wade Phillips is almost at the laughable stage every time he gets a call from head trainer Jim Maurer. Ok, so, maybe he's not laughing. But it's certainly turned comical.
But how does it change the approach? It doesn't. Yet, it somehow seems like people are looking past this game. Almost to say, they're conceding.
I'm not sure why. If history suggests anything in the NFL, it says that division games are always tough. Just when you think you've got it all figured out, you get beat, either at home or on the road, by a team that probably shouldn't beat you. More often than not, those games are in the division.
You think the Cowboys haven't seen what Eli Manning is going to try to do this week? They haven't seen the way Brandon Jacobs runs? They don't know where the Giants are going to blitz from or how they're going to try to slow down Terrell Owens?
They know what to expect from the Giants. Doesn't mean they will handle it, but they shouldn't be surprised.
If anything, the Giants might have a tougher read on the Cowboys, considering the plethora of injuries, and having just two games of film on Brad Johnson.
Then again, if you want to go back to the flip side, the Cowboys are . . . having to start Brad Johnson.
And yes, it sounds like that will be the case. I'm not saying going with Brooks Bollinger is a bad idea. Maybe he gives you a little more mobility and even a stronger arm. But he's turnover-prone, too.
And, he's started only one game since 2005. That one game - late last season with the Vikings in Lambeau Field - was just a 34-0 loss to the Packers.
Guess you could say I'm on the fence on this one, because nothing that Johnson has done the last two weeks makes me think he's going into Giants Stadium and just lighting things up.
But continuity is important in this league. And I'm not sure you're sending the best message to the team by changing quarterbacks after Johnson was the winning quarterback last week. We all know he wasn't the difference. And sometimes, that's a good thing, too.
This week, you stick with what you've got, only because it makes no sense to throw an inexperienced guy out there against the defending champs. Just go with the guy who has at least seen this about 400 times before.
Other than the quarterback position, where your options are certainly limited, the Cowboys need to bring everything they've got at the Giants.
Forget the kitchen sink. Throw the whole house.
Trick plays, gadgets, new wrinkles, new players at new positions. Whatever you've got, bring it this week.
I recently saw a college preview show the other day that had legendary head coach Lou Holtz on there. From what I could make out through the swishing of his words was that he basically said he hated trick plays. Because it told the team that we're not good enough to win without them.
I can see that. Good point.
Now, about those trick plays . . . Maybe that's how the Cowboys win. And I'm not saying they're going to beat the Giants on Cory Procter's fumblerooski or a hitch-and-pitch from T.O. to Tashard Choice. But just the simple message that we're pulling out all the stops for this one could go a long way.
The Cowboys need to do everything they can to win this game. Is it a must-win? No, I don't like saying must-wins, until . . . you really must win. They could lose Sunday and go to 5-4. That doesn't mean they couldn't go 12-4 or 11-5 or 10-6. All three of those records would probably get you in the playoffs.
It's not a "must-win." It is a "must play well." They really need to be sharp against the Giants. Win or lose - play well. Execute on both sides of the ball.
Tackle well on special teams. Eliminate penalties, especially at crucial times.
But yet all of that might not result in a win. Who knows?
That's not the point. The point is to go out there and win this game, because it IS THE GAME. It's a chance at 6-3. Not sure about you guys, but when I see records like 3-1 and 4-0, or 9-3 and 8-4, all I see is a one-game difference.
But why is it that 6-3 and 5-4 seem tremendously different? If you go to 5-4, you've not only got four NFC losses, but three games behind the Giants in the loss column. That's going to make it nearly impossible to get back in the race and win the division. And that may mean no home game in the playoffs, IF you even make the playoffs.
But 6-3, having won two straight games with Brad Johnson, heading into the bye after overcoming all sorts of injuries, and doing so by beating the Giants, that would be indescribably huge.
That being said, go do it. Go win the game, with whoever you've got.
Don't feel sorry for yourselves, because the Giants surely aren't.
I hear that Giants defensive end Justin Tuck is saying he hopes the Cowboys don't make any excuses for what happens in the game.
"Everybody wants to beat everybody at their best," Tuck was quoted this week. "We don't want to have excuses like 'Romo is not playing, we didn't have this guy, we didn't have that guy.' We don't want excuses like that. But it won't change our approach. We are still going to go in there and try to sack whoever is back there."
Ok, so forgive me for reading between the lines here, but is Tuck predicting victory? Is that what that is? I can see the quote, but did he just leave out the
"When we beat them . . ." part?
If so, that's fine. He has reason to talk. I bet Mr. Tuck felt a little slighted when we all assumed the Giants would just beg Michael Strahan back out of retirement once Osi Umenyiora was lost for the year.
He has carried that Giants defense this year. Tuck has a legitimate chance to win the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year award if he keeps this up and the Giants keep doing what they're doing.
And he's right, there are no excuses. The Giants don't want to hear any. And you can bet the Cowboys won't be giving any.
They're banged up. We all know that. The Giants were banged up last year and overcame it.
It's football.
Forget injuries. Forget last year and forget the second half of the season.
The next game on the schedule is indeed winnable. So the Cowboys have no other choice but to go win it.
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Nick Eatman - 
