PaullyInNYC

three critical MRIs - one on Osi Umenyiora's knee, another on Brandon Jacobs' knee and the big one on Eli Manning's right shoulder. All three players were casualties last night, in the Giants' otherwise thrilling, season-opening, 45-35 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

They lost Umenyiora on the first defensive series and Jacobs early in the second quarter. But the near-killer came with 7:20 left when, on a failed two-point conversion, Manning was slammed to the ground by rookie defensive end Anthony Spencer.

Manning got up and came back in to throw a touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress a few minutes later, pulling the Giants within 38-35. But he was unable to come back out with 2:54 remaining and the Giants down 10, leaving backup Jared Lorenzen to lead the desperation drive.

"It got a little tight and as time went on it got a little more sore," Manning said. "I didn't want to go in and make anything worse."

Manning had an otherwise spectacular night, completing 28 of 41 passes for 312 yards, four touchdowns (including three to Burress) and one interception that only happened because Burress slipped. He said he would have gone out for one more drive if the Giants were still within a touchdown.

"But when they got the final touchdown," he said, "I wanted to make the smart decision."

The final touchdown - a 51-yard pass from Tony Romo to Sam Hurd with 3:03 remaining - was the final nail in what Antonio Pierce called an "embarrassing" performance by the defense. After the Giants lost Umenyiora to a left knee injury in the first quarter, they struggled to generate a pass rush. That left the secondary exposed, and Romo (15-for-24, 345 yards, four touchdowns) ripped them apart.

He did most of his damage in the middle of the field, playing catch with tight end Jason Witten (6 catches, 116 yards, 1 touchdown). But he and Owens hooked up for two second-half scores, including a 47-yarder that gave the Cowboys a 38-22 lead early in the fourth.

The Cowboys scored four times in the second half and they burned the Giants for a total of 478 yards.

"We didn't get the pressure on the quarterback that we thought we were going to get," Tom Coughlin said. "When you rely on (an attacking) type of defense, you have to get to the quarterback. But that doesn't take away from the coverage aspect. The coverage was kind of baffling."
"It was obviously embarrassing for all of us," Pierce added. "The tackling, the coverage, everything. Nothing went well for us."

They had no such issues on offense, even after they lost Jacobs to a sprained right MCL early in the second quarter when he appeared to awkwardly kick the back of Spencer on a two-yard run that was negated by a holding penalty on Chris Snee. At first, without Jacobs, the Giants had difficulty running the ball. But his replacement, third-year player Derrick Ward, eventually warmed up and finished with 13 carries for 89 yards.

And Manning - who hit Burress (8-144-3) for a 60-yard touchdown on the third play of the game - never stopped moving the ball. With the Giants trailing 17-6 late in the first half, he led a two-minute drive that resulted in Burress' second touchdown. And after the Cowboys fumbled the ensuing kickoff, they added the second of Lawrence Tynes' three field goals to pull within 17-16.

Then the second half became a shootout. Romo hit Owens for two scores and ran one in for himself, giving the Cowboys a 16-point lead with 11:43 remaining. Manning answered with a a 9-yard pass to Ward with 7:20 remaining, pulling the Giants to within 38-28 (the two-point conversion try failed).

Still hurting, Manning said he "didn't really have any option" to sit out the next series after Gibril Wilson quickly picked off a Romo pass deep in Dallas territory. And he looked fine when he hit Burress in the back of the end zone from 10 yards out to make the score 38-35. Just 66 seconds later, Romo put the Giants out of their misery. All that was left was the body count.

And the count was undoubtedly high, though the extent of any of the injuries won't be known until today. Manning optimistically said he doesn't expect to miss any time.

"But we'll see how it feels (today)," he said. "We'll see what the X-rays and the MRIs say, and we'll go from there."

PaullyInNYC

Its official, Eli Manning is expected to miss at least one month of the regular season. Its such a shame because he was playing really well on opening day against Dallas. Hopefully he will be able to return in the same shape he started the season.