By Steven Panzarella

It was the most hyped up QB matchup of the year: Big Ben versus Easy Eli – two young Super Bowl champs, two great young QB’s on possibly 2 of the best 3 teams in the NFL. Both teams were 5-1 coming in and both teams have had issues on both sides of the ball. Pittsburgh got beat up in a game against Philadelphia and the Giants got killed in a game in Cleveland. Other than that, both teams have been very good all season long.

This was a defensive affair to say the least. Pittsburgh seemed like they were the better team early, scoring on a long Mewelde Moore run early in the first. The Giants spent more than half of the 1st half in Pittsburgh territory, but could only get a few FG’s. Yet unlike Big Ben, Eli Manning stayed out of trouble, didn’t turn the ball over and stayed on his feet. Big Ben threw 4 picks to Giant defenders and got sacked 5 times including three by Mathias Kiwanuka, one by Justin Tuck and the last one by Dave Tollefson. Big Ben dropped back 34 times and was knocked down 16 times. The Giants were able to get pressure on Ben Roethlisberger and force him to make bad plays. They only gave up 2 really big plays the whole game and both went for touchdowns. But that was it, the game came down to which team would make more mistakes and that fell on the Steelers.

When it came to important plays in this game, the biggest was a punt or lack thereof. After losing their primary long snapper, the Steelers were forced to find someone else for the job. That job went to starting linebacker James Harrison, who reportedly took 2 practice snaps on the sideline and both were awful, and then ran out to snap the ball to already injured Punter Mitch Berger. The ball sailed right over Berger’s head and the then 14-12 Steelers lead changed to a 14-14 tie. The injured Berger was then forced to drop kick the ball to the New York Giants who were able to get a big drive. They got all the way down to the Steelers 5 yard line and Manning got a play action pass to a wide open Kevin Boss. The Giants were able to hold the Steelers for the final three minutes of play and win the ball game.

Now the New York Giants have to come home and play their biggest division rival the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys are without some of their best players in Tony Romo and Roy Williams (the safety, not the wide out). The Cowboys have a struggling offense led by 40-year-old Brad Johnson, and they’re going to need a big game from Johnson to beat the G-men at a packed and loud Giants Stadium. The Giants know that there schedule is extremely difficult from here on out but if they can get to Johnson and run the ball effectively on this injured defense the Giants should be able to beat Dallas. If I had to guess you can get ready to see a lot of play action from Eli Manning and the Giants. If they can run the ball effectively, this game will fall into the hands of the Cowboys secondary. The Giants are one of the best teams in the NFL at the play action fake thanks to the big three running backs Jacobs, Ward, and Bradshaw who pound the ball and hit so hard that they cause teams to put more than five guys in the box. This allows the Giants to use play action to guys like Amani Toomer, Steve Smith, Domenik Hixon or the big guy Plaxico Burress. This could also be a classic game of the Giants being favored and underperforming so look for a close game at the stadium, but if the Cowboys are going to win, its going to be thanks to a strong defensive performance.