By Dean Michaels

There has always been the most intense of football rivalries between NFC East opponents the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys. This season, with two games against each other over the final four weeks and the NFC East on the line, the intensity is even higher.

Given the first oppourtunity during their first practices, players from both sides held nothing back on their respective opponent. Dallas defensive end Demarcus Ware took the chance to address recent derogatory comments from Giants end Justin Tuck.

"He says that because maybe he wants to play here," Ware told reporters in Irving, Texas. "Everybody wants to play for the Cowboys. If I wasn't playing for the Cowboys I would call it that too, because I want to play for them."

Never one to skip the party, Dallas cornerback Mike Jenkins chimed in by calling Brandon Jacobs a "big bully" for the amount of trash talk he spews on the field.

The stakes couldn't be higher, with Dallas (7-5) owning a one-game lead on the Giants (6-6) for the NFC East. A Giants win will give New York the tiebreaker and therefore sink Dallas to second, with a season finale between the bitter rivals New Year's day.

Recent history is on the Giants side, with NY having won three of their last four games at Dallas and the Cowboys having lost five-straight Sunday night games.

"I know ... we know all the stats," Cowboys linebacker Bradie James told CBSSports. "We know it's time. It's time for us get where we want to be and we have to play some ball."

Giants Have Malice for Dallas as Cowboys Game Approaches