East Rutherford, NJ

Eli Manning and Victor Cruz got the New York Giants off the right track and then put away their arch rival.

Manning threw for 346 yards, 178 to Cruz, as the New York Giants jumped out early and posted a 31-14 victory over the Dallas Cowboys Sunday night in a winner take all battle at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

The NFC East champion Giants (9-7) will open the playoffs with a home game against the Atlanta Falcons Sunday.

Manning and Cruz beat the Dallas blitz in the first quarter, hooking up on a 74-yard pass-and-run for a 7-0 lead. Midway through the fourth with New York clinging to a 21-14 lead and all momentum with the Cowboys, the duo beat the blitz again on third down, when Manning avoided a sack and completed a 42-yard bomb, allowing the Giants to keep possession. That drive resulted in a field goal and Manning found Hakeem Nicks on the next drive to put away the Cowboys.

Dallas (8-8), which blew a chance to all but sew up the division title three weeks ago when it wasted a four-TD game from Tony Romo and allowed a 12-point fourth-quarter lead to slip away, didn't have much fight early on in this one.

The offense generated 96 yards in the first half and Romo was pressured mercilessly, resulting in three sacks and one holding call. On Dallas' best chance of the half, when trailing 14-0, Romo avoided several pass rushers and completed a pass inside the Giants' 20, but it was called back because Romo had run past the line of scrimmage before passing the ball.

The defense was even worse, yielding 277 yards and 21 points. Dallas was drawn offsides twice on third down, were called for pass interference and failed to recover two fumbles that rolled directly into their arms.

Dallas cornerback Terence Newman missed a tackle on third down that would have forced a punt deep in Giants' territory. Instead, a few plays later, Manning beat Newman and the blitz to Cruz for the first score.

On New York's second TD, a 5-yard run by Ahmad Bradshaw, safety Abram Elam missed a tackle in the backfield and Bradshaw pranced into the end zone.

Even the special teams contributed to the deluge for Dallas, when Dez Bryant muffed a punt but recovered, and Alan Ball illegally touched a punt which would have pinned the Giants back inside their own 5-yard line. New York drove 80 yards for their third score after that miscue and took a 21-0 lead into the locker room.

Dallas picked it up on both sides of the ball after intermission. The Cowboys went to the no-huddle offense in the second half and went 94 yards on their first possession and moved to the New York 10 early in the fourth quarter, but an ill-advised sneak on fourth down by Romo came up short. Dallas' previous drive ended with a Romo interception.

Romo found Laurent Robinson for six yards to cut the score to 21-14 with 10:20 left, but Manning and Cruz then re-established momentum for the Giants.

Manning, who threw for 400 yards and two TDS in the Giants' 37-34 win against Dallas three weeks ago, was 24 of 33 with three TDs against no interceptions. He was sacked twice.

Romo, who was 21 for 31 for 321 yards against New York in Dallas, was 29 of 37 for 289 yards. He threw an interception, lost a fumble and was sacked six times.

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