Giants Earn a Playoff Berth With 15-0 Victory Over Cowboys

The New York Giants have a simple formula for success. Keep an opponent out of the end zone and it will eventually get you to the playoffs.

The Giants did just that Saturday, shutting out the Dallas Cowboys, 15-0, to clinch an NFC wild-card berth. The ingredients were three field goals by Bjorn Nittmo, 91 yards rushing by Ottis Anderson and a defense that limited Dallas to just 108 total yards and posted its third goal-line stand in three weeks.

It’s the first time since their Super Bowl season of 1986 that the Giants (11-4) are in the playoffs. If they beat the Raiders next week and Philadelphia loses one of its final two, they will win the NFC East; if not, they will be a wild-card team.

“At least they’ve invited us to the dance,” Giant Coach Bill Parcells said. “We’ve done a lot more than anyone expected, but we’ve got a lot more to do.”

With the temperature at 25 degrees and winds gusting to 25 m.p.h., the left-footed Nittmo, filling in for the injured Raul Allegre, kicked field goals of 33, 22 and 26 yards and Anderson went in from the one for a touchdown on a fourth-down play.

So confident were the Giants in their defense that Phil Simms, eight of 17 for 134 yards in the first half, threw just twice in the second.

The Giants made their third successful goal-line stand from inside the one in the past three weeks, stopping the Cowboys early in the fourth quarter on their only sustained drive--58 yards to the one with New York leading, 15-0. This one was achieved with help from replay official Bill Swanson, who reversed a touchdown call on a third-down pass from Troy Aikman to Steve Folsom.

On fourth down, Carl Banks threw Paul Palmer for a three-yard loss and the Giants then drove the ball out of trouble.

“The game was over right there,” said Aikman, who completed 11 of 22 for 84 yards. “I don’t care how good the Giants are, there’s no excuse for not scoring from the one when you have five opportunities.”

Linebacker Steve DeOssie said: “When they get inside our 10, we know that they have their backs against the wall. They have to do something special if they’re going to score on us.

Linebacker Gary Reasons said: “It makes them think. Then they have to run trick plays, like going wide today. It plays into our hands.”

It was the first shutout for the Giants since they beat Washington, 17-0, in the 1986 NFC title game and it left the Cowboys at 1-14 and 2-25 in their last 27 games. The Cowboys, with former coach Tom Landry watching from the private box of Giant owner Wellington Mara, will finish with their second worst season ever--they were 0-11-1 as an expansion team in 1960. It was the third time the Cowboys have been shut out this season.

“The Giants did what they had to,” Dallas Coach Jimmy Johnson said. “They controlled the football and made the plays when they had to.”