New York Giants: Top 5 Eli Manning career wins against Cowboys

4. 2004 Week 17: 28-24 Giants win

How could I leave Eli’s first career win against Dallas off this list? As meaningless as this game was as far as playoff implications were concerned (both teams finished 6-10), this would be the first game of many that Manning would lead Big Blue to glory – in dramatic fashion – over the Cowboys.

While Tiki Barber would end up being the hero – taking a three-yard plunge into the end zone with :11 left – it was Eli who kept the Giants in the game prior to that, as he threw for three touchdowns on the day. Two of those touchdowns came in the fourth quarter, as the hometown crowd would get a taste of what was to come in terms of the real ‘Mr. Fourth Quarter’. In a theme that became common in Eli’s career, he struggled for most of the game, only to deliver when it counted most.

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The Giants had been down 16-7 to start the fourth, but the feeling started to change when Eli connected with David Tyree (in another sign of what was to come) on a fifteen-yard touchdown strike to open up the last quarter. After the Giants scored again quickly after that to take the lead, Jason Witten would stun the Big Blue faithful by finding the paydirt with 1:49 remaining.

Eli answered by leading the Giants on a game-winning, 66-yard drive (that was aided by a bone-headed Cowboys roughing the passer penalty) in what was the first of many to come.