Jon Kitna was outstanding against the Giants with a 124.1 quarterback rating

EAST RUTHERFORD: It was obvious by the second quarter the Dallas Cowboys were playing lights-out football, but no one thought the lights-out part would happen, literally.

A power outage at the New Meadowlands Stadium in the third quarter put a scare into everyone at the brand new billion dollar football home of the Giants and Jets, but it did not stop the onslaught the Cowboys (2-7) laid on the Giants (6-3).

The 33-20 final score does not tell the story of how badly the Cowboys dominated this game.

It is also an indictment of this group that it took the firing of Wade Phillips who was, by most accounts, a pretty good coach and a good guy to wake them up.

Some of the players may have realized that and decided not to share their thoughts after the game which may be a sign they still don’t get it.

It’s not the media that made the Cowboys 1-7 going into the game, it wasn’t coaching staff that got them humiliated last week 45-7 by the Green Bay Packers, it was the players not giving 100 percent.

Interim head coach Jason Garrett got his first win on his first try.

Linebacker Keith Brooking said the Cowboys simply hit their lowest point of the season last week against the Packers.

“I think we hit bottom last week obviously with our performance,” Brooking said. “You can take the approach that there is only one way to go and that’s up. But that’s not the case. We could have stayed there. But I think this is a testament to our whole football team. Jason Garrett for one, starting with him, what he brought to our football team…it was very evident from my first meeting with him on Wednesday morning.

“Within five minutes of the meeting it was very clear what his approach was, his demeanor and his message of exactly where he stands and what he expect from us. It means everybody buying in.”

It will remain to be seen if this Cowboys team has really turned it around or just got sick of losing for one week.

Jon Kitna – starting in place of the injured Tony Romo – was outstanding. The veteran signal caller was 13 of 22 for 327 yards and three touchdown passes including a 71-yarder to Felix Jones to put the Cowboys up 26-6. Kitna threw one interception and was sacked just once.

First round draft pick Dez Bryant led the Cowboys with three catches for 104 yards and a 13-yard touchdown.

Playing from behind all afternoon, Eli Manning led the Giants with 373 yards on 33 of 48 passing, two touchdowns and two interceptions. He was not sacked.

One of Manning’s interceptions was epic.

On a third-and-goal from the two, Manning took the snap and a short drop. He fired to his left to Hakeem Nicks, who was supposed to be running a slant.

Instead, cornerback Bryan McCann stepped in front of the pass one yard in the end zone. The speedy rookie out of Southern Methodist raced 101 yards for a touchdown and the ‘Boys never looked back.

“We had some plays that I widh we could have been able to get back,” Nicks said. “These are things that you learn from. We just have to check out the films and critique ourselves. You might say that they were inspired, but that isn’t out of the ordinary in this league. We had some really bad turnovers and it cost us. Sometimes you have games like this. This is something we have to bounce back from.”