John Fennelly , Executive Editor

The Giants got off to a sluggish start on their road to repeating as Super Bowl champions tonight at MetLife Stadium, dropping passes, fumbling on a key drive and missing assignments and tackles on defense, leading to big plays for the visiting Dallas Cowboys.

The Giants lost, 24-17, to a revitalized Dallas team in a game they led only once – and that was 3-0 in the first quarter.

The mantra laid out for this season by head coach Tom Coughlin was “Build the Bridge”. But the Giants forgot their toolboxes at home tonight. That bridge is gonna have to wait.

The Cowboys had designs of their own. QB Tony Romo threw for 307 yards and three TDs, two to Queens native WR Kevin Ogletree and one to WR Miles Austin. RB DeMarco Murray found holes in and around the Giants defense all night. He rushed for 131 yards and caught a pass for nine more.

The Cowboys defense aggressively attacked Eli Manning, sacking him three times and disrupting him often.

The replacement officials were not much of a factor quality-wise, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t busy. They called 17 penalties, 13 of them on Dallas.

The game was not as close as the score. The Cowboys gained 433 yards to the Giants’ 269. They also won the time of possession, 33:29 to 25:53.

Eli (21/32, 213yds, 1TD) missed receivers on some plays and had several passes dropped on him. RB Ahmad Bradshaw gained 78 carries including a 33-yard run aNd a 10-yard TD. WR Victor Cruz caught six passes for 58 yards but had several key drops.

Former Cowboy TE Martellus Bennett had four receptions for 40 yards including a 12-yard TD.

CB Michael Coe, who started in place of Prince Amukamara, left the game with a hamstring strain.