Irving, TX (Sports Network) - Brandon Jacobs scored the go-ahead touchdown early in the fourth quarter, and R.W. McQuarters picked off Tony Romo in the end zone with nine seconds left in the contest, as the New York Giants reached the NFC Championship game with a 21-17 victory over the Dallas Cowboys at Texas Stadium.

Eli Manning completed 12-of-18 passes for 163 yards and two touchdowns for the Giants (12-6), who reached the NFC title game for the first time since January, 2001. The Giants head to Lambeau Field for a showdown with the Green Bay Packers next Sunday for a berth in Super Bowl XLII.

Amani Toomer had four receptions for 80 yards and two touchdowns, while Jacobs rushed 14 times for 54 yards and one TD.

Romo threw for 201 yards, one score and that costly interception on 18- of-36 passing for the Cowboys (13-4), who have not won a postseason game since the 1996 season, going 0-6 in that span.

Dallas also became the first top seed in the NFC to lose in the divisional round since the league went to the current 12-team playoff format in 1990.

Marion Barber gained 129 yards on 27 carries with a score, and Jason Witten picked up seven receptions for 81 yards. Terrell Owens, playing with a high- ankle sprain, was limited to 49 yards on four catches in defeat.

"It's very disappointing, especially the way the last year ended," Owens said. "This year we felt like we were destined to get to the Super Bowl. We didn't make enough plays today."

Owens also got emotional at the media lambasting put on Romo during Dallas' bye week. Romo traveled to Mexico last weekend with girlfriend Jessica Simpson. Wade Phillips said the trip was a non-issue. Owens came to the defense of his QB.

"You can point the finger at him and you can talk about the vacation," a quivering Owens said with his eyes covered by big sunglasses in his postgame press conference. "If you do that it's really unfair.It's my team. It's my quarterback. If you guys do that man, it's unfair. We lost as a team."

"I'm very disappointed and frustrated that we weren't able to do what we did throughout this year," Romo said. "It was really a lot of fun and I enjoyed it, but it's tough right now."

It marked the second straight heartbreaking playoff defeat for the Cowboys, who lost to Seattle in an NFC wild card game last January when Romo botched a snap on a potential game-winning field goal in a 21-20 loss.

The Cowboys swept the Giants during the regular season, and dealt New York its only road loss, a 45-35 setback, in Week 1.

"We've done it all year long," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said of winning on the road. "We had a big sign posted 'Warriors 9-1' and we were able to win on the road again."

After a Jeff Feagles punt, Dallas took over on the Giants' 48 with 1:50 left in regulation. Three plays later, Romo scrambled to the right and hit Witten on a 3rd-and-2 shovel pass to get a first down at the 22-yard-line.

Following a false start, Witten hauled in a four-yard pass on 1st-and-15 from the 27. Romo was hit and his pass fell incomplete on second down, then he overthrew Patrick Crayton on third down at the right sideline near the goal line.

On 4th-and-11 from the 23, Romo appeared to have Terry Glenn a couple yards deep in the end zone, but McQuarters made a perfect read on the ball to seal the win for New York.

"Our defense did a great job at the end," Manning said. "Keeping Dallas to 17 points is not easy, it hasn't been done many times all season I'm sure."

In fact, the Cowboys were limited to less than 17 points just twice during the season, which happened to be six points in each of their final two defeats -- against Philadelphia and at Washington.

For the Giants, now it's onto Green Bay, where the early forecast for next Sunday's game is temperatures in the single digits. The Packers won at home over Seattle, 42-20, in a snowstorm on Saturday.

"It's exciting. Playing at Lambeau Field, Brett Favre, the whole deal, the NFC Championship game, this is what it's all about," Manning said. "This is fun. We're going to enjoy the ride as long as we can."

Although Manning is going to his first championship game as a pro, his brother's team was knocked from their try to repeat as Super Bowl winners as Peyton Manning and the Colts were beaten earlier in the day by San Diego in the AFC divisional round.

The Giants got on the board on their opening possession, as Manning hit Toomer near midfield, who then ran into a trio of tacklers, broke free, and rolled down the left sideline 52 yards for a touchdown.

Dallas got rolling late in the first quarter, tying the game following a nine play, 96-yard drive which ended on the first play of the second as Owens hauled in a five-yard pass from Romo.

The Cowboys then took nearly 10 1/2 minutes off the clock on a methodical 20- play, 90-yard drive, going ahead 14-7 with under a minute left in the half on Barber's one-yard run.

Manning followed by expertly leading the Giants downfield in only 46 seconds, hitting Toomer over the middle for a four-yard TD to forge a 14-14 deadlock.

Dallas embarked on another long drive to open the second half. A 19-yard Glenn catch and Romo's weaving 11-yard dash to the Giants' 14-yard-line set up the Cowboys' next score, a 34-yard field goal by Nick Folk with 6:53 left in the third which gave the home team a three-point edge.

With under a minute to go in the third quarter, McQuarters returned a punt to the Cowboys' 37-yard-line. It took the Giants only six plays to go up 21-17 on a one-yard Jacobs run to the end zone 1:31 into the fourth.

After failing on its next drive, Dallas pinned the Giants deep in their own territory, forcing a punt. Crayton muffed the catch, but recovered at his own 44.

During that series, an illegal contact penalty against New York which put the Cowboys across midfield was negated by an intentional grounding call. Then, facing a 3rd-and-20 from his own 49 with 4:03 left in regulation, Romo's heave to the goal line near Owens fell well short.

The Giants followed with a three-and-out before the Cowboys got the ball back, and were primed to take the lead before McQuarters' heroics.