Throughout the fourth quarter Tony Romo
felt the throbbing in his back, the direct result of an accidental blow
suffered while making a first-quarter tackle, of all things.
While he could block out the pain during most plays, he couldn't
stop it from affecting most of his throws - at least, not until the game
was on the line.
But given a break by a missed field goal, Romo scrambled for a first
down, then completed seven straight passes, the last a 10-yarder
to Patrick Crayton for a touchdown with 2:41 left that gave the
Dallas Cowboys a 7-6 victory over the Washington Redskins on
Sunday.
"I've always felt like, no matter what is really wrong - as long
as it's not a broken bone or something that's going to keep you
out - just on the adrenalin of the game, you can always do it,"
Romo said. "That's just part of football, part of understanding
that's the only way to play the game."
This was the second straight week the Cowboys (7-3) didn't score
until the final minutes.
Washington overcame multiple injuries on both sides of the ball to lead 6-0 on field goals of 45 and
31 yards from Shaun Suisham. He missed a 39-yarder just before
halftime, then a 50-yarder that would've made it 9-0 right
before what proved to be Dallas' winning drive.
Ironically, those were
Suisham's first two misses of the season.
Even after Crayton scored, the Redskins had a chance to pull out
a second straight win. But Jason Campbell threw a pass that was
tipped and intercepted with 1:46 left, then had a heave fall
incomplete as time expired.
"To lose it like that in the end in a hostile situation, it's
just so hard," Washington coach Jim Zorn said. "Yet, we hung in
there. I believe this is a special team of players who will not
just chuck things in being 3-7. ... We're going to look at our
roster, patch it up and go again."
The Cowboys seemed headed for an early lead when Marion Barber
led a run-filled second series. Then Barber fumbled inside the
20, Washington's DeAngelo Hall recovered and Romo brought him
down. As Hall was falling, his knee conked Romo in the back.
Romo was so bad after that it was obvious something was
bothering him.
He didn't complete a pass to a receiver until the final play of
the third quarter. Dallas coach Wade Phillips was so desperate
to get something going that he went for it on fourth-and-2 from
the Washington 39 early in the fourth quarter. Romo threw an
interception.
Suisham's second missed kick gave Romo one more chance, and he
took advantage - despite having completed only eight passes up
to that point.
Facing third-and-3 from his 47 with 6:23 left and the Cowboys
trailing 6-0, Romo scooted up the middle for 5 yards and a first
down, then hit Miles Austin three times and Jason Witten twice
to get to the Washington 10. On second down, Romo scrambled left
to get away from trouble and had enough room to run most of the
way to the goal line. But he saw Crayton shaking off his
coverage and drilled a pass into his chest in the middle of the
end zone.
"Everyone in the stands saw it coming," Phillips said, "and he
put it right in there."
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