Dallas gets last laugh in comedy of errors
ARLINGTON, Texas — Tony Romo persevered through a careerhigh seven sacks, trying to avoid more of the costly mistakes that have dogged his career as he ran from constant pressure.
Just when he had Dallas in position to finish a rally and beat Cleveland, Romo lost a fumble, which left the Cowboys scrambling to survive a wild ending Sunday in the first overtime game at Cowboys Stadium, won by Dallas 23-20.
The Cowboys extended the Browns’ road losing streak to 12 games on Dan Bailey’s 38-yard field goal with 6:07 left in the extra period after Bailey made a tying kick with two seconds remaining in regulation.
“Had it all the way,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said, smiling, as he walked into the postgame locker room.
Not quite, but it looked that way late in the fourth quarter when Romo put the Cowboys ahead 17-13 with a 28yard scoring pass to Dez Bryant, who had a career-high 145 yards receiving. Anthony Spencer sacked Browns rookie Brandon Weeden on the next possession, forced a fumble and recovered it at the Cleveland 18 with 5:45 remaining.
Romo gave it right back, though, fumbling two plays later — his first turnover in three games — as he was hit by Frostee Rucker while trying to avoid the sixth Cleveland sack. Dallas’ offensive line didn’t have left tackle Tyron Smith for most of the game because of an ankle injury.
“I obviously need to hold onto the ball and not let the guy come from behind and let the ball come out,” Romo said. “That could have been a big one.”
The Cowboys made one goal-line stand in the final minutes, but the Browns (2-8) got another chance and went ahead 20-17 on Weeden’s 17yard pass to Benjamin Watson with 1:07 remaining.
Dallas drove to the Cleveland 9 in the dying seconds, keyed by a 35yard pass-interference penalty on Sheldon Brown. The Cowboys tried to throw into the end zone twice, then settled for Bailey’s tying kick.
Dallas won for the first time in six games when Romo is sacked at least five times. Despite the constant pressure, he finished 35-for-50 for 313 yards with the touchdown to Bryant, who had 12 catches.
“Tony did a really good job of playing with poise,” Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett said. “When you play quarterback and you have a lot of negative plays … it’s easy to kind of get out of yourself and do some things you shouldn’t be doing.”
Cleveland looked like the winner at halftime, leading 13-0 while Romo was running for cover and the crowd was booing repeatedly. Dallas then scored on its first three possessions of the second half, capped by Romo’s toss to Bryant.
The Cowboys got their first points on a 44-yard field goal with 5:44 remaining in the third quarter, then abandoned an ineffective running game. Romo completed passes on seven straight plays, including a 30yarder to Bryant, before Felix Jones went the final 2 yards on the ground to cut Dallas’ deficit to 13-10 early in the fourth quarter.