Tony Romo did it again.
The Cowboys quarterback authored another amazing comeback, leading his team to a 27-26 last-minute win over the Giants, and doing it all with his star wide receiver nowhere to be found.
With Dez Bryant in the locker room getting a foot injury worked on (after missing a portion of the first half getting an IV), Romo was able to peck away at the Giants with no timeouts, working on the short areas of the field into the weakness of a Giants defense which was gutted by injuries.
All night, the Cowboys worked underneath, throwing to backs and tight ends. And when Romo needed to, he was able to lead the kind of drive he’s become known for, hitting Jason Witten across the middle for the winner after bobbling the snap.
He finished 36-of-45 for 356 yards and three touchdowns, enough to overcome the two interceptions (which went off hands of his own guys first).
While there are reasons to knock postseason Romo or extra point-holder Romo, the guy is comfortable in late-game situations, and Sunday added another chapter to that lore.
Here are five more things we learned during Sunday Night Football:
1. As impressive as the Cowboys comeback was, the Giants opened the door for them with some curious play-calling.
By throwing an incomplete pass on third down on their next to last possession, the Giants handed the Cowboys 40 seconds, in a game in which the winner was scored with 0:07 left on the clock.
Taking a sack would have been better if you had to call a pass play, but running the ball would have been preferable.
2. The Giants deserve credit for continuing to throw to wide receiver Preston Parker after his first third-down drop.
Of course, it might have been better if they hadn’t dropped that other guy.
The Giants are thin at the position while Victor Cruz is hurt, but one of the guys they cut had a great day today for another team. With James Jones catching two touchdowns today for the Packers (who were quick to bring him back after the Giants cut him), the contrast was stark.
Parker struggled, and with Jones standing out, it looked worse.
3. The Cowboys burned their second and final challenge in the first half, and underscored the general confusion about what is a catch and what is not.
Coach Jason Garrett won the challenge of Giants tight end Larry Donnell’s reception, which looked good at first, but when the ball came out as he hit the ground it was overturned.
If anyone should be familiar with catch rules, it should be Garrett, but it was still risky to use his last challenge so early. While we’re talking about rules that could use tweaking, it’s still hard to understand why winning a challenge wouldn’t earn you another one, but Garrett fired his bullets anyway.
4. Speaking of mysteries, it’s unclear why the Cowboys didn’t take more shots at the deep middle of the Giants secondary.
Safeties for the Giants have been getting hurt all preseason, and they entered the game with just three active. One of those was just-signed Craig Dahl, another rookie Landon Collins and the third was Brandon Meriweather.
But the Cowboys were content to dink and dunk in the first half, when they were running and using short passes to control the clock and the stat sheet but not the scoreboard. While Meriweather made a play late, that group has had enough issues the Cowboys should have tested them more often.
5. Speaking of other mysteries, the Cowboys’ third-quarter touchdown which cut the lead to 16-13 was helped along by a pass interference call on Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie.
Only, it wasn’t interference, but one of the flimsiest calls of the day.
Rodgers-Cromartie had tight coverage, and batted the ball away as Cowboys wideout Terrance Williams pulled him down. Whatever the officials saw to make it interference is beyond me, but it was a four-point swing as the Cowboys would have had to settle for a field goal without the penalty.
