SUNDAY’S RESULTS St. Louis 23, Tampa Bay 13 Indianapolis 23, Kansas City 7 Denver 37, Houston 13 Buffalo 19, Miami 0 Carolina 17, New Orleans 13 Dallas 24, Washington 23 NY Jets 24, Cleveland 13 Cincinnati 42, Minnesota 14 Tennessee 20, Jacksonville 16 Arizona 17, Seattle 10 NY Giants 23, Detroit 20, OT San Diego 26, Oakland 13 Pittsburgh 38, Green Bay 31 New England 41, Baltimore 7 Philadelphia 54, Chicago 11
LANDOVER, Md. - On fourth down, feeling the season was on the line, Tony Romo dropped back, scrambled forward and found someone wearing the correct color uniform.
DeMarco Murray made the catch, and his momentum took him into the end zone for the winning score.
For much of the second half Sunday, Romo and the Dallas Cowboys had flirted with their usual December swoon. A recently signed fullback lost a fumble. Romo threw an interception. An eight-point lead became a nine-point deficit. Murray lost 9 yards on a third-and-goal at the 1.
Yet there was still one chance left to pull off a victory, and Romo’s pass to Murray on fourth and goal from the 10 with 1:08 remaining gave the Cowboys a 24-23 victory over the Washington Redskins.
“We just had to make a play,” Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant said. “Tony did a Houdini.”
It was a magic moment that matters only if the Cowboys can win one more. The victory ended a two-game skid - as well as a four-game December losing streak - and sets up a winner-take-all, regular-season finale for the NFC East title next week when the Cowboys (8-7) host the Philadelphia Eagles.
“Today we felt like we were playing for everything,” Romo said. “Next week will be the same thing.”
The Cowboys, who beat Philadelphia 17-3 on Oct. 20, set themselves up to quash two years of 8-8, collapse-around-Christmas misery.
“I know in some ways we’ve gotten hit with just the fact of losing the last couple of years in the final game,” Romo said. “I think we’re the only team that keeps getting themselves in position towin the NFC East every year. That’s a credit. It’s also a negative in the fact that we didn’t do it the last couple of years.”
The Cowboys melted down big time last week against the Green Bay Packers, blowing a 23-point lead with Romo throwing two interceptions in the waning minutes.
On Sunday, the Cowboys fell flat in the third quarter instead of the fourth, leaving just enough time for a comeback.
“Coming back and playing well and working hard can help your character,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said with a smile. “Now, I don’t recommend the way we came back today as a way to get there. I would’ve liked for it to be a little easier and confident.”
The Redskins (3-12) aren’t building much of anything. They lost their seventh consecutive game and their second in a row by one point, both with Kirk Cousins starting in place of franchise player Robert Griffin III, who has been shut down for the season.
Pierre Garcon (11 catches, 144 yards) provided the highlight for the Redskins by breaking Art Monk’s single-season franchise reception record, and veteran linebacker London Fletcher played what is expected to be his final home game before retiring.
Coach Mike Shanahan clinched his worst record in his 20 seasons as a head coach.
“Everybody on the team is fed up at this point,” Redskins linebacker Perry Riley said. “We should be winning, need to be winning. We’re not winning, and that’s frustrating.”
Romo completed 17 of 27 passes for 226 yards with 2 touchdowns and played much of the game with back pain. He was limping noticeably after a couple of plays in the fourth quarter.
The Cowboys led 14-6 going into halftime before committing turnovers on back-to-back drives - a fumble by Tyler Clutts and an interception by DeAngelo Hall.
The Redskins scored on three consecutive possessions and took a 23-14 lead on the first play of the fourth quarter.
But Romo converted a fourth-and-6 at the Washington 40-yard line to set up a field goal that cut the lead to six with 6:09 to play. The Cowboys started the go-ahead drive at their 13 with 3:39 remaining. A 51-yard pass to Terrance Williams set up the winning score, with the Cowboys surviving the 9-yard loss by Murray after Dallas had advanced to the 1.
“A couple of self-inflicted wounds in the second half hurt us, but you keep playing,” Cowboys Coach Jason Garrett said. “Our guys scratched, clawed and fought.”
Sports, Pages 15 on 12/23/2013