Five interceptions. Three freak touchdowns. Two Terrell Owens drops. And, finally, after a crazy Cowboys game that will rank alongside the Hail Mary on the list of cliffhanger climaxes, one field goal. With riveting drama that proved once again why sports beats the crap out of reality TV and everything else other than Britney Spears’ spiraling career, the Cowboys lost a game six times and wound up winning it twice.
For Dallas, a miracle win and a magical 5-0 start. For Buffalo, another reason to hate us. That’s now two Super Bowls, last night’s classic and, lest we forget, this.
Impossible to analyze, much less pinpoint a key play. How the hell do you win a game when Tony Romo channels Vinny Testaverde? The dude threw five picks, and Buffalo defenders had both hands on three more. Seriously, could’ve been eight!
Then, out of nowhere, he completes 11 of 14 on the final two drives and calmly completes two gotta-have passes in the final 13 seconds to allow a rookie kicker to instantly morph into a legendary Folk story. But not, of course, until after the Bills called one of those chickenshit timeouts and made him kick the winning 53-yarder ... twice.
The NFL’s Game of the Year between the undefeated Cowboys and Patriots kicks off at Texas Stadium in about 120 hours. Maybe by then we’ll believe what we saw Monday night in Buffalo. --Richie Whitt