In the fifth grade, I passed a math test by one point. I had blow the test off, didn’t really prepare for it, and got very lucky to pass it. My mother was furious and she repeated several times that I had passed by the skin of my teeth. Today, the Cowboys defeated the Browns by the skin of their teeth, 23-20 in overtime.
The Browns scored the games first 13 points and took a 13-0 lead into halftime. During halftime, Cowboys fans wanted Tony Romo benched and Jason Garret fired. How could the Cowboys lose at home to the lowly Cleveland Browns?
Finally, the Cowboys got things going. Dan Bailey kicked his first of three field goals, Felix Jones scored on a shot run, and Dez Bryant gave the Cowboys their first lead of the day catching a 28 yard Romo pass in the end zone. The Cowboys had a 17-13 lead with just over six minutes remaining. They were far from out of the woods.
Brandon Weeden found Benjamin Watson for a touchdown with just over a minutes remaining to get the Brown’s lead back. Without much time on the clock, Romo would need to get his team in field goal range just to force overtime.
Two penalties by the Browns defense and a couple of Romo completions set up Dan Bailey for his second field goal of the game to force overtime.
In overtime, the Cowboys and Browns both had drives that failed to produce points. Unfortunately for the Browns, they shanked the punt in overtime and set the Cowboys up with a short field needing only a field goal to win. A few plays later, Bailey kicked his third field goal of the game and the Cowboys escaped the Browns by the skin of their teeth.
Next week, the Cowboys (5-5) host the Redskins on Thanksgiving, and the Browns (2-8) will host the Steelers.
