The Dallas Cowboys lost a heart breaker to the St. Louis Cardinals 19-13 in overtime, after coach Jason Garrett accidentally iced his own kicker on the potential game winning field goal at the end of regulation.
Both teams played tough defense and mistake-free offense, as neither team turned the ball over and they combined for 12 punts in the game. But the Cowboys looked in control, even though the game was tight. The Cowboys led 10-3 at the half, and took a 13-6 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Cardinals scored early in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 13 on a 4-yard TD run by Beanie Wells, who had 67 of Arizona’s 103 yards rushing.
Late in the fourth, Tony Romo drove the Cowboys down to put them in a position to win the game with a field goal with 0:02 left on the clock. Cowboys kicker Dan Bailey had only missed one field goal all season, and hadn’t missed since Week Two.
As they lined up for the 49-yard attempt, Cowboys coach Jason Garrett decided to call a timeout at the last second. The Cowboys snapped the ball and Bailey hit what would have been the game winner, but because of the timeout, he had to kick it a second time. The second attempt was short and to the left, sending the game into overtime.
Kevin Kolb connected with wide receiver LaRod Stephens-Howling on a 52-yard touchdown in overtime to seal the upset win for the Cardinals. Kolb finished completing 16 of 25 for 245 yards and 1 TD, even though 52 yards of that was on the last play of the game.
Romo was solid, completing 67 percent of his passes (28 of 42) for 299 yards and 1 TD. On the final drive in regulation, which would have been the game winner, Romo was 5 of 6 for 46 yards.
With the win, Arizona is now tied for second place in the division, but the 10-2 49ers have already clinched the division title and Arizona isn’t in a position for a post season run at 5-7.
The Cowboys fall to 7-5, and lose an opportunity to put some distance between themselves and the second place New York Giants. The Giants loss today as well, to the Green Bay Packers, and are still one game behind the Cowboys in the NFC East. The Giants and Cowboys play both of their meetings in the last four weeks of the season this year, so the NFC East is still a wide open race between the Cowboys and Giants. They meet in Dallas next weekend, and then in the Meadowlands on Sunday, January 1, in the last week of the season.
