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IRVING, Texas (AP)--All the hoopla surrounding the farewell to Texas Stadium was supposed to fire up the Dallas Cowboys. Well, it got to the Baltimore Ravens, too.
Feeling like they were a hand-picked foe set up for failure, the Ravens refused to play the stooge.
Matt Stover, who sold programs outside the stadium as a kid growing up in the area, kicked four field goals to wipe out an early deficit, then Willis McGahee and Le'Ron McClain ripped off long, record runs each time the Cowboys got close in the final minutes, sending Baltimore to a 33-24 victory on Saturday night and a step closer to the playoffs.
"It wasn't a homecoming game. It was more like a mock funeral," McGahee said. "We spoiled their day. It was probably the best concert ever in Irving, Texas."
Tony Romo tried to add one last memory to the long list of great games played under the hole in the roof, throwing touchdowns to Terrell Owens and Jason Witten in the final 3:50. Each score got the Cowboys within two points, but the Ravens refused to buckle.
On Baltimore's first snap after T.O.'s touchdown, McGahee broke through a line bunched up to stop the run and ran 77 yards for a touchdown. It was the longest of his career and it tied the longest ever by an opponent at Texas Stadium. McLain broke that record on the Ravens' next snap, going 82 yards for the longest touchdown of his career.
"We wanted to be party crashers," linebacker Terrell Suggs said. "I hope they enjoyed their little ceremony. I guess we were kind of like the dynamite."
The Ravens (10-5) bounced back from a controversial last-minute loss to Pittsburgh to win for the fourth time in five games. With only the AFC's sixth seed up for grabs, Baltimore is guaranteed of getting in with a victory over Jacksonville at home next weekend.
In addition to the homecoming theme, the Ravens also were motivated by Dallas offensive coordinator Jason Garrett opting to remain with the Cowboys after interviewing to become Baltimore's coach last offseason.
"I wonder what team he wishes he was coaching tonight?" Suggs said.
The Cowboys (9-6) lost for the second time in three weeks, rekindling talk of their December disasters. While they can still get an NFC wild-card berth, this loss makes it tougher. They'll go to Philadelphia next Sunday needing a win and, perhaps, some help. Dallas' loss clinched a playoff spot for the Carolina Panthers.
"We've got to come back next week, try to win 10 games and see what happens," Cowboys coach Wade Phillips said.
The loss combined with temperatures sinking from the mid-40s at kickoff to about the mid-20s certainly hurt the mood and attendance of the postgame party.
Only about half the crowd of 63,800 remained for the ceremony that featured introductions of about 100 former players, including 12 members of the Ring of Honor. Emmitt Smith, Roger Staubach and Jerry Jones were among the speakers.
Banners from the five Super Bowls won during their 37 seasons here, and another honoring Smith becoming the NFL's career rushing leader, were lowered from the rafters and will be moved to the new stadium, a $1.1 billion, 100,000-seat palace going up in nearby Arlington.
The Cowboys finished 213-100 in regular-season and postseason games at the home they moved into in 1971, going 6-2 this season.
"We wanted to add to the history, we wanted to add to the celebration," Owens said. "Obviously, we didn't do that. We made history, but not the way we wanted to."
The Cowboys jumped ahead 7-0 on a 2-yard touchdown by Tashard Choice, only the fourth rushing TD allowed by the Ravens all season. It was set up by DeMarcus Ware getting his NFL-leading 20th sack, which also caused Baltimore's Joe Flacco to fumble.
But Dallas couldn't build on it, mostly because Romo never got in sync the first three quarters. His struggles seemed more because of the Baltimore defense than the back injury that slowed him all week. He finished 24-of-45 for 252 yards, with two first-half interceptions. Ed Reed had both, tying for the NFL lead with seven. Steelers safety Troy Polamalu also has seven interceptions.
Baltimore went up 16-7 on Stover's kicks and a touchdown catch by Derrick Mason, who kept playing despite leaving twice with an aggravation of a dislocated left shoulder. Flacco was 17-of-25 for 149 yards and was sacked five times.
McLain finished with 22 carries for 139 yards and McGahee had eight carries for 108 yards. Dallas had given up only about 100 yards rushing until the victory-sealing runs.
Notes
Choice ran for 90 yards, among the most all season against Baltimore. Marion Barber had only two carries because of a dislocated right pinkie toe. ... This was the Ravens' first game here and, thus, they'll finish 1-0 at Texas Stadium. The Oakland-Los Angeles Raiders went 3-0 and are the only other NFL team not to lose under the hole in the roof. ... Stover, who also kicked four field goals in his only other career game here, went over 100 points for the 12th straight season. ... Ware is three sacks from breaking Michael Strahan's single-season NFL record.
Saw this post today on a great site called 700level.com. Since it's so awesome, I'm not going to write anything. I'm just going to quote the whole thing.
One day, everyone will suddenly wake up and realize Tony Romo simply isn't very good. No joke.
That's not to say the guy is terrible either. Clearly the Cowboys offense is not the same without him, and it's hard to dismiss all those regular season wins he's compiled.
But unless he starts winning some big games and proves me wrong, most notably in the post-season, I am forced by the higher powers to inform you what I've already known for awhile now.
Tony Romo kind of sucks.
If you caught the end of yesterday's huge Steelers victory over the Cowboys, you witnessed Romo in his natural habitat, throwing an interception that cost his team the game. Believe me, it happens all the time. In fact, Romo in his short career has thrown more picks (43) than he has games started (36).
I could name at least 10 quarterbacks better than Tony Romo. Brady and the Mannings are easy. Favre and Warner throw picks, but they're winners. Big Ben has a ring. Hasselbeck has been to the dance. So has McNabb. Brees has at least won a playoff game. One more. I'll take Rivers. I'll even take Carson Palmer. Could you imagine Tony Romo running the Bengals offense? That would be a complete disaster.
We get it. Romo's got the best job in the world, starting QB for the Dallas Cowboys. He dates hot celebrities. He's cool. None of that makes him a great football player though. Winning big games against good teams does, something he hasn't done yet.
As another December and January roll by and Romo and the Cowboys fold once again, and they will, hopefully their fans and the media (same thing I guess) will see what an objective fan can: a frantic QB who is always an interception away from going Plaxico on his own team.
An offensive line with three Pro Bowlers. The best tight end in the league. A Hall of Fame caliber wide receiver, and another who is a former top 10 draft choice. A strong power running game. All for nothing with a skittish quarterback who is quickly earning a reputation for putting up big numbers and leading his team no place in particular.
Makes McNabb look fantastic.
By the way, try running a Google image search on Tony Romo. The majority of the pictures aren't even on a football field..
PITTSBURGH (AP)--Tony Romo was one play into what he expected to be a game-winning scoring drive and, with Dallas trying to preserve time late in the fourth quarter, couldn't believe it when Pittsburgh called time out.
"He gave us that, 'Who called the time out? You called the time out?' " Steelers linebacker James Harrison said. "Yeah, we called the time out."
Like it has been nearly all season, Pittsburgh's league-leading defense was one play ahead of the opposing offense, even during a game in which the Steelers largely played from behind.
Deshea Townsend scored on a 25-yard interception return on the next play with 1:40 remaining as the Steelers scored their only two touchdowns 24 seconds apart, rallying from a 10-point deficit to deal the Cowboys a potentially damaging 20-13 loss on Sunday.
"Yeah, we called the time out," Harrison said, describing what the Steelers (10-3) perceived to be almost-smug confidence by Romo and the Cowboys even as they were surrendering a 10-point lead in the final 7 1/2 minutes. "And you're going to throw a pick to Deshea so we can win."
Afterward, the Cowboys (8-5) almost couldn't believe it: Not only that Pittsburgh's bold gamble paid off, but that they couldn't hold onto an apparently decisive lead in a game they badly needed to win to make the NFC playoffs as a wild card.
"Three games to go, obviously it's a huge challenge for us," tight end Jason Witten said.
Just before Pittsburgh's comeback began, the Cowboys celebrated wildly after dropping Gary Russell for a 2-yard loss on a fourth-and-goal play from the Dallas 1 early in the fourth quarter to retain that 10-point lead. The Steelers noticed.
It was the third time in a month the Steelers were stopped inside the 1 on their home field, but Dallas couldn't take advantage--just as Pittsburgh did little with the Cowboys' four turnovers in the first half.
"It's all about momentum. It's just momentum. It wasn't us thinking the game was over by any means," said Terrell Owens, who celebrated his 35th birthday by scoring Dallas' only TD on a 12-yard catch early in the third quarter. "Sometimes it's just like that. We were excited, the game was going our way."
Not for long. The Steelers surged back to tie it on Jeff Reed's second field goal, a 41-yarder, and Ben Roethlisberger's 6-yard pass to Heath Miller with 2:04 remaining. Roethlisberger found Nate Washington three times for 51 yards on a 67-yard drive that led to the Miller score after the Cowboys twice stalled on drives that, if they had scored, probably would have sealed it.
Then, on second-and-8 from the Cowboys 17, Witten ran the wrong pass route, allowing Townsend to step in front of Romo's pass for the fifth turnover forced by a Pittsburgh defense that went into the game leading the NFL in nearly every major statistical department. Until the closing minutes, that defense had been outplayed by a determined Dallas defense that held Pittsburgh to 70 yards rushing and 238 yards.
"We did all the things we had to--up until a point," Dallas linebacker Bradie James said. "But evidently we didn't do enough to get a win. We didn't make enough plays to win. I said the best defense would win the game, and they won the game."
The Steelers won their fourth in a row and ended Dallas' three-game winning streak. They can win the AFC North by winning next Sunday at Baltimore, which played Washington later Sunday night.
The Steelers' comeback on a bitterly cold day with a gametime temperature of 22 and a wind chill in the low teens allowed the Giants (11-2) to win the NFC East despite losing to Philadelphia 20-14 earlier in the day.
The weather didn't help during yet another December disappointment for Dallas, which is 17-29 in the month since 1996. The Steelers are 24-9 in December since 2001.
Dallas lost despite a big day by rookie Tashard Choice, who ran for 88 yards in his first NFL start, the most against Pittsburgh all season, and had 166 total yards. Choice filled in for the injured Marion Barber, who stayed in Dallas with a dislocated little toe.
Romo, coming off successive 300-yard games, ended 19-of-36 for 210 yards and three interceptions. He put Dallas up 10-3 early in the third by scrambling for more than eight seconds before somehow finding Owens behind Ike Taylor in the rear of the end zone.
Later, after the score swung, Owens was seen jawing to assistant coach Ray Sherman along the sideline, possibly because he wasn't seeing the ball at the end.
"The defense played a hell of a ballgame," Owens said. "We stunk it up on offense."
Until Owens' catch, Pittsburgh held a 77-9 scoring advantage in the third quarter this season. Nick Folk later added his second field goal, a 33-yarder with 3:32 left in the third that made it 13-3.
Dallas, constantly stalled by the turnovers and bad field position, mounted little offense until Romo hit Witten on two passes for 31 yards to set up Folk's 44-yard field goal that made it 3-3 at halftime.
Notes
Mike Tomlin is the first coach in Steelers history to win at least 10 games in each of his first two seasons. ... ... James Harrison's 15th sack tied Mike Merriweather's 1984 single-season Steelers record. ... DeMarcus Ware got his 16th for Dallas, but lost his NFL lead when Joey Porter's two sacks for Miami against Buffalo gave him 16 1/2 . ... Romo had only one interception in his previous three games. ... Pittsburgh finished 2-2 against the NFC East, losing to the Giants and Eagles.
