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McGee leads game-winning drive for Cowboys

Aug 12, 2011 - 5:56 AM Arlington, TX (Sports Network) - Stephen McGee led a 65-yard drive on the final Dallas possession, throwing a 13-yard touchdown pass to Dwayne Harris with 15 seconds remaining and adding a two-point conversion to lift the Cowboys over the Denver Broncos, 24-23, in their preseason opener.

McGee was 14-of-24 for 208 yards and three touchdowns, seeing most of the snaps behind Tony Romo and Jon Kitna, who were a combined 6-for-9 for 56 yards.

Harris finished with five catches for 127 yards and two fourth-quarter touchdowns, including one for 76 yards.

Kyle Orton played one series before giving way to Tim Tebow, completing just two of his six passes for 37 yards.

Tebow, the center of a growing quarterback controversy after the Broncos failed to trade him, went 6-of-7 for 91 yards, including a 43-yard pass that helped set up a field goal in the second quarter.

"It was a lot of fun to get hit, to go play the game you love and get tackled and run around and have fun, that was pretty nice," said Tebow. "I felt more confident in my reads and my decisions and for the most part I think I did the right things. Still room for improvement."

Brady Quinn played the second half and went 8-for-14 for 120 yards and a touchdown.

The Broncos played their first game under new head coach John Fox, who was fired after nine seasons in Carolina and is tasked with turning around a team that went 4-12 last season -- their worst in the NFL.

Jason Garrett is beginning his first full campaign as head coach of the Cowboys after replacing Wade Phillips midway through last season.

Dallas was just 6-10, forced to play its last 10 games without Romo after the starting quarterback broke his left collarbone. Romo went 3-for-5 for 33 yards against the Broncos.

"It was nice to win," said Garrett. "There's so many things you're trying to accomplish in the preseason, but line 1 is you're trying to win games, you're trying to teach your team how to win."

Matt Prater kicked three field goals for Denver in the first half, including one from 42 yards. David Buehler kicked a 42-yarder for the Cowboys, who headed into the break trailing 9-3 but took a 10-9 lead in the third quarter on McGee's six-yard touchdown pass to Raymond Radway.

The teams traded touchdowns -- and the lead -- in the fourth. Jeremiah Johnson ran for a 13-yard score to put the Broncos ahead 16-10 before McGee and Harris connected on a 76-yard score -- the kick was aborted, leaving the game tied at 16-16.

After Eron Riley caught an eight-yard TD pass from Quinn to put the Broncos back on top, 23-16, McGee went 5-for-7 on the decisive drive, culminating in his 13-yard strike to Harris and a two-point conversion pass to Martin Rucker.

No. 2 overall draft pick Von Miller, the star linebacker from Texas A&M, had two tackles for the Broncos.