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Dramatic finish gives Cowboys NFC East title

Dec 9, 2007 - 11:40 PM By Chuck Klonke PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

DETROIT (Ticker) - The Dallas Cowboys' magical season continued.

Tony Romo tossed a 16-yard touchdown pass to Jason Witten with 18 seconds remaining Sunday as the Cowboys rallied for a 28-27 victory over the Detroit Lions, clinching the NFC East Division title.

"Ninth time that we've come from behind this year, and it shows you the character and the heart of this team," Cowboys coach Wade Phillips said. "It wasn't the prettiest game for us overall, but it was the best in that we came out the Eastern Division champs and that was our goal going into the game."

Detroit, which stunned Dallas, 39-31, in last season's regular-season finale, appeared on the verge of beating the Cowboys for the second time in as many seasons.

But Romo drove Dallas (12-1) 83 yards on 11 plays in the final two minutes without any timeouts for the winning score as the Cowboys clinched their first division title since 1998.

"I enjoy being in those situations," Romo said. "It gets your juices flowing a little bit. It makes the game a lot of fun every once in a while. I probably wouldn't want it every game."

The Lions had a chance to get back the ball on the Cowboys' winning drive when Romo fumbled but guard Kyle Kosier - a former Lion - recovered for Dallas at the Cowboys' 40-yard line.

"It's about the details and winning the game and we had two or three opportunities and we just need to make those plays and we didn't do that," Lions coach Rod Marinelli said. "We've got no excuse. You just need to make them."

Witten, who had a huge day with career highs of 15 receptions for 138 yards, made amends for a fumble on the Lions' 1-yard line earlier in the fourth quarter with the Cowboys trailing, 27-21.

"Obviously, I was excited to have the ball back after thinking I lost the game for us," Witten said.

The dramatic victory gave Dallas its seventh straight win and kept the Cowboys one game ahead of Green Bay (11-2) in the battle for home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs.

Cowboys wide receiver Terrell Owens had just three catches for 21 yards but was delighted with the outcome.

"We won and nothing else matters," Owens said. "It was a team effort and we did what we had to do to win."

The crushing defeat continued a second-half collapse this season for the Lions (6-7), who have dropped five in a row following a 6-2 start.

"Yeah, this is a tough loss," Lions offensive lineman Damien Woody said. "We had them and we let them off the hook. I tip my hat off to those guys because they finished the game.

"Good teams finish the ballgame. We're not there yet. We're not at that point where we're finishing ballgames. We just have to keep working to finish them."

Detroit appeared to be in control, taking a 27-14 lead on Kevin Jones' 3-yard TD run with 4:24 remaining in the third quarter.

But the Cowboys began their comeback on Marion Barber's 1-yard TD run 44 seconds into the fourth quarter.

Romo finished 35-of-44 for 302 yards and two touchdowns - his seventh 300-yard game of the season.

"You have to give the Lions credit," Romo said. "They had a chance to win. The way they fought and played they deserved to probably get one. We were fortunate."

Jones' 2-yard TD run gave the Lions a 20-7 lead with 1:41 left in the first half.

Dallas quickly answered, closing to 20-14 on Romo's 8-yard TD strike to Barber with 29 seconds left in the half.