

Ultimately, though, Dallas reverted back to what it had been for so long during the Tony Romo era - the NFL's top tease.

And when it was over Sunday, with his team trying to pick up the pieces after a gut-wrenching 29-24 loss to the NFC East-leading New York Giants, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones put it all in perspective.

"The big plays don't win the games as much as the mistakes lose the ballgames," he said.

History almost made

Jones' comment was an answer to a question about Dez Bryant's up-and-down performance, but it also fit Romo and so many others on a day in which Dallas fell behind 23-0 in the second quarter, battled back to take a 24-23 lead in the third and then fizzled again at crunch time.


"We woke up late, but we played our hearts out," cornerback Brandon Carr said. "It hurts."

Romo threw for a career-best 437 yards while completing 36 of 62 passes, Jason Witten shattered his team record with 18 catches for a career-best 167 yards, and Bryant and Miles Austin each topped 100 yards receiving.

But overshadowing all of it were Romo's four interceptions, including one that Jason Pierre-Paul returned 28 yards for a touchdown that gave New York a 23-point lead just two minutes into the second quarter.

Turnovers galore

In all, Dallas had six turnovers, including a fumble by Bryant during a punt return and a fumble by Felix Jones that the Giants (6-2) converted into a 37-yard Lawrence Tynes field goal that ended the scoring with 3:31 left. In all, New York scored 23 points off the takeaways en route to improving its record at Cowboys Stadium to 4-0.

"Turnovers are a team thing," said Dallas coach Jason Garrett, refusing to single out Romo. "It's fundamentally clear you have to take care of the ball."

After Tynes' fifth and last field goal, the Cowboys reached the Giants' 19-yard line only to have Romo throw his final pick while facing pressure on fourth-and-1 with 1:03 left. Dallas, though, got the ball back with 44 seconds left at its 30 by using all of its timeouts.

On second-and-6 from the New York 37, Romo lofted a pass that Bryant snagged between two defenders at the back of the end zone. The officials ruled it a TD, igniting a celebration in the stands and on the Cowboys sideline while Bryant stayed on the ground injured from landing hard on his buttocks.

While trainers checked Bryant, the officials reviewed the play. The score was overturned after they found Bryant's right hand landed out of bounds as he made the catch.


Fans take their shots

Trailing 23-10 at halftime, Romo and Co. left the field to a chorus of boos from the crowd of 94,067. The fans also booed Jones when he appeared on the giant video board during a taped public service announcement for cancer prevention.

"I would have booed us, too," said Romo, who keyed Dallas' rally in the third by running for one TD and passing for another.

Asked if he considered benching Romo in favor of Kyle Orton, Garrett said, "Absolutely not … (Romo) is outstanding. He did a great job overcome a lot of different things. We became one-dimensional because of their commitment to stopping the run, and he did a great job giving us a chance at the end."


"The clock's ticking for this team," Witten said. "It's to that point in the year where you don't have time. Nobody cares about battling. They want to see you win."