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Over the next several weeks before training camp, let's relive some of Tony Romo's best comeback stories. On this day, a new star emerges in New York, but he had to catch that L first.
[In the ten seasons that Tony Romo has been the starting quarterback, he's engineered some great fourth-quarter heroics to bring the Cowboys to victories. Since 2006, no quarterback has had more fourth-quarter comeback victories, 25 to be exact, than Tony Romo. His passer rating in the final quarter of football is an astounding 102.9, five points higher than the number two guy (Aaron Rodgers). Romo also holds the mantle of most game-winning drives among active quarterbacks (29) as well as passer rating in the final two minutes (93.1).
Over the next several weeks before the team heads out to Oxnard and starts it all up again, I thought we could take some time to look back at Mr. Clutch Quarterback himself. We're going to rank all of his comeback tales from good to great, from awesome to completely amazing. Here's looking at you, Mr. Romo.]
12. Odell Catches That L (Nov. 23, 2014)
This game began with two teams going opposite directions, the Cowboys were 7-3 and riding high returning from London after throttling the Jaguars. The Giants were 3-7 and just got walloped by the Seattle Seahawks (a team which the Cowboys handled earlier). Still, this game had the smell of another divisional dogfight and that is certainly what it became. The Cowboys traveled to Met-Life and got far better than just a 3-7 team.
The first Cowboys' drive could get off the ground and Chris Jones was forced to punt it to the Giants, who began at their own 20. Right out of the gate, the two-time Super Bowl MVP, Eli Manning, went right to work carving up and completing passes and making it look easy. There were a lot of new receivers that needed to step up in the wake of Victor Cruz's injuries. Odell Beckham Jr. , the Giants first-round pick came to play. Eli led his team on a 12-play drive that took nearly seven minutes off the clock. On a 3rd and 3 from the Dallas 3, Manning found Beckham and the Giants score first, 7-0.
The Cowboys then tried to do what they often do and that's run the ball behind their juggernaut offensive line. DeMarco Murray on consecutive plays was able to get them nine yards. Needing only one yard for the first, Romo finds James Hanna for 27 yards and places himself in Giants territory. On the next play, Romo finds Terrance Williams for another 18 yards and the Cowboys make their way to the New York 23. Romo and Witten fail to connect on 3rd and 4 so Dan Bailey bails them out with three points to make it 7-3 Giants.
Preston Parker is able to take the kickoff for a 37-yard return and the Giants are set-up pretty well on this next drive. Odell gets involved again with a 13-yard grab on third down to keep the drive alive. Two plays later facing another third down, Daniel Fells catches a 13-yarder to give the Giants another first.
Eli then steps up in the pocket and finds Odell streaking down the sideline toward the end zone and that's when Beckham makes one of the greatest plays we've ever seen. With Brandon Carr "tugging at his jersey", Odell leaps into the air on a 43-yard pass and snags it with three fingers as he falls into the end zone. Carr is called for pass interference but it's declined. At another angle, it looked as if Beckham could have committed the penalty instead of Carr, but this one is a touchdown grab for the ages. The Giants go up 14-3.
Romo goes right back to work finding Dez Bryant on first down for 12 yards. Murray gets involved and gains 26 yards on four attempts. Romo finds Jason Witten for 6, then a screen pass to Lance Dunbar goes for 26 yards. Murray adds another three yards rushing and on 2nd and 4 from the Giants 4, Witten catches the Romo touchdown pass to make the game 14-10 in favor of New York.
With the help of Rashad Jennings, the Giants get a few nice runs to start their next drive. Eli and Odell connect for three more intermediate passes to get the Giants back into Cowboys territory. Andre Williams adds 18 on the ground and on his next run picks up an unnecessary roughness call on Jeremy Mincey. On 2nd and 3 from the Dallas 3, Williams punches it in to give the Giants the 21-10 lead with 3:22 to play in the half.
Romo gets sacked to effectively end the Cowboys' next drive. The Giants are then forced to punt after Manning is sacked by Mincey. With 1:06 left in the half, Romo is driving the ball and hits Dez twice and then Murray once to get to the Giants 45. On 3rd and 3, Mathias Kiwanuka sacks Romo and forces a fumble which Jason Pierre-Paul falls on ending the Cowboys chances to put points on the board before the half.
After the break, the Giants get the ball back but don't seem to have that same rhythm as before and they're forced to punt. The Cowboys try to put something together on a 39-yard pass to Bryant but Tyron Smith is called for holding and this drive is over. One more failed Giants' possession and the Cowboys have the ball back.
This time. Romo finds Murray for 15 yards at the 50-yard line after Dwayne Harris returns the punt 15 yards for the set-up. Two plays later, Romo connects with Cole Beasley, who takes a hit but keeps on running for 45-yards and the touchdown. The Cowboys are still trailing but it's 21-17.
Manning drives his team right back down the field to the Cowboys' red zone but on 2nd and 8 from the Dallas 18, Manning is intercepted by Barry Church. Murray adds two rushes for 21 yards and Romo finds Dez Bryant deep right for 31 yards and the X is going up. Cowboys now lead 24-21 as time is running out in the third quarter.
After both teams fail to do anything on their next drives, the Giants have the ball again and they look to take the lead in the fourth quarter. Eli leads the Giants down to the Dallas 1 in 12 plays but Odell has been shut out of the second-half by Orlando Scandrick. That's fine because, on 3rd and 1, Adrien Robinson catches a screen pass and runs it in to give the Giants and a 28-24 lead with only 3:06 left to play.
On the Cowboys' ensuing drive, Romo finds Dez for four yards, Witten for five more, Murray adds another nine on the ground. Romo catches Kiwanuka offsides for another five yards, then Romo finds Beasley for 21 more yards. Romo completes his next pass to Witten for 15 more and finds Dez again for eight yards. With 1:11, on 2nd and 2 from the New York 13, Dez Bryant hauls in a 13-yarder for the score and the Cowboys go up 31-28.
The Giants make one last effort to take this game from the Cowboys but on 4th and 2, Rolando McClain steps up and stops the Giants from getting the first down and the Cowboys win 31-28.
All everyone is talking about the next day is how Odell Beckham made one of the best catches anyone had seen and it launched him into an overnight star, gaining him enough glory to grace the cover of Madden 16 and everything. However, it was the Cowboys who just made an amazing comeback win and ended the season 12-4 and the NFC East championship. The Cowboys also won a playoff game and were one stupid call from the NFC Championship where the Seahawks almost certainly didn't want any part of them. Everyone talked about Odell but all we saw was his team "CATCH THAT L!"
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