Rank the Monday Night thrillers (2003-2007 only)

[AdamJT13]

Between tonight's game, the 21-20 win at Philadelphia in 2005, the 43-39 win at Seattle in 2004 and the 35-32 overtime win at New York in 2003, we've had some amazing Monday Night victories over the past five seasons (all on the road).

How would you rank them?

Here's a brief recap of each --

Week 2, 2003
We led 29-14 after a field goal with 12:56 left. But the Giants scored two straight touchdowns to tie the score 29-29 with 6:20 remaining (they got three tries at the two-point conversion because of back-to-back pass interference calls), then they kicked a field goal with 11 seconds left to go up 32-29. On the ensuing kickoff, Zuriel Smith (in his first NFL game) wisely let a bouncing squib kick go out of of bounds at the 2, giving us the ball at our 40 with 11 seconds left. Quincy Carter then threw a 26-yard pass down the left sideline to Antonio Bryant, putting us at the Giants' 34, and Billy Cundiff kicked a 52-yard field goal to tie it as time expired. We won the game on our second overtime possession, as a 23-yard pass to Dan Campbell set up a 25-yard field goal by Cundiff that won it. COWBOYS 35, GIANTS 32 (OVERTIME)

Week 13, 2004
We led 29-14 after a field goal with 10:10 left in the third quarter. But the Seahawks scored 25 straight points, taking a 39-29 lead on a touchdown with 2:46 remaining. But Vinny Testaverde hit Keyshawn Johnson for a 34-yard TD pass with 1:45 remaining to pull us within 39-36, Jason Witten recovered the onside kick, and Julius Jones ran for a 17-yard TD with 32 seconds left, capping a 198-yard, three-TD night. COWBOYS 43, SEAHAWKS 39

Week 10, 2005
We trailed 20-7 when we got the ball at our own 28 with 3:44 left in the game. On our previous eight possessions, we had gained a total of 86 yards, with seven punts and an interception. But Drew Bledsoe hit Keyshawn Johnson for 15 yards and Terry Glenn for 11, Marion Barber ran for 26 yards, then Bledsoe found Glenn for a 20-yard touchdown, cutting it to 20-14 with 2:43 to play. On the Eagles' second play, Roy Williams stepped in front of Donovan McNabb's pass to Reggie Brown, returning it 46 yards for the go-ahead touchdown. The Eagles got two more possessions, the second of which ended with David Akers coming up short on a 60-yard field goal as time expired (at the time, our opponents had hit 66 of their previous 70 field goals, without a single miss inside 48 yards). COWBOYS 21, EAGLES 20

Week 5, 2007
Tony Romo threw five interceptions, with two of them being returned for touchdowns. He also lost a fumble, and Buffalo had a kickoff return for a touchdown. We trailed 24-13 starting the fourth quarter and 24-16 when we got the ball at our own 20 with 3:45 left in the game. Romo went 9-for-11 on the drive, which ended with a 4-yard TD pass to Patrick Crayton with 20 seconds to play to make it 24-22. A two-point conversion pass to Terrell Owens was incomplete, but Sam Hurd knocked the ensuing onside kick forward and Tony Curtis recovered it at the Buffalo 47. After a 22-yard catch by Owens was reversed by instant replay, Romo hit Barber for 4 yards and Crayton for 8, giving us a first down at Buffalo's 35 with 2 seconds to play. Buffalo coach Dick Jauron called timeout just before Nick Folk made a 53-yard field goal. On the second attempt, Folk nailed it again to win the game. COWBOYS 25, BILLS 24

Personally, I have to rank the Seattle game as the best of these four, mostly because I was there with my oldest son and youngest brother. I'd rank the Eagles game ahead of the Giants game, because the Eagles were coming off their Super Bowl season, and we almost certainly wouldn't have beaten the Giants if the kickoff hadn't gone out of bounds (although Smith made a nice play to let it go out). I can't decide where to rank tonight's game. On the one hand, it's a nonconference game against a bad team, Romo committed six turnovers, and we allowed a special teams touchdown. But it had the wackiest ending and was the only one that we won as time expired. Plus it kept us unbeaten for the season.

 

[Rack]

For me it's gotta be either that Giants game cuz that's when we started to turn the team back around.

Or the Philly game. Mainly cuz I just hate the Eagles so much and it was an incredibly great feeling knowing that those freakin' LOSER eagles' fans were gonna have a sorry week after that.


The Seahawks game was more frustrating cuz we should of blown them out but our D kept screwing us over. After that game it was more of a "Freakin' finally" then a "HELL YEAH" feeling for me.


I know most people will say it was tonight's game, but I think most of them will change their mind in a few years when all 4 games are "Old" to them.

 

[Undisputed]

The Giants game ranks up there for me, simply because of my dad's reaction the following morning when I told him we actually won.

"Oh well, can't really blame that loss on Quincy..."
"Umm...actually we won"
"You're kidding me..."

But I'd say that this one tonight has been my favorite. Ya, probably because I am still caught in the moment, but it was such a strange night for me. I saw the whole first half and absolutely NONE of the second. I was watching a performance in a theater tonight while checking the scores on my phone. What an experience that was...Thought it was over after the failed conversion like everyone else, and it took 10 minutes for NFL mobile to refresh to the final score of 25-24. Had a buncha people staring at me after I randomly screamed "YES!!! YES!!!!!!!!". Hilarious. Not to mention my roommate's short-lived gloating (he stopped watching with 20 seconds left).

"Ha! Losers!"
"We won..."
"Losers!!!!"
"Ummm...we won with a field goal."
".....liar..."

You can imagine how the rest went. :laugh2:

This was truly one for the ages. Those other wins are extremely memorable as well but THIS year it really feels like we have contenders here. I'd like to think that this was just another stop on a crazy ride this season.

Murphy's Law....DENIED. Man, I love it.

 

[Nav22]

I'm going to rank these games based on my personal feelings of elation after each one...

1) The Eagles game in '05. I hate the Eagles and Donovan McNabb with a passion, so seeing him choke was lovely. Plus, we had been dominated for the first 56 minutes of that game before turning it on for our TD drive. What's the expression... stolen fruit tastes sweetest? Something like that. We stole that game from the Eagles, just like the Commanders stole the week 2 MNF game in Dallas. This win made up for that loss, in my eyes.

2) The Bills game last night. I was VERY overconfident, even cocky, leading into this game, as I'm sure a lot of you guys were. I was looking forward to yet another fun butt-whoopin'. I had Romo and T.O. playing in fantasy and only needed 15.7 from them combined to win this week. Life was good... until the game started.

After Romo's first INT taken back to the house, I was very nervous and just completely on edge. I couldn't eat, despite being very hungry. Witten's TD that tied it at 7 calmed me down, but Buffalo didn't let that last. They came back and hit a FG and picked off Romo for the 3rd time (caught in the endzone) to go up 17-7... at this point, I was flat-out miserable. I had 5-0 already wrapped up in my mind all week long leading into this game, and suddenly our perfect start was in major jeapordy. Romo was playing like crap, and with the Pats coming to town in 6 days, 4-0 to 4-2 seemed like a very real possibility. With the Commanders at 3-1 and the Giants at 3-2, all of a sudden it looked like we might be in a dog-fight for the division.

Honestly, I was miserable throughout this game. I did not enjoy it one bit. So when we pulled through miraculously at the end, "elation" would be an understatement for the way I felt. It was sublime. Like a ton of bricks being lifted off my shoulders. Just like that, we ARE 5-0 like we all expected to be, and we're on top of the NFC with a 1.5 game lead in our division. We made every attempt to give the game away, but the Bills just wouldn't take it.

Oh, and Romo's TD to Crayton late gave me the fantasy win by less than 1 point.

3) The Giants game in '03. Parcells' first win, shutting up Shockey who had called him a "homo" earlier in the week (I was 18, so I still really cared about that kinda stuff ). Devastating feeling to give up that 29-14 lead and be down 3 with 11 seconds left... game was basically over, and we were staring 0-2 right in the face. Quincy made a great pass to Bryant to set up Cundiff from 52, and I was very confident that Billy would come through... the same confidence I had in Nick Folk last night.

4) The Seahawks game in '04. Tremendous comeback win, being down 10 with only a few minutes left. If I recall correctly, Vinny was HORRENDOUS in the 4th quarter of that game, throwing multiple picks... so it didn't look like a 10 point comeback was gonna happen. Julius Jones was our weapon that day and everyone knew it.

The feeling of elation was there for me at the end of this one, but it wasn't quite as high as the other games because of the situation we were in record-wise. If I recall correctly, that win elevated us to 6-8... and kept us alive in the playoff picture, but just barely.

I didn't see winning the Super Bowl as a real possibility at that point of the season, and to me, every season is a failure if you're not hoisting the Lombardi at the end of it.


Very cool thread... lot of fun reminiscing on those sweet MNF miracle wins.

 

[Tusan_Homichi]

1. Last night - It might be because it's fresh in my memory, but what a wild ending.

2. Giants - Quincy started off the game with that absolutely horrible pick 6. I mean, at home I'm sitting there watching it leave his hand thinking "Oh no he didn't just throw it there!" and sure enough. The game is going well and then our defense just folds up like a cheap card table in the second half. Then the kickoff which went out of bounds to give us hope, but even then, I'm thinking there is no way the Giants let us have the sideline, but sure enough, that sideline was just vacant. And man, that Quincy pass to AB setting up the FG had smoke coming off of it. I mean that thing was fired out of there. The man was not accurate, but on that night, he sure was. Madden was even talking about the greatness of QC that night. Oh and Zuriel? Everyone was talking him up after that game. How heads-up of a play that was and how he might have a long career ahead of him. That didn't work out so well either.

3. Eagles - I remember being completely and totally depressed for about the last half of it. I mean, we were getting kicked up and down the field. I remember having a LITTLE hope when TG caught the TD pass, but still feeling like, well, there is no way our defense is going to stop them with enough time to really DO anything. Then Roy intercepts that pass and all I kept screaming was "Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god." and just silence in that stadium. Oh my that was sweet. Oh and just knowing .. just absolutely KNOWING .. that Akers was going to nail that 60 yarder. The thing was damn straight and looked like it was going to be good for a split second...ugh.

4. Seahawks - We went from what I thought was going to be a blowout in our favor in a game we HAD to have to get into the playoffs to being shocked at being down by 10. Julius was insane that night. Absolutely insane. I remember thinking as that game went on that we had found our successor to Emmitt. There was not a doubt in my mind. I guess that's what I get for being an "instant evaluator". Vinny had been absolutely terrible in the last bit of that game. Then he throws that TD to Keyshaw in the back of the endzone, which I maintain to this day, he was out of bounds. Then Cundiff kicks what was absolutely the most beautiful onside kick I have ever seen. I mean just perfect. And Julius to top it off? Great night.

 

[JPostSam]

nice compilation, adam.

i have to say, firstly, that monday night football has gotten its money's worth from the cowboys!

the giants game and the seahawks game were both thrillers, but i guess i think of them differently from the eagles game and last night's game because we were winning before we fell apart and then scrambled to get things together again.

the other two games, you felt like crap for a few hours, but still clung desperately to the unliklely hope that somehow, the 'boys would find a way to win. after a few antacid tablets and the knowledge that you were destined to feel ill about an ugly loss for the next week, in a flash it all turned upside down -- and you felt elated about an ugly win, instead. thrills like that, you can't buy.

the eagles game, i'd say, was more satisfying, as they had bullied us for a while.

but the bills game went so horribly wrong for so long, then had so many things suddenly go right, that i'd have to rank it as the most improbable of them all. my stomach turned about 87 times during that game.

 

[dwmyers]

I can't compare those five. But I was in Texas Stadium for the game where Roger Staubach was knocked out and replaced by a young fella named Clint Longley, and this game is absolutely on a par with that one.

Of course, I don't have a personal memory of something like, oh, Drew Pearson splitting double coverage on the winning play of the game, but really, how many times does a kicker have to win the game twice in the last two seconds of the game?

David.

 

[CowboyBlog]

The Eagles game. I am a big Roy Williams fan and I hate McNabb.

 

[yesfan]

Last night's game couldn't have been written for a movie ending
any better than that.The Giants game a close second.

 

[sago1]

Would think last night's game provided good ratings for the network. Cowboys fans would hang on to watch it and haters would watch it just for satisfaction of seeing Cowboys going down. I was in a state of shock but watched it to a glorious, stunningly wonderful ending. Sure hope Romo does something special for quite a lot of players.

 

[TroyEmmittAndMichael]

1) 2005 Philly game - Roy gets a pick six in the waning minutes that gave us the lead for good. During the run-back on the pick by Roy, McNabb locks onto Bradie's arms to dance a little jig before Bradie corkscrews him into the ground where McNabb and the Eagles Fans' hopes were laid to rest. McNabb then pathetically hobbles off the field gingerly, ostensibly because of an existing hernia injury, when everyone watching knew it was because he was seeking sympathy from his teammates, coaches and fans after committing the game's biggest mistake (earlier in the game, his hernia was well enough for him to kick his leg in the air and do the moonwalk after a TD; also he came back onto the field after the pick-six for the ensuing possession only to later be replaced by McMahon). Earlier that day Parcells buried his brother, and he was visibly full of emotion after the game. Last, this win completed a sweep of Philly.

2) 2007 Bills game - It was an odd, surreal game that remained that way all the way up until Folk Master's 106 yd FGs. If there ever was a Jedi Knight tonight it was Folk as the Bills found out to their chagrin as they got Folked hard in their first MNF game in 13 yrs. As for Romo, I'll give him this: the guy knows how to scrap. Other QBs in the league lose games like tonight let alone their will to fight. Romo was like a heavily-favored boxer who took his opponent too lightly and despite getting knocked out repeatedly and being taken the distance, he disregarded his abject embarrassment and delivered the knock out blow in the 12th round in the form of a 2-minute, 80-yd TD drive and last-second-FG drive.

3) 2003 Giants game - Parcells first game back to NY since coming out of retirement to coach the Cowboys. Sowed the seeds for a 10-6 playoff season where QC and his WRs Galloway, TG, and AB got some early love from the media for starting the season 5-1.

4) 2004 Seahawks game - Julius's rookie season and 3rd game of 3 consecutive games with 30 carries or more, as well as his 3rd game back from a broken collarbone suffered to the Browns earlier in the year. Truly Julius's finest game as a pro.