Arizona Cardinals edge past Dallas Cowboys 27-26
Jay Feely's 48-yard field goal with five seconds to play led the Arizona Cardinals to a dramatic 27-26 comeback win over Dallas Cowboys at University of Phoenix Stadium on Saturday night.
Quarterback John Skelton, in his third NFL start, ended 11 of his 25 throws for 183 yards and his first NFL touchdown (TD). In the final moments, he directed the game-winning drive to lead Arizona (5-10) to their second win in three games, following a seven-game
slide. Beanie Wells ran for 47 yards, while Andre Roberts had five catches for 110 yards and a touchdown for the Cardinals, who fought offensively through most of the night. Stephen McGee came in for the injured Jon Kitna, and finished 11 of his17 passes for
111 yards in his first NFL game for Dallas , who have alternated losses and wins in their last five games.
The Cowboys fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter when Kitna benefited from interception return touchdowns from Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, who returned the first 32 yards and Greg Toler who returned the second 66. Two minutes into the second quarter, David
Buehler's 42-yard field goal got Dallas on the board. On the second offensive play of the ensuing series, Arizona took a 21-3 lead only 52 seconds later. Skelton connected with wide-open rookie Andre Roberts inside the Dallas 40, and sliced across the field
to his right to go 74 yards untouched into the end zone.
Kitna went down with a broken collarbone, but got Cowboys in the end zone before halftime. He scrambled seven yards up the middle to the Cardinals two-yard line, and on fourth down threw to Jason Witten for the score. He left the field and McGee smoothly
stepped in, frequently connecting on third-down passes.
With just under seven minutes remaining in the third quarter, Buehler scored a career-long 53 yard field goal that cut the hosts lead to 21-13. The Cowboys then held the Cardinals to 23 yards, and no first downs, outscoring Arizona 10-0 to make it 21-20. The
march then stalled, as Arizona brought on Jay Feely, who scored a 49- yard goal and made it a 24-20 contest with under four minutes to go.
Another play from the Cowboys scrimmage saw a perfect pass from McGee to Miles Austin, which was intercepted by Rodgers-Cromartie, who picked off the pass and ran to the end zone to even things up. On fourth-and-five from the Cardinals 42 with two minutes
to play, McGee made a pass to Sam Hurd, which was incomplete and that apparently sealed Cowboys' fate. However, Rodgers- Cromartie was called for pass interference to keep the drive going.
Dallas (5-10) rallied from 18 points down to take a 26-24 lead, when McGee threw a 37-yard TD pass to Austin, but David Buehler’s extra point went wide left which turned out to be extremely costly. Facing fourth-and-15 from the Cardinals 19 with over a minute
to go, Skelton threw 26 yards to Larry Fitzgerald. It was his only catch of the game, ending a streak of 97 straight games with at least two receptions. Skelton then hooked up with fellow rookie Max Komar for 19 yards to the Cowboys 25.
It was the first time since 1999 that a team had returned two interceptions in the first quarter. The plays gave the Cardinals 12 return touchdowns, the second most in NFL history, behind Seattle Seahawks who have 13.
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