ARLINGTON, Texas -- There was 89 seconds left when Tony Romo jogged on the field for the final time Sunday. The Dallas Cowboys were 72 yards away from a game-winning touchdown and had no timeouts.
There might have been more than 93,000 fans inside AT&T Stadium and millions more watching from home, but, to Romo, he might as well have been on the dusty training camp fields in Oxnard, California.
“What you have to understand is that you rehearse this and prepare for is in your mind way before the game,” Romo said. “The more times you can do that, it just feels like you’ve already gone through it. You can make it a repetitive thing that is systematic and not random.”
There was seven seconds left when Romo jogged off the field, his head slapped by teammates and coaches after he delivered an 11-yard touchdown pass to Jason Witten to complete one of the most improbable comebacks of his career.
In the 82 seconds in between, Romo and his teammates were nearly flawless when they needed to be, especially with Dez Bryant in the locker room because of a broken bone in his right foot that will require surgery and keep him out 4-6 weeks.
“Tremendous amount of confidence in that huddle,” Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said, “and a lot of it comes from the confidence the quarterback projects to the team. Everybody responded the right way.”
On first down, Romo checked a pass down to Lance Dunbar for 24 yards and followed that up with another flip to Dunbar for 16 yards. But without a timeout, the Cowboys could not stop the clock and there might have been more wisdom for Dunbar to save time than gain yards.
At the New York 32, Romo found Witten underneath for 13 yards with the clock still running.
His only misfire came on the next play when he was off to Cole Beasley, but the Cowboys were able to gather themselves. After huddling up, Romo hit Terrance Williams along the sideline for 8 yards to the Giants' 11.
Thirteen seconds remained.
“We didn’t know we would end up having as much time as we ended up,” offensive coordinator Scott Linehan said, “but we were prepared for it.”
They were prepared for it because almost every day in training camp Garrett had the Cowboys working late-game situations.
“You just try to make it nameless and faceless,” Romo said. “No matter who you’re playing against this is the process and what we are going to do. I know my calls and what I want to get to.”
On third-and-2 from the 11, Romo knew he wanted to go to Witten. But first he had to corral a low shotgun snap.
“You just have to stay calm in that moment of the game,” Romo said. “You just can’t fall on it and protect the football. There is not much time left and you have to have poise in that situation when random things happen.”
He quickly scooped the ball up and his eyes found Witten down the middle of the field. At the snap, defensive end Robert Ayers was in Witten’s face in the slot with his only intent to knock Witten off his route to delay the timing.
Witten beat Ayers inside and sprinted up field with inexperienced linebacker Uani Unga, filling in for an injured Jon Beason, dropped into the end zone. Witten turned at the goal line, unaware of the snap mishap, and saw the ball on its way.
“I mean it’s 13 seconds,” Witten said. “We’re getting to the end zone.”
Witten shrugged off Unga at the goal line, reached the ball over the plane and took a hit from Brandon Meriweather 82 seconds into the drive, matching his uniform number.
The Cowboys had their win. Romo had his comeback.
In a corner suite Romo and his family shares with Witten and his family, Tiger Woods celebrated madly. In his perch above the owner’s suite, Jerry Jones, not far off hip replacement surgery, slapped the table in front of him with a wide smile.
“It shows you his competitiveness,” Jones said. “It was as loud and clear as I’ve ever seen it. I don’t know if we’ve seen a better competitor. He just has a will to step out there and win. If you can get him within distance, he’s a threat to win every time.”
