It wasn't the most impressive win for the Dallas Cowboys, but this wasn't about style points.
The Cowboys just needed to figure out a way to get out of Carolina with a victory Sunday, and they did that. The 19-14 triumph over the Panthers moves the Cowboys to 3-3 and holds off bedlam in Dallas for another week.
It didn't always look promising for the Cowboys, who trailed by one point midway through the fourth quarter. Facing third-and-9 from the Panthers' 15 with 3:39 to play, Jason Garrett elected to take the ball out of Tony Romo's hands, calling a draw play to Phillip Tanner. It was an interesting decision by Garrett, who put his trust in his defense rather than his quarterback.
That didn't bother Romo.
"You weigh what coverages they've been playing throughout the day," he said, via The Associated Press. "You also look at how well your defense has played throughout the day."
Rob Ryan's unit then made Garrett look smart. The defense forced a four-and-out on the Panthers' next drive, setting up another short field goal by Dan Bailey to complete the scoring.
Problems still exist: Dez Bryant had yet another end-zone drop. Phil Costa's season could be over. (UPDATE:Or it might not.) And the defense was lucky to be granted a timeout when it fell asleep on a key fourth-down play late in the fourth quarter.
But a win is a win. The Cowboys won't apologize for it.
"Candidly, the win, to get out on the upper end of that score, was beautiful to me," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones told the team's official website. "There wasn't one thing ugly about it."
Follow Dan Hanzus on Twitter @danhanzus.
