What a difference a week makes for the Dallas Cowboys.
Tony Romo led two scoring drives in the fourth quarter and Monte Kiffin's maligned defense made a final four-and-out stop to lift the Cowboys to a dramatic 24-23 win over the Washington Redskins on Sunday. The win keeps Dallas in contention to win the NFC East.
On NFL Network
NFL Replay
will re-air the Dallas Cowboys' 24-23 win over the Washington Redskins from Week 16 on Wednesday, Dec. 25 at 9 p.m. ET.
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Here's what we learned:
- This is why Romo is impossible to figure out. Seven days ago, he threw two awful interceptions to complete his team's collapse against the Green Bay Packers. On Sunday, Romo was the driving force in a season-saving win. He did it on one leg (after an injury on Dallas' penultimate drive) and threw one of the most important touchdown passes of his career on 4th-and-goal from the 10 with 1:08 to play. Romo was insanely clutch -- today, anyway. The team's official website reported he'll undergo a back MRI on Monday. Coach Jason Garrett said it looked like Romo "got leg-whipped or kicked somehow," while owner Jerry Jones called it back "tightness." The quarterback himself said he "tweaked" his back.
- Romo bailed out Garrett, who was (again) set up for a tidal wave of criticism over his continued reluctance to commit to the run. The Redskins scored 14 points on back-to-back Dallas turnovers in the third quarter, a stretch in which DeMarco Murray was completely ignored. Murray even approached Garrett after the Romo interception that set up Washington's final touchdown. You can imagine what he said.
- It's been a lost season for a lot of people associated with the Redskins. Pierre Garcon is not one of them. The wideout finished with 11 catches for 144 yards and a touchdown. Garcon now has 107 catches, moving him ahead of Hall of Famer Art Monk as Washington's all-time single-season reception leader.
- Murray's occasional disappearing act is especially hard to make sense of because he's playing the best football of his career. The running back finished with 111 total yards and two touchdowns Sunday. The Cowboys have a legit "Big Three" in Romo, Murray and Dez Bryant. They need to make the most of that.
- The Redskins have dropped seven straight and remain locked in a battle of infinite sadness with the Houston Texans for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft. Of course, Washington's first-round draft pick belongs to the St. Louis Rams. Ouch.
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