A missed Dallas conversion was followed by Jay Feely’s 48-yard field-goal winner with five seconds to play, as the Arizona Cardinals won 27-26 against the Cowboys in Saturday’s NFL Christmas Day game between two lowly teams.
Third-string quarterbacks when the season began, John Skelton and Stephen McGee had lead parts in a game between teams that will be looking forward to next week’s season-closing game to put disappointing campaigns behind them.
“Really, nothing’s bigger than beating the Dallas Cowboys on Christmas Day right now,” Cardinals rookie Skelton said. “Whiz [coach Ken Whisenhunt] was shaking my hand before the game and I said: ‘We have one last gift to unwrap.’ Sure enough, it took the last minute, but we got it.”
Photo: Reuters
Dallas (5-10) rallied from 18 points down to take a 26-24 lead when McGee, in his first NFL game, threw 45 yards to Miles Austin for a touchdown with 1 minute, 46 seconds to play, but David Buehler’s attempted conversion went wide left, opening the door for Arizona to clinch the game with a field goal.
“I’m not feeling too good,” Bueh-ler said. “I feel bad for Stephen. He drove the team down there and got the touchdown. PATs [point after touchdown] are something that is something automatic. You have to put them through the uprights. I just rushed it a little bit.”
Arizona (5-10) were in deep trouble after the kickoff, but Skelton, on fourth-and-15 from the Cardinals 19, threw 26 yards to fellow rookie Max Komar. Then the Cardinals slipped into kicking range. Feely, who had a 49-yarder earlier, had missed only three kicks all season and duly slotted the winner.
Dallas fell behind 14-0 when quarterback Jon Kitna had interceptions returned for touchdowns on the Cowboys’ first two possessions. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie returned the first 32 yards and Greg Toler the second 66 yards.
It was the first time since 1999 a team had returned two interceptions for scores in the first quarter.
Under clear skies with the stadium roof open, the Cardinals took a 21-3 lead.
Skelton, in his third NFL start, connected with wide-open rookie Andre Roberts on a 74-yard play for the young quarterback’s first NFL touchdown pass.
Kitna, the starter since Tony Romo went down with a broken collarbone, got Dallas in the end zone before halftime. The quarterback scrambled 7 yards up the middle to the Arizona 2-yard line and on fourth down threw to Jason Witten for the score.
He left the field and immediately went to the locker room with a hip injury and did not feature again.
McGee stepped in, repeatedly connecting on third-down passes. He finished 11-of-17 for 111 yards with no interceptions.
The Cowboys dominated the third quarter, holding Arizona to 23 yards and no first downs, outscoring the Cardinals 10-0 to cut the lead to 21-20.
Feely kicked a 49-yarder that boosted Arizona’s lead to 24-20, forcing the Cowboys to go for a touchdown. They got it on a perfect pass by McGee onto Austin’s fingertips.
The best Arizona could hope for was overtime, everyone thought. Then Buehler missed a conversion kick for the second time in 40 tries.
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