This could have been one of Bill Parcells' worst losses. Billy Cundiff turned it into one of his biggest wins.
Cundiff, who tied the game at the end of regulation with a 52-yard field goal, tied an NFL record with the game-winner from 25 yards with 5:56 left in overtime to give the Dallas Cowboys a 35-32 victory over the New York Giants on Monday night.
It was Parcells' first win as Dallas' coach and it came over the team he led to two Super Bowl victories.
PHOTO: AP
The last field goal was Cundiff's seventh of the game to tie the record held by three others and it came after an eight-play, 51-yard drive led by Quincy Carter.
"I feel fortunate to win. I would have been very disappointed to lose. It was one of the greatest games I've ever been involved in," Parcells said.
"It's great when you win," Giants quarterback Kerry Collins said when he heard what Parcells said. "It was a great football game. It was a fun game to play. It's no fun to lose."
PHOTO: AP
He shouldn't have.
Collins rallied the Giants rallied from a 29-14 fourth-quarter deficit and seemed to have the game won when Matt Bryant kicked a 30-yard field goal with 11 seconds left to give them a 32-29 lead.
But Bryant's ensuing squib kickoff went out of bounds at the 1, giving Dallas the ball at its own 40. Carter then hit Antonio Bryant with a 25-yard pass to the New York 34. Cundiff sent it to overtime with his career-long field goal.
"You can't pin it on one guy," said Giants' coach Jim Fassel, who said Matt Bryant apologized to him for the kick in the locker room. "It was supposed to be a squib down the middle and eat up 5 or 6 seconds, leave them at the 30 at best and with just one desperation play."
Carter, who finished 24-of-39 for 298 yards, led the Cowboys 51 yards on the winning drive. The key play was a 23-yard pass to former Giant Dan Campbell, who made his first catch for Dallas after signing in the offseason.
For most of the final quarter, it looked like Parcells' Cowboys (1-1) would go down valiantly.
The Jersey guy coaching the Texas team watched helplessly as Collins rallied the Giants (1-1) from a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit to a 32-29 lead before Bryant's kick gave the Cowboys just enough field position for the tying kick.
Collins threw second-half TD passes of 5 yards to Ike Hilliard, 1 yard to Jeremy Shockey and 20 to Amani Toomer to lead New York's comeback.
Parcells had been 49-0 during his career with the Giants, Patriots and Jets when his team carried a lead of 12 points or more into the final quarter, but it looked like the streak would stop short of 50.
His Cowboys dominated the first three quarters against a team starting three rookies in the offensive line -- the first time that has happened since Washington did it in 1981, Joe Gibbs' first season as Redskins coach.
Leading 26-14 entering the final quarter, the Cowboys added Cundiff's fifth field goal to lead 29-14, but it fell apart.
First, the Giants went 69 yards in six plays, capped by the 1-yard TD flip to Shockey, the tight end who had disparaged Parcells in a preseason magazine article. Until then, Shockey hadn't caught a pass and had dropped one while wide open in the end zone.
Then New York took only three plays to go 63 yards to tie it with 6:20 left. First came a 38-yard completion to Hilliard followed by the 20-yard TD pass to Toomer. Tiki Barber ran in the 2-point conversion that tied it. The Giants finally got the ball on their own 48 with 2:59 left after a punt by Toby Gowin from his own 15.
They moved methodically reaching the 12, from where Bryant made his kick.
The Cowboys led 20-7 at halftime, keeping the New York offense in its own territory until Collins completed a 40-yard pass to Toomer with 2:39 left in the half. That was the only bright spot of the half for the Giants as Toomer broke Frank Gifford's 39-year-old team career receiving record on the play.
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