The Dallas Cowboys squandered a 12-point lead in the final six minutes to suffer a 37-34 defeat to the New York Giants on Sunday that left the teams tied on top the NFC East. The Cowboys led 34-22 with 5:50 remaining but watched Eli Manning rally the Giants with two late scores to snap his team's four-game losing streak and revive their season.
"This is huge – another fourth-quarter comeback," said Manning. The quarterback threw for 400 yards in a game that featured eight lead changes. "It's good to get that winning feeling again, especially in the division."
Down by 12 late in the fourth, Manning drove the Giants 80 yards and pulled them within five points with a touchdown pass to Jake Ballard, then engineered a 58-yard march capped by Brandon Jacobs' one-yard score. The Giants added a two-point conversion to move ahead by three with less than a minute to go. The Cowboys answered with a few quick passes to move into field goal range but Dan Bailey's 47-yard attempt was blocked by Jason Pierre-Paul to set off a Giants' celebration.
The Dallas quarterback, Tony Romo, threw four touchdowns against the Giants but once again could not pull of the win. "It's going to be tough here for the next few hours. This was a tough loss, it was an important game and guys laid it on the line," said Romo. "It's tough to not come out with the victory."
The Houston Texans and New Orleans Saints both booked their spots in the playoffs with wins on Sunday while the unbeaten Green Bay Packers secured a first-round bye with their 13th win.
The Texans wrapped up the AFC South division title with a 20-19 comeback victory at the Cincinnati Bengals to clinch their first playoff berth since joining the league in 2002. The Rookie quarterback, T.J Yates, set up the win for the Texans with a six yard touchdown pass to Kevin Walter with just two seconds left on the clock. The conversion sealed Houston's seventh straight victory. The Bengals have now lost three of their last four games to damage their hopes of grabbing one of the AFC wild card hopes.
The Saints advanced with a 22-17 victory over the Tennessee Titans while the Packers crushed the Oakland Raiders 46-16 to earn the luxury of skipping the first round of playoffs.
New Orleans, Super Bowl champions two seasons ago, clinched their fifth straight win after their quarterback, Drew Brees, threw two fourth quarter touchdowns to Marques Colston. Brees threw for 337 yards and his two touchdowns meant he had thrown for at least one touchdown in 40 consecutive games, a record bettered only by Johnny Unitas' 47.
The Saints were assured of their playoff spot later when the Chicago Bears lost to Denver Broncos, 13-10, in another Tim Tebow inspired overtime comeback. The Denver quarterback, written off by many critics even before he got a chance as a starter, now has a 7-1 record since taking over from Kyle Orton. Denver's sixth straight win came after they trailed 10-0 with just 2:08 left on the clock as Tebow marched his team down field for Matt Prater to kick a long-range field goal to force the game into overtime before scoring another to seal the win.
The Atlanta Falcons kept up the chase in the NFC South after a 31-23 victory over the Carolina Panthers with their quarterback, Matt Ryan, throwing for 320 yards and four touchdowns. The New England Patriots were also hitting form at the right time, picking up a fifth successive win with a 34-27 triumph over the Washington Redskins. The win was masterminded by their quarterback, Tom Brady, who threw for 357 yards and three touchdowns, two of them to Rob Gronkowski, who set an NFL record for the most touchdowns in a season by a tightend.
The Patriots led the AFC East standings, ahead of the New York Jets who enjoyed a 37-10 romp over Kansas City. The Baltimore Ravens took advantage of the woeful and winless Indianapolis Colts to record a 24-10 win and grab the joint leadership with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC North.
The Detroit Lions have struggled of late, losing five of their last seven games, but their hopes of making the playoffs remained alive after they scraped together a 34-28 victory over the Minnesota Vikings. In the final seconds, Minnesota had a great chance to win but their back-up quarterback, Joe Webb, fumbled on first and goal and the ball was recovered by the Lions.
