National Football League

Romo's late TD pass lifts Cowboys over Redskins

Published Nov. 23, 2009 2:17 a.m. ET

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Before and after every snap, Tony Romo felt the throbbing in his back, the result of an accidental blow suffered while making a first-quarter tackle, of all things.

While he could block out the pain during most plays, he couldn't stop it from affecting his throws - at least, not until the game was on the line.

Given a break by a missed field goal, Romo scrambled for a first down, then completed seven straight passes, the last a 10-yarder to Patrick Crayton for a touchdown with 2:41 left that gave the Dallas Cowboys a 7-6 victory over the Washington Redskins on Sunday and preserved their spot atop the NFC East.

"I've always felt like, no matter what is really wrong — as long as it's not a broken bone or something that's going to keep you out — just on the adrenalin of the game, you can always do it," Romo said. "That's just part of football, part of understanding that's the only way to play the game."


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This was the second straight week the Cowboys (7-3) didn't score until the final minutes. Doing it on the road against the desperate Green Bay Packers was one thing; this time, it would've been humiliating considering they were at home and the Redskins (3-7) were down to third-stringers at running back and right guard and came in without their expensive defensive tackle and star tight end.

Washington overcame it all to lead 6-0 on field goals of 45 and 31 yards from Shaun Suisham. He missed a 39-yarder just before halftime, then a 50-yarder that would've made it 9-0 right before what proved to be Dallas' winning drive. Those were Suisham's first two misses of the season.

Even after Crayton scored, the Redskins had a chance to pull out a second straight win. But Jason Campbell threw a pass that was tipped and intercepted with 1:46 left, then had a heave fall incomplete as time expired.

"To lose it like that in the end in a hostile situation, it's just so hard," Washington coach Jim Zorn said. "Yet, we hung in there. I believe this is a special team of players who will not just chuck things in being 3-7. ... We're going to look at our roster, patch it up and go again."

They have a lot of patching to do. Running back Clinton Portis (concussion) already has been ruled out next week and backup Ladell Betts is having an MRI to determine the extent of the ligament damage in his left knee. Right guard Chad Rinehart broke his right leg and likely is lost for the season. Defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth missed this game with an ankle injury, as did tight end Chris Cooley.

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