Rams Make Believers of the Cowboys : Pro football: Victory doesn’t get away this time as Everett, Gary fuel L.A. past Dallas, 27-23.

The Rams on the field froze in place, stunned perhaps by the sudden silence of the crowd or by their own pent-up sense of relief, and quietly watched the ball roll on the ground.

Seeing it, after their exasperating season, was the only way to believe it. And maybe not even then.

“I couldn’t believe it,” said cornerback Robert Bailey, still blinking his eyes and shaking his head. “I couldn’t believe we won.”

As night fell, the last minutes of this game became one last, lingering test of faith. After fighting back and forth with the Dallas Cowboys through 59 minutes and 59 seconds, the Rams finally won it when Dallas quarterback Troy Aikman’s pass from the Ram 14 skidded across the middle of the end zone incomplete after time had expired.

That gave the Rams a 27-23 victory over the Cowboys before 63,690 at Texas Stadium, the Rams’ first victory on the road in 13 attempts and easily the most important victory of Coach Chuck Knox’s second tenure with the Rams.

“What a great, great win this is for us,” said quarterback Jim Everett, who rallied the Rams (4-6) to two fourth-quarter field goals by Tony Zendejas that put them ahead for good.

“I am emotionally drained,” Knox said after emerging from the locker room. “Big battle. I am very proud of them.”

Snapping back from his three-fumble performance during the Rams’ 20-14 loss to the Phoenix Cardinals last week, tailback Cleveland Gary was the heart of the offense once again, carrying 29 times for 110 yards, catching seven passes for 44 yards and scoring touchdowns both running and receiving.

During the Rams’ first possession, Gary rushed and received for a combined 53 yards, going one yard to give the Rams a 7-0 lead.

“We had to start fast,” team captain Jackie Slater said, “and we did.”

Although the Cowboys (8-2) had yielded only one first down in their opponents’ last 29 third-down situations, the Rams offense was successful on 53% (eight for 15) of its third-down tries Sunday. As a result, the Rams were able to hold onto the ball for five more minutes than Dallas’ ball-control offense.

The Rams gained 367 yards against Dallas, 124 more than the Cowboys’ defense had been giving up on average this season.

“There’s no doubt Dallas is good,” said Everett, who completed 22 of 37 passes for 251 yards and two touchdowns, “but I think we outplayed them today. No question.”

Dallas moved consistently, especially when Aikman was throwing to Michael Irvin (eight catches, 168 yards), but the Cowboys couldn’t score on their final two drives.

Dallas got its only second-half touchdown, which put it ahead by 23-21 late in the third quarter, when Kelvin Martin took Ram punter Don Bracken’s short, line-drive punt 74 yards for a touchdown.

The Cowboys’ last drive began on their 24 with 1:50 remaining, needing a touchdown to win after Zendejas made a 44-yard field goal to cap a 10-play, 53-yard drive keyed by two crucial penalties against linebacker Ken Norton.

It was up to the Ram pass defense to save the victory.

“We were excited to be in that position and we were not going to be the scapegoats,” safety Anthony Newman said. “We said in the huddle there is no way we’re going to lose this one.”

Gary and Everett both acknowledged that they found it difficult to watch as Aikman passed the Cowboys slowly up field, to the Cowboy 45 with 1:22 left, to the Ram 33 with 22 seconds left, and finally, to the Ram 14 with the clock stopped at six seconds.

After taking the team’s final timeout, Aikman took a quick drop and passed toward the back of the end zone and Alvin Harper, who was briefly open. But Newman lunged up in the air and “cuffed it,” as he described it, to the ground. He leaped up and shook his arm, thinking the game was over. But there was one second to play.

The Rams went back to the huddle.

“A lot of talking was going on, guys were screaming, ‘Hey, we need this one,’ ” cornerback Bailey said. “ ‘Play like it’s the last play of your career.’

“That one second seemed like it took forever.”

Aikman rolled left, looked uncomfortable with what he saw, then, in desperation, flung a pass nowhere near a Cowboy.

“That last play was pretty much a free-for-all,” Aikman said. “I saw Kelvin open when he came across the middle, and just missed.”

Suddenly, the Rams had ended their road losing streak and the Cowboys’ 11-game home winning streak.

“They really deserved to win a game like this,” Knox said, “because that is the satisfaction that you get. And we have been in some tough ones and haven’t been able to get it done.

“But the work, the preparation and the practice attitude and everything has paid off.”

Said Cowboy Coach Jimmy Johnson: “Our guys gave a good effort, and I thought the punt return put us back in the ballgame.”

Martin’s third-quarter punt return seemed to signal that the Rams were about to let another one get away.

But given renewed life on their ensuing possession by Norton’s holding penalty on the Rams’ attempt to punt, and converting two crucial third downs on short Everett passes, the Rams went 65 yards in 16 plays to set up Zendejas’ first fourth-quarter field goal, this one a 33-yarder for a 24-23 lead.

One more Ram stop of Dallas, and the Rams’ final field-goal drive to give them the four-point lead, and the last-second drama was set.

“Earlier in the year,” Bailey said, “we probably would’ve given up. But this game was special.”

* LAST CHANCES: The Rams had to stop two passes in six seconds by Aikman. C10

* CLEVELAND GARY: He scores on a run and a reception and doesn’t fumble. C11