Carter Knows Rallies

If Quincy Carter could play the first 55 minutes the way he plays the last five, the Dallas Cowboys might be better than .500.

But their games wouldn’t be as interesting.

Carter led Dallas to a dramatic win for the second time in three weeks, turning a 13-0 deficit to the Carolina Panthers into a 14-13 victory by throwing an 80-yard touchdown pass to Joey Galloway with 3:55 left, then a 24-yarder to Antonio Bryant with 56 seconds to go.

“This is one of the craziest wins I’ve ever been involved in,” Cowboy running back Emmitt Smith said.

Carolina not only lost but also had to play the second half without quarterback Rodney Peete, who suffered a concussion after being hit while completing a pass on the final play of the first half. Coach John Fox said Peete would have an MRI exam today. Chris Weinke took over and completed seven of 12 passes for 114 yards. Peete was nine for 15 for 84 yards.

For Dallas, Carter started showing his comeback skills two games ago, when he directed a last-minute drive that led to the game-winning field goal against St. Louis. He almost did it again last week against the New York Giants, but he overthrew Bryant on a deep ball.

This time, on his 25th birthday, Carter got the Cowboys (3-3) in a hole by committing two turnovers and making few good throws. Fans booed and nearly half of Texas Stadium emptied as Dallas appeared headed to their first home shutout in 11 years.

Then Carter started clicking. After completing nine of 22 passes for 77 yards over the first 55 minutes, he was six of 10 for 148 yards on the final two drives. The Galloway touchdown was the longest pass of Carter’s career, and it stretched his streak of consecutive 200-yard passing games to five.

To pull it out, he had to be as lucky as he was good. On Galloway’s touchdown, Carter scrambled out of a sack and steadied himself with his free hand. The pass was nearly intercepted by Deon Grant, but instead he deflected it -- right to Galloway.

On the game-winning drive, Carolina (3-3) thought it had recovered a Carter fumble, but replay officials called it an incompletion, citing the same “tuck rule” that saved the New England Patriots in last season’s playoffs.