Cowboys Turn Back the Clock

As the only Dallas Cowboy receiver who’d ever caught a pass in an NFL game, Keyshawn Johnson knew he had to come through big for quarterback Vinny Testaverde.

He didn’t. At least, not until the game was on the line.

Johnson ran wrong routes on two of the first balls thrown his way, turning both into interceptions, but redeemed himself with two touchdown catches, including a 38-yarder with 1 minute 54 seconds left that sealed a 31-21 victory over the Detroit Lions on Sunday.

Testaverde’s throws, however, weren’t as impressive as his runs. Two weeks shy of his 41st birthday, Testaverde stunned everyone with a seven-yard run on fourth and three to set up a tying touchdown, and scrambled three yards for the go-ahead score, helping Dallas (3-4) end a three-game losing streak.

“If we’re going to start to turn this thing around, this is where we needed to start,” he said.

Testaverde completed 19 of 24 passes for 235 yards, offsetting three interceptions with three touchdowns. Yet it was the Cowboys’ return to the running game that anchored the victory.

Dallas ran 41 times -- 11 more than in any game this season -- for 127 yards, with Eddie George logging season bests of 31 carries and 99 yards. That helped the Cowboys keep the ball 17 minutes more than the Lions, only the second time this season they’ve had the kind of imbalance Coach Bill Parcells loves.

Detroit (4-3) looked more like the team that lost 24 consecutive road games, not the one that opened this season 3-0 away from home.

The Lions were stopped on third and one and fourth and one from the Dallas 37 while down by a touchdown early in the fourth quarter. A false start turned a field-goal try into a punt. They also lost a big punt return because of a penalty; wasted a timeout before kicking an extra point; and had a defender fall into the end zone trying to down a punt close to the goal line. They had 10 penalties for 112 yards.

“I didn’t feel we had trouble moving the ball,” said Lion quarterback Joey Harrington, who completed 19 of 32 passes for 255 yards with two touchdowns. “We just made mistakes.”

Harrington would’ve had a better chance if injured rookie receiver Roy Williams hadn’t sat out the game. He won’t get any sympathy from Testaverde because his receivers included two rookies who moved up from the practice squad and a veteran who’d never caught a pass.