Steelers work late shift
TDs 24 seconds apart beat Cowboys
PITTSBURGH – Tony Romo was one play into what he expected to be a game-winning scoring drive and, with Dallas trying to preserve time late in the fourth quarter, couldn’t believe it when Pittsburgh called time out.
“He gave us that, ‘Who called the time out? You called the time out?’ ” Steelers linebacker James Harrison said. “Yeah, we called the time out.”
Like it has been nearly all season, Pittsburgh’s league-leading defense was one play ahead of the opposing offense, even during a game in which the Steelers largely played from behind.
Deshea Townsend scored on a 25-yard interception return on the next play with 1:40 remaining as the Steelers scored their only two touchdowns 24 seconds apart, rallying from a 10-point deficit to deal the Cowboys a potentially damaging 20-13 loss on Sunday.
“Yeah, we called the time out,” Harrison said, describing what the Steelers (10-3) perceived to be almost-smug confidence by Romo and the Cowboys even as they were surrendering a 10-point lead in the final 7 1/2 minutes. “And you’re going to throw a pick to Deshea so we can win.”
Afterward, the Cowboys (8-5) almost couldn’t believe it: Not only that Pittsburgh’s bold gamble paid off, but that they couldn’t hold onto an apparently decisive lead in a game they badly needed to win to make the NFC playoffs as a wild card.
Just before Pittsburgh’s comeback began, the Cowboys celebrated wildly after dropping Gary Russell for a 2-yard loss on a fourth-and-goal play from the Dallas 1 early in the fourth quarter to retain that 10-point lead. The Steelers noticed.
Terrell Owens celebrated his 35th birthday by scoring Dallas’ only TD on a 12-yard catch early in the third quarter.
The Steelers surged back to tie it on Jeff Reed’s second field goal, a 41-yarder, and Ben Roethlisberger’s 6-yard pass to Heath Miller with 2:04 remaining. Roethlisberger found Nate Washington three times for 51 yards on a 67-yard drive that led to the Miller score after the Cowboys twice stalled on drives that, if they had scored, probably would have sealed it.