Tony Romo’s touchdown pass to Terrance Williams with less than three minutes to play lifted the Dallas Cowboys to a thrilling 24-20 NFL playoff triumph over the Detroit Lions.
Romo connected with Williams with an eight-yard throw with 2:32 remaining on Sunday.
Romo guided the Cowboys on three straight scoring drives to erase a 20-7 third-quarter deficit and grab the win in the National Football Conference first-round clash.
The victory sends the Cowboys into a second-round meeting with Green Bay.
Carolina, who punched their second-round ticket on Saturday with a win over Arizona, will face reigning Super Bowl champions Seattle next weekend.
In American Football Conference action, Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts earned a lopsided 26-10 victory over injury-hit Cincinnati to book a second-round meeting with the Denver Broncos.
The Broncos are trying to get back to the Super Bowl on February 1, a year after they were humbled 43-8 by the Seahawks in the NFL’s championship.
Next weekend will also see AFC top seed New England host Baltimore, who beat Pittsburgh on Saturday.
Detroit appeared on their way to their first post-season victory since 1991 before Romo and the Cowboys turned things around.
“More than anything, it’s trying to keep your poise,” said Romo, who was composed even as the Lions defense stymied the Cowboys offense early.
“You just have to stay in the moment and understand the game,” Romo said.
Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant was limited to a modest 48 yards on three catches while double covered much of the contest.
Williams stepped up, pulling in a 76-yard touchdown catch late in the first half and finishing with 92 yards on three catches.
DeMarco Murray added a touchdown run while grinding out 75 yards on the ground against the Lions’ top-ranked rushing defense.
– Controversial call –
The Cowboys also benefitted from a controversial call that preceded the game-winning drive.
The Lions had to punt the ball away with 8:10 to play following quarterback Matthew Stafford’s incomplete pass on third down — on which a pass interference call against Cowboys linebacker Anthony Hitchens was overturned.
Stafford’s throw hit Hitchens with the rookie’s back facing the play as he covered Brandon Pettigrew, and Pettigrew thought the interference call should have stood.
“(Hitchens) ran through me, pretty much,” Pettigrew said. “To me, it was obvious.”
“I’m not going to sit up here and act like that was the call that made the difference in the game,” Lions head coach Jim Caldwell said. “We still had our chances.”
But after a poor punt by Sam Martin, Dallas got their big chance and made the most of it with a scoring drive kept alive by a clutch 21-yard throw from Romo to Jason Witten on a fourth down.
“It’s how we’ve responded all year long,” Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said of the rally.
– Colts cruise –
There was no such drama in Indianapolis, where the Colts never trailed.
Adam Vinatieri made all four of his field goal attempts, Daniel Herron gained 141 yards and ran for a touchdown, and T.Y. Hilton caught six passes for 103 yards for the Colts.
Marvin Lewis fell to 0-6 in the post-season as Cincinnati’s head coach, the last four of those defeats came with Andy Dalton at quarterback.
Dalton, under pressure throughout, threw for just 155 yards on 18-of-35 passing as he made two without his top two targets.
Wide receiver A.J. Green was still out with concussion symptoms and tight end Jermaine Gresham was sidelined with back and leg trouble.
The Bengals amassed just 254 total yards, and went three-and-out on their first four possessions of the second half. Luck piloted back-to-back scoring drives to stretch the Colts’ lead to 23-10.
Luck hit rookie receiver Donte Moncrief with a 36-yard scoring pass midway through the third quarter to give the Colts a 20-10 lead.
After a holding penalty on Moncrief nullified an apparent touchdown catch by teammate Coby Fleener on the Colts next possession, they settled for a 22-yard field goal from Vinatieri.
Vinatieri added a Colts’ post-season record 53-yard field goal and any hope of a Cincinnati comeback ended when Jerrell Freeman stripped Dalton of the ball with less than three minutes to play.