Hooked on a Feeling

MICKEY SPAGNOLA
dallascowboys.com columnist

DETROIT - You knew it, didn't you, you just did.

That is the indelible charm of these Dallas Cowboys.

Yeah, yeah, I know, they were gashed for a season-high 152 rushing yards by the rushing-deficient Detroit Lions.

Yeah, I know, they couldn't get pressure on Jon Kitna to save their lives.

Yeah, I know, Jason Witten fumbled at the 1-yard line and Tony Romo fumbled at his 40 and Marion Barber fumbled at the Lions 28.

But unlike previous seasons when you were just waiting for that next shoe to drop, when you were convinced of yet another December-January fade and when you've seen a couple of potential NFC East Division titles disintegrate into mid-air, this time you get . . . .

Cowboys 28, Lions 27.

But you knew it, right, you just had this feeling after watching this team play 12 previous times this year that these Dallas Cowboys were not going to let you down; that somehow, some way they would make the play to yank a victory from the bear trap of defeat.

And if you did not share in the good vibes thousands of Cowboys fans among the 62,759 here at Ford Field on Sunday surely did by the way they lustily tried to out-cheer the Lions faithful to the very end, then you should have been listening to Troy Aikman this past Thursday out at The Ranch. The Hall of Famer would have told you.

For Aikman, when talking about Romo, basically saying he would have to put two of his years together to match Romo's magical season this year, said, "I don't know how everybody else feels, but I know when I watch him play, and there's some other quarterbacks that are like this in the league, you always feel like he's going to make a play. You always feel like regardless of what the situation is, he's going to make a play that's going to get it done for the team."

And the son of a gun did it again, right in front of the guy who said so, resurrecting a Cowboys team trailing by 13 heading into the fourth quarter. Undaunted, no matter fumbles, poor field position, fourth-down pressure or the NFL's 60-minute sand timer seemingly dropping granules at a rapidly increasing rate, the charmed one led the Cowboys to two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, once again overcoming every and all shortcoming for the victory over surely the disbelieving Lions.

The result:

Cowboys win the NFC East for the first tine since Greg Ellis and Flozell Adams were rookies in 1998 10 years ago, allowing one and all to wear white hats and T-shirts afterward proclaiming their division crown.

Cowboys clinch at least a home playoff game, something not seen at Texas Stadium since 1998.

Cowboys need only a win next Sunday over Philadelphia or a Seattle loss to clinch a first-round playoff bye, something they have not enjoyed since 1995.

Cowboys win a franchise-high 12 of 13 games so far this season (12-1), the first 12-win season since 1995; win seven straight games for the first time since 1993, one short of matching the franchise single-season high; win now nine straight road games, one short of the franchise high with two left to play.