s sack after a costly penalty

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Cowboys find resolve, pivotal play to get win
HOUSTON — Dallas Cowboys linebacker [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] knew he committed the penalty. He slammed both hands in the end zone after failing to turn around on an underthrown pass. He ran right into Houston Texans tight end Owen Daniels.
[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], after a Houston infraction nullified his own, got right back up, and, on the next snap, thwarted a patented fourth-quarter Texans comeback.
On a third-and-goal, the 34-year-old zoomed through the Houston offensive line and sacked quarterback Matt Schaub. The Texans settled for a field goal, and the Cowboys scored on their next drive to seal a 27-13 victory Sunday in front of a raucous sellout crowd at Reliant Stadium.
Dallas found the missing ingredient to end its winless start to the 2010 season — resolve. Just like [link widoczny dla zalogowanych]’s sack after a costly penalty, the entire team showed the ability to make the key play and dig deep.
The Cowboys forced pivotal turnovers, converted timely third-down conversions and made goal-line stands for their first win of the season.
In the two plays before [link widoczny dla zalogowanych]’s big sack, the Dallas defensive line stuffed Arian Foster twice from the 1-yard line. Yes, the same Foster who had piled up 103 yards on his first 14 carries.
Barry Church, who only comes in on goal-line situations, stopped Foster for no gain. Then, DeMarcus Ware got in the backfield to force a 2-yard loss and set up an obvious passing situation.
The Texans went 1-for-3 in the red zone.
“The little things that were missing in the first couple of games, I think we came through with,” Cowboys coach Wade Phillips said. “We played solid all the way around.”
Ware was everywhere, particularly in Schaub’s face. He got three sacks, including two on third downs that took the Texans out of field goal range. He also had two more tackles for a loss and three quarterback hits as the Texans top-ranked offense, averaging 32 points a game, struggled.
The secondary, without an interception all year, played a big role, too. The group picked off Schaub twice. Both came in the second half, including Mike Jenkins outrunning All-Pro receiver Andre Johnson to a ball.
Jenkins, like [link widoczny dla zalogowanych], committed a penalty the play before. He held a receiver to turn a second-and-17 into a first down.
It was the Cowboys’ first takeaway of the year and turned into points. After Jenkins’ interception, quarterback Tony Romo moved the offense 90 yards to put Dallas ahead two touchdowns late in the third quarter.
Romo silenced his critics,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], who claim he can’t win the big game, for at least one week. He called many of his own plays and chose correctly most times, particularly in big situations.
On Dallas’ first score, an impressive 13-play, 80-yard drive that consumed 71/2 minutes, Romo went 3-for-3 on third down — two from 9 yards and another from 10.
Romo finished with a quarterback rating of 127.6. His favorite target: the receiver Cowboys management, coaches and fans had been waiting for to come up big.
Roy Williams caught five passes for 117 yards and two touchdowns. He scored both TDs in the second half, one on a 15-yard fade and another on a 63-yard slant.
“It’s not always going to be perfect,” Romo said, “but you got to figure out a way to get a win.”
The Cowboys finally did.
It just took some resolve to make the plays when it mattered.