The Dallas Cowboys prevailed in a preseason battle of Texas as they hung on to defeat the Houston Texans 23 to 22 at Texas Stadium in Irving, Texas. Both starting quarterbacks (Tony Romo for Dallas and Matt Schaub for Houston) threw for 166 yards on fifteen completed pass attempts and one touchdown. Brad Johnson, backup quarterback for the Cowboys, went 9-for-13 for 107 yards while Sage Rosenfels of the Texans completed 4 of 8 passes for 29 yards.
Both kickers (Josh Brown for Houston and Nick Folk for Dallas) converted on 3-of-3 field goals. Both teams scored one rushing touchdown (Marion Barber for Dallas, and Sage Rosenfels for Houston). So what was the difference-maker in the game?
After Sage Rosenfels ran for an 8-yard Texan touchdown with 2:05 left in the game, the Texans decided to go for two. On the two-point conversion, the Dallas defense blitzed and forced Rosenfels to make a quick pass to Jacoby Jones. Although the pass was accurate, the ball bounced off of Jones’ hands and fell incomplete.
The Texans could have had the ball back for one last shot at the win, but a holding penalty against Houston’s Derrick Roberson on 3rd down gave the Cowboys a fresh set of downs and allowed them to down the ball for the one-point victory.
