For a long while on Sunday afternoon, it sure looked like the Kansas City Chiefs, who were playing as the Dallas Texans of yesteryear, would find a way to defeat a franchise they never faced during their AFL days -- the Dallas Cowboys.
The Chiefs, whose status as a horrible franchise hasn’t gotten nearly the attention it deserves, had lost 27 of 29 games entering Sunday’s “legacy” contest. Though many of those failures didn’t happen on the watch of the new regime, Scott Pioli and Todd Haley are stuck with those numbers, just like Lions coach Jim Schwartz was saddled with a 19-game losing streak when he only had been employed for only two of them.
After holding a ten-point lead for a large chunk of the game, the Chiefs gave up 17 unanswered to the visitors, who finally took the lead on a 59-yard touchdown pass from Tony Romo to Miles Austin with less than 2:30 remaining in regulation, only three plays after a 53-yard field goal try by the Chiefs was blocked.
It was Tony Romo’s first touchdown pass in three weeks. And, unfortunately for the Chiefs, not his last.
Kansas City showed incredible grit in the final two minutes, driving down the field and pulling within a point after Dwayne Bowe hauled in a 16-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-seven.
(I wonder whether Matt Cassel knew that it was fourth down.)
And that was the moment that the incredibly conservative Chiefs, who already are reflecting the personality of their ultra-quiet, shirt-and-tie G.M., should have realized that opportunity wasn’t just knocking -- it was kicking and pounding on the door.
The Cowboys have more talent on both sides of the ball, and the Cowboys had been moving the ball well, outgaining the Chiefs 418-284 in regulation. So, after scoring from the 16 on a last-gasp play to get the score to 20-19, the Chiefs should have gone for the juggler (nod to Professor Emmitt) and played for the win, not the tie.
Instead, the Chiefs settled for overtime -- and with each team getting two cracks at the ball, Cowboys receiver Miles Austin topped his 59-yard score by a yard.
Though the Cowboys have plenty of problems as they enter their bye week, all of which stem from a complete void of leadership, they can take solace in Austin’s performance on Sunday. He generated more yards than that guy on the 1-4 team in Buffalo ever gained while playing with a star on his helmet.
Indeed, Miles Austin’s 250-yard performance in one game exceeds Terrell Owens’ entire output for five games by 48 yards.
Still, the Cowboys can’t count on one guy to do that kind of thing every week; they need total team efforts sparked by a coach and/or a quarterback who can get the players to perform at a level matching the sum of the individual parts.