Dallas Cowboys show emotion

It was a must game for the Dallas Cowboys if they want to be in the playoffs this season. And fate threw them a curve just before this important game with the Cincinnati Bengals. Saturday just prior to the departure of the flight to Ohio, Dallas Head Coach Jason Garrett had to tell his players that one of their teammates was dead and another in jail on charges of intoxication homicide. In the wee hours of Saturday morning after a night of drinking and partying, nose tackle Josh Brent lost control of his car and it flipped over and crashed. Longtime friend Jerry Brown, a linebacker for the Cowboys, died in the crash and his body was pulled from the burning vehicle by Brent. The two had been teammates and roommates at the University of Illinois and Brent was instrumental in getting Dallas to sign Brown when he was released by the Indianapolis Colts in August of this year. All of this was on the minds of the Cowboys as they now had to return to business and face the vastly improved Bengals on Sunday. Cincinnati played the better game, but missed out on opportunities to put the Cowboys away. Dropped passes by the Bengals and busted plays allowed Dallas to hang around as they entered the fourth quarter of the contest. Leading 19 to 17, Cincinnati had to watch as Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo led his team down the field toward the inevitable end. With four seconds remaining in the contest Dallas called upon field goal kicker Dan Bailey to connect with a forty-yard effort and the ball sailed through the uprights as time expired. Dallas 20, Cincinnati 19. Now with the game behind them, the emotions started to flow. Players and coaches let down their 'tough guy' images and cried like babies. In the locker room Garrett even took a phone call from Jerry Brown's mother as she expressed her appreciation to the team for remembering her son. It was a deeply stirring moment for the Cowboys at a time when they desperately needed the win to stay in contention in the NFC Eastern Division...and it may be the moment they finally came together as a team in 2012.