IRVING, Texas - Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo meant to send the Cincinnati Bengals home with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Miles Austin, not Patrick Crayton.
But he'll take it.
Romo won't get style points for his late fourth-quarter throw to Crayton, whose game-clinching score was gift-wrapped by Austin's slippery fingers. Neither will his team for Sunday's 31-22 victory over the Bengals (0-5) - more a sigh of relief than a howling exclamation against one of four remaining winless teams.
But they'll take it.
"After the week where the sky fell, the sun has risen again," inside linebacker Bradie James said.
Maybe it's merely peaking above the horizon, since the Cowboys (4-1) realize they squandered a 17-0 second-quarter lead and allowed Cincinnati to hold the sellout Texas Stadium crowd captive longer than anyone expected.
But an ugly win that keeps them a half-game behind the NFC East-leading Giants (4-0) is better than the alternative - hideous back-to-back home losses for the first time since Dec. 31, 2006.
The Cowboys avoided what defensive end Marcus Spears called another "atom bomb" on top of last Sunday's loss to division rival Washington. They did it despite an uneven performance from Romo (14-of-23, 176 yards, 3 TDs, 2 turnovers), another relatively quiet game from wide receiver Terrell Owens (2 catches, 67 yards, TD) and a nine-point fourth quarter from the nothing-to-lose Bengals, who might have scored again following some October trickery (recovered onside kick) had Cowboys linebacker Anthony Spencer not pounced on a fumble three plays later to set up Owens' electric 57-yard TD.
"You learn a lot when you make mistakes and still overcome them," Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips said. "That's part of learning to win, part of being a team if things aren't going great. We kept fighting in the game and finally came through in the end."
Said Romo: "You don't get crowned champions for being the best-looking team right now . . . We know that you don't win it right now. You just continue to get better and keep stacking up wins."
The Cowboys are doing just that. For just the fifth time since 1994 they've won at least four of their first five games. Only two teams - the Giants (4-0) and Titans (5-0) have better records through the first five weeks.
And despite their imperfections, part of Sunday's performance revealed improvement from the previous week:
Against the Redskins, the offense abandoned its running game - Marion Barber had just eight carries for 26 yards and rookie Felix Jones didn't get a single touch. Against the Bengals, Barber and Jones combined for 180 yards on 32 carries and Jones ripped off a 33-yard TD run, the third rushing score of his young career.
Playing without injured starters Terence Newman (groin) and Pat Watkins (neck), the defense matched its takeaway total through the first four games (2) with linebacker Greg Ellis' interception on the first play from scrimmage and Spencer's fourth-quarter fumble recovery at the Dallas 37 while clinging to a 17-16 lead.
Banged-up Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer (elbow) threw two TD passes to T.J. Houshmandzadeh but also was sacked twice. Running backs Chris Perry and Cedric Benson averaged just 2.7 yards per carry.
Cincinnati managed only a pair of field goals following Romo's two turnovers (interception, lost fumble) despite starting each drive in Dallas territory, causing Phillips to say, "I thought our defense played real tough. They had their back to the wall quite a few times."
Romo overcame those miscues to throw TD passes on his final two drives, including the game-clincher to Crayton with 1:59 remaining. But he does have seven turnovers in five games - "We need to protect the ball, certainly," Phillips said - and the Cowboys' kickoff coverage warts also resurfaced at times. Cincinnati's Greg Holt averaged 29.5 yards on six returns, and his 60-yard return in the fourth quarter led to a Palmer TD that made the score 24-22 with 7:45 left (the Bengals went for a two-point conversion, but Cowboys safety Keith Davis deftly knocked the pass out of bounds).
"That's what you're frustrated about and disappointed in," tight end Jason Witten said of the team's offensive inconsistencies, "especially when you're playing a team that's 0-4 and you have a chance to put them away, and we didn't do that and they made a game out of it. We're happy we got the win, but we have to continue to get better and I think this team understands that."
Next up is the surprising Arizona Cardinals (3-2), who knocked Buffalo from the unbeaten list with a convincing 41-17 victory on Sunday.
Another challenge for a team with sky-high expectations. On Sunday, the Cowboys were at least somewhat content to survive and advance.
"I said this last year, but I'm sorry that I'm not sorry that we won," Romo said. "I think that's something we have to fight sometimes around here - if you don't win pretty, it's not a positive.
"You could look beautiful, pretty and go out there and everything looks magical right now, but it isn't going to stay that way. So we're going to keep winning, hopefully we keep going on, and at the end of the year you hope you're a better team than you are right now. If you can do that, it doesn't matter how you win."
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