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Cardinals 25, Cowboys 22, OT

By MEL REISNER AP Sports Writer

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) - Arizona Cardinals coach Vince Tobin doesn't get too emotional in most football situations. However, the Cardinals' first victory over Dallas in nearly seven years was an exception.

"Tears came to my eyes when I came out onto the field and heard the fans," Tobin said after Arizona snapped the Cowboys' 13-game winning streak in the series with a 25-22 overtime victory Sunday night. "They were in there battling tonight. They put it on the line and achieved something, just like the players."

Fans flooded the field and tore down a goalpost to celebrate the end of the long drought against the Cowboys (1-1), who looked formidable on opening weekend with a 37-7 rout of Pittsburgh.

The Cardinals (1-1) beat Dallas 20-14 on Oct. 14, 1990. They won their first home opener since they moved to Arizona in 1988. The franchise's last win in the first home game was in 1987, its last year in St. Louis.

"We won't have to keep hearing that history lesson," said Tobin, who got his players to regroup after they blew a 21-3 lead last week and lost, 24-21, to Cincinnati.

Fullback Larry Centers, whose fumble with 1:10 remaining let the Bengals win, appropriately caught a 29-yard pass that set up Kevin Butler's 20-yard field goal to beat the Cowboys.

"I was trying for the touchdown," Centers said after battling to the Dallas 3-yard line. "But I realized what was important, and that was to hold onto the football."

Butler's kick glanced off the upright and went through with 6:30 left in overtime, completing a comeback from 15 points down in the third quarter.

"That's probably an apropos way to defeat the Cowboys after such a long, uphill battle," Butler said.

The Cardinals led 7-6 after Leeland McElroy's 10-yard run in the second quarter, but they fell beind 22-7 early in the third quarter after Richie Cunningham's fifth field goal.

Kent Graham passed 7 yards to Frank Sanders to make it 22-14 with 1:44 left in the third quarter. Then he threw a 1-yard TD pass to Pat Carter with 1:06 left in regulation and found Rob Moore for the 2-point conversion to tie it.

Earlier in the eight-play, 70-yard drive, Graham hit Moore on a dump pass over the middle, and the wideout gained 47 yards with Sanders blocking ahead of him. A face-mask penalty - one of 12 Cowboys penalties for 115 yards - left Arizona only 12 yards to cover to force overtime.

In the extra period, Graham fumbled when the ball slipped out of his hand as he tried to pass. But Arizona got it back when Terry Irving recovered a fumble by Sherman Williams.

Given a break, Graham had completions of 19 yards to Moore and 29 yards to Centers to finish 26-of-47 for 249 yards.

The Cowboys had to make do with Cunningham's field goals from 24, 47, 37, 34 and 28 yards and a 4-yard fumble return for a TD by defensive tackle Chad Hennings, because the offense was punchless a week after Troy Aikman threw four scoring passes against the Steelers.

This time, Aikman had one scoring throw nullified by a penalty and lost another when Michael Irvin stepped out of the end zone on a catch.

"The big difference was that they made plays and we didn't," said Aikman, who was 21-of-39 for 171 yards. "When you don't make the plays and you have the penalties we had, you are going to lose most games."

The Cardinals lost four fumbles in the game, and each team sacked the other quarterback three times. But Arizona was able to capitalize on its lone fumble recovery.

Simeon Rice got his second sack of Aikman with about four minutes left. On the same play, Dallas running back Emmitt Smith bruised his ribs and had to leave the game after gaining 132 yards in 19 carries.

He did not return, and with 3:42 to go, Michael Bankston got a piece of Cunningham's 40-yard field-goal attempt that would have clinched the victory for Dallas.

"I think he did a few things," coach Barry Switzer said about Smith. "But when you can't score a touchdown, what difference does it make? I don't care how many yards you get. If you can't get the ball in the end zone, you're not going to win."