The Sports Xchange

IRVING, Texas — Any hopes of the 2-4 Dallas Cowboys keeping the season alive before the return of quarterback Tony Romo on Nov. 22 depends on getting a win next Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks.

“The challenge is daunting,” owner Jerry Jones said. “We should and will look at Seattle and go quarter by quarter and that’s all that we need to be looking at. We don’t, we can’t afford to look down the road. We got to get a win. We have dug ourselves a real challenge.”

The veterans on the team are fully confident they can get things turned around to save what most hoped would be a Super Bowl-type season.

“We’re together. This is a tight group. We’re not going to break,” tight end Jason Witten said. “We’re going to keep battling. We’re going to learn from it. We’re still in the hunt and we’re going to get it turned around and get it fixed. It takes work, but this group is not going to break.

“We’re not going to point fingers. We’re just going to keep fighting. We just came up short today.”

–Quarterback Matt Cassel tossed three interceptions in the 27-20 loss to the New York Giants. They were absolutely the difference in the game, especially the one returned 58 yards for a touchdown by cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie.

But the Cowboys feel good about Cassel’s overall performance. He completed 17 of 27 passes for 227 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions in what was his first game since being acquired in a trade with Buffalo on Sept. 22.

The Cowboys believe it’s something they can build upon — especially the 80-yard game-tying touchdown drive in the fourth quarter, capped by a 25-yard strike to Terrance Williams.

“I think Matt did a lot of good things in the game,” Garrett said. “I think for the most part he made a lot of good decisions and a lot of good throws in the game. The obvious mistakes that he made were the interceptions. Those were big plays.

“Matt’s played enough to understand that you can’t do those things and typically turnovers and takeaways are a collective thing, but ultimately when you are a quarterback you have the responsibility and Matt knows that better than anybody else. But you gotta love how he competed. I thought he made a lot of great plays, particularly late in the game. The touchdown to (Devin) Street was a big-time play with a guy in his face. And to me it shows you a lot about what he’s all about and I think his teammates see that and so you work to clean up some of the things regarding the ball that prevent you from winning. But then you build on a lot of the positive things.”

Cassel certainly put the big play back in the Cowboys offense as he had six passes of 20 yards or more against the Giants. The Cowboys had just six in the previous three games combined with Brandon Weeden at quarterback.

–Wide receiver Devin Street, a fifth-round pick out of Pittsburgh in 2014, had two receptions as a rookie and two catches this season going into Sunday’s game against the New York Giants.

But Street finally flashed some potential Sunday in the Meadowlands, keeping both feet in bounds on a textbook 25-yard touchdown pass from Matt Cassel. At the time, it evened the score at 20-20 in the fourth quarter.

“I just got an opportunity,” Street said of his first career touchdown. “He threw me the ball and I took full advantage of it. I’m just going to keep going about my business and keep doing what I have to do. Hopefully, I’ll get some more opportunities.”

Wide receiver Terrance Williams caught four passes for 70 yards on Sunday, his most productive game since the Cowboys have been without quarterback Romo.

But he was also part of two interceptions thrown by Cassel, and he was blamed for the 58-yard interception return for a touchdown by Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie for not fighting.

“He was playing outside leverage and being the veteran that he is, he was reading the quarterback — not me — the whole way,” Williams said. “He broke on the ball and made a play. It was a good play by him.”