The Cardiac Cats are at it again.

One week after setting a franchise record by erasing a 20-point deficit on the road to win 26-23 in Minnesota, the Detroit Lions staged the largest road comeback in the history of the NFL to defeat the Dallas Cowboys 34-31.

This win rewrote the NFL history books in more ways than one. In addition to overcoming the largest road deficit ever, the 4-0 Lions became the first team in NFL history to erase 20-point deficits in back-to-back weeks.

With the Lions trailing 27-3 with about 25 minutes left to play, it was looking like a mercy killing with Romo ignoring the pain of his broken ribs while slicing and dicing through the defense like a “Ginsu Knife”.

The scene at Jerry’s House was celebratory with the Cowboys cheerleaders posing on the sidelines for the cameras; Jerry pacing with his patented shit-eating grin and Romo adding to his “injured hero” portfolio.

But then the NFL stars realigned in the third quarter.

Former Cowboys linebacker, Bobby Carpenter, who now dons Honolulu Blue, snatched a Romo pass and scampered 34 yards to the end zone to narrow the gap to 27-10. Carpenter was a groomsman in Romo’s wedding so maybe the quarterback was delivering the customary gift that goes along with that. Not wanting to be upstaged by Carpenter, Lions defensive back Chris Houston copied the feat and took another  Romo pass to the house to close the gap even more.

The offense who may have been feeling a bit guilty and embarrassed for not contributing suddenly came to life in the final quarter with quarterback Matthew Stafford connecting with the Calvin Johnson for two additional second-half scores; one into triple coverage. The man known as Megatron is now in the record books with four consecutive two-touchdown games and after watching game tape, opposing defenses may want to consider quadruple coverage in the future; the man is a beast.

On a 31-3 run and with a three-point lead, the Lions positioned themselves to shock the football world for the second week in a row.

During the post game interviews, Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford said:

“Any time you come back from 20-something, you’re doing some kind of stealing.”

Not always, not when you are given presents like Romo was gift-wrapping.

With an opportunity to put the game away, Romo dropped back to pass and floated a jump ball over the middle that landed in Lions linebacker, Stephen Tulloch’s hands. It was a lame duck that Pop Warner coaches would have been justified to scream at a 13-year-old about.

Romo’s stats were as up and down as a roller coaster on this Sunday afternoon. He finished 34-of-47 for 331 yards and three first-half TDs but the bigger story was his three second-half interceptions. A text I received from a loyal Cowboys supporter during the Cowboys historic implosion summed it up. It read:

“Romo is the Lions best player right now”

And not to take anything away from a hard-fighting Lions team that plays with a lot of heart and never quits, that was hard to argue with.

After last week’s comeback win in Minny, Lions charismatic center Dominic Raiola, who has been through years of agony including the record-setting 0-16 season, said the win was the biggest since he has been with the team. So how does that match up to this win in Dallas? “This is bigger. It’s definitely bigger because of the type of team they are. This is the biggest win since I’ve been here.”

“We haven’t done anything yet,” Lions second receiver Nate Burleson added.

Sure you have.

You’ve erased your team’s reputation of being losers while winning the hearts of football fans across the country and BTW, your Lions are the only team besides Green Bay to remain unbeaten this season.

This win also set a Lions’ franchise-best mark. It was the team’s fifth straight road win and that follows an NFL-record 0-26 road loss streak.

See what I mean about the stars realigning?

Originally from Detroit, Tom is an Atlanta-based sportswriter whose work has been published in the New York Daily News, Washington Times, Detroit Free Press and national hockey mags including The Hockey News (Canada) and USA Hockey Magazine. Follow Tom on Twitter @TomFerda

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