Garrett proves mettle on winning call

— -- ARLINGTON, Texas -- The debate about whether coach Jason Garrett is Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones' puppet is no longer worthy of discussing.

Not after the stunt Garrett pulled with six minutes left Sunday night in an NFC wild-card game at AT&T Stadium.

The easy decision was to punt, play defense, get the ball back and try to win the game at the end.

Garrett chose the hard road, going for it on fourth-and-6 from the Detroit Lions' 42-yard line. Are you kidding me?

Puppets don't have courage to make that move, because they're too concerned with potential criticism to be bold. We all know that if the Cowboys didn't convert that fourth down, there was a good chance the Cowboys would lose and Garrett would get ripped from coast to coast.

The Cowboys converted the fourth-down play with a 21-yard completion to Jason Witten, which paved the way for Tony Romo's game-winning touchdown pass to Terrance Williams with 2:32 left.

Dallas 24, Detroit 20.

"One of the things that kept going through my mind," Garrett said of his fourth-down decision, "is that when you get a chance to go play at the Masters, you don't lay up. You go after it."

This was Garrett's finest moment as the Cowboys' coach.

It was better than his first win, when he inspired a 1-7 team that had quit on former Cowboys coach Wade Phillips to win a road game against the New York Giants. It was even better than when he led Dallas to a road win over the Cincinnati Bengals less than 48 hours after practice squad linebacker Jerry Brown died in a single-car accident with defensive tackle Josh Brent at the wheel.

In the Cowboys' second playoff win since 1996, Garrett's team embodied all of the traits he has been preaching since he took over the job eight games into the 2010 season.

This game was about fighting through adversity. It was about players being their best regardless of circumstance. It was about ignoring the scoreboard and focusing on the task at hand.

It was about team instilled with the head coach's principles of showing mental and physical toughness, the likes of which we've rarely seen from the Cowboys since the glory days of the 1990s.

The Cowboys trailed 14-0 after the first quarter, 17-7 at halftime and 20-7 in the third quarter. But they refused to wilt.

We shouldn't be surprised. After all, they've rallied from deficits of 10 points or more on the road against the St. Louis Rams, Seattle Seahawks and the Giants, and won.

Slowly, the Cowboys found answers for Detroit's blitzes and stopped making the litany of drive-killing mistakes that had their offense out of synch much of the game. Late in the first half, the Cowboys had gained 80 yards on 25 plays.

But with game and the season on the line, Garrett believed in his offense and he wanted a play that had Romo throwing the ball to Witten -- two of the best players to ever play for this franchise.

"Jason really deserves all the credit for that, because the book might say don't do that," Cowboys passing game coordinator Scott Linehan said of the fourth-down decision. "But when you're playing to win, you have a feel, and he has a great feel for this game as a head coach and as a playcaller.

"He felt like this is the time to go win the game or at least put ourselves in position to win the game."

Garrett already had made up his mind to go for it on fourth down after a third-down pass to DeMarco Murray gained just 2 yards. The Cowboys called timeout to make sure they had the perfect play.

They settled on a route that made Witten the primary receiver in the middle of the field.

But Detroit covered the route so well that Witten had to improvise.

Romo held onto the ball longer than he wanted, because Witten needed time to maneuver farther downfield.

The 21-yard catch and run moved the ball to the Detroit 21. Nine plays and two defensive holding penalties later, Romo completed the go-ahead touchdown pass as he was falling face first to the turf.

As Williams caught the ball, Romo buried his head in the ground and repeatedly pounded the turf with both hands.

"You have to prove to your coaches over time who you are and what you can do," Romo said. "Jason was saying, let's not put this on anyone else. Let's put this on the offense and let's go win this thing."

When it was over, Garrett walked onto the field and found his quarterback. The coach hugged the QB tight and buried his head deep into Romo's shoulder.

Garrett has always been his own man. Now, everyone knows it.