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Stats & Information gets you ready for the NFL Draft at the end of the month with a look at the biggest need for each team. Today, we take a look at the NFC East.

Dallas Cowboys
Need: Secondary

Last season the Cowboys had trouble defending the deep ball, allowing 43 percent of passes over 20 air yards to be completed, fourth-worst in the NFL.

The Cowboys also got burned on throws to the sidelines, giving up 15 touchdowns with just five interceptions on tosses outside the numbers. Only the Bills and Vikings had worse differentials.

Cornerback Brandon Carr was a high-profile addition to the Dallas secondary, but further depth is necessary.

Kiper’s 1st-Round Prediction: Mark Barron, S, Alabama
McShay’s 1st-Round Prediction: Dontari Poe, DT, Memphis

New York Giants
Need: Linebacker

The Giants’ defense relied on a standard pass rush last season, sending four or fewer pass rushers on nearly 70 percent of dropbacks, which ranked among the top 15 teams in the NFL.

However, the Giants’ linebackers defended or intercepted only nine passes last year, tied for seventh-fewest in the league.

New York also had issues defending short throws in the middle of the field, allowing completions on 71 percent of passes within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage and inside the numbers (26th in NFL).

Kiper’s 1st-Round Prediction: Coby Fleener, TE, Stanford
McShay’s 1st-Round Prediction: Mike Adams, OT, Ohio State

Philadelphia Eagles
Need: Defense

The Eagles traded for LB DeMeco Ryans in the offseason, but their defense could use more upgrading. Philadelphia was one of three teams to send four or fewer pass rushers on more than 80 percent of dropbacks last season.

However, even with linebackers frequently dropping into coverage, the Eagles were susceptible to the short passing game.

An interior defensive line presence might be necessary as well to help stop the run. The Eagles line up defensive ends wide, leaving the middle open. The result? They allowed 4.9 yards per rush up the middle last season, which ranked second-worst in the NFL.

Kiper’s 1st-Round Prediction: Fletcher Cox, DT, Mississippi State
McShay’s 1st-Round Prediction: Mark Barron, S, Alabama

Washington Redskins
Need: Quarterback

The Redskins really struggled on long throws in 2011, notching the worst completion percentage (22 percent) and tying for the fewest touchdowns (2) on passes that traveled more than 20 air yards.

Washington is expected to take Robert Griffin III with the second pick in the draft, and he should provide a significant upgrade to their deep passing game. At Baylor last season, Griffin completed 51 percent of passes that flew more than 20 yards in the air, with 20 touchdowns and just two interceptions.

The Redskins also failed to control the middle of the field in the passing game. Washington quarterbacks ranked 27th in the NFL in Total QBR and 29th in completion percentage on throws inside the numbers last season.

Kiper’s 1st-Round Prediction: Robert Griffin III, QB, Baylor
McShay’s 1st-Round Prediction: Robert Griffin III, QB, Baylor

Brees (97.2 Total QBR) Finishes with Another Spectacular Performance
Drew Brees continued his end-of-season tear in Week 17, going 28-35 for 389 yards with five touchdowns in a 45-17 blowout of the Panthers. He did throw one interception, but 21 of his 28 completions went for first downs including 10 that traveled at least 15 yards through the air.

Brees led the Saints to seven scores (six touchdown, one field goal) on their first eight possessions, as they scored 40+ points for the third straight game.

It was his eighth straight game with a Total QBR above 80. Since Week 9, Brees has a ridiculous Total QBR of 91.3, not only the highest in the league in that span, but the highest November-and-after regular-season QBR by a significant margin for any QB in any season since 2008.

Another Disappointing Finish to a Season for Tony Romo (11.0 Total QBR)
Tony Romo’s line from Sunday’s game – 29-37, 289 yards, two touchdowns, one interception – don’t look so bad, but a deeper look shows how those numbers are deceiving.

In the first half, Romo led the Cowboys to zero points as they dug a 21-point hole they couldn’t climb out of. He took three sacks – two on third downs that ended drives – and completed only two passes that went more than 10 yards in the air, both on the final drive of the half in which the clock was running down.

Romo played better in the second half, but took three more sacks, threw an interception in the third quarter with the Cowboys trying to cut into a 14-point lead, and failed to convert on a sneak on 4th-and-1 from the Giants’ 10-yard line early in the fourth quarter.

His Total QBR of 11.0 on Sunday was his lowest of the season and second-lowest in any of his 51 games – regular or postseason – since 2008 (min. 10 action plays). His lowest single-game QBR in that span was a 4.2 on Dec. 7, 2008 at Pittsburgh.

Tim Tebow (2.4 Total QBR) Runs Out of Magic against the Chiefs, But Broncos Still Make Playoffs
Tim Tebow had a rough outing Sunday against the Chiefs, going 6-22 for 60 yards through the air and carrying the ball six times for 16 yards on the ground.

Only one of his incompletions was a drop by the receiver, and only three of his rushes or passes resulted in a first down.

Tebow fumbled with the Broncos driving down the field for a possible game-tying touchdown early in the second quarter, and the Broncos’ other 11 drives ended with nine punts, a field goal and an interception (though the pick was in “desperation time”).

Tebow finished with his lowest single-game score as a starter. It was also the fourth-lowest single-game rating of the season (minimum 30 action plays).

With their second win against the Dallas Cowboys in four weeks, the New York Giants claimed their first NFC East title since 2008, punching their ticket to the NFL postseason.

Eli Manning threw for 346 yards and three touchdowns, including his 15th fourth-quarter touchdown pass of the season (an NFL record).

Victor Cruz recorded his seventh 100-yard receiving game of the season (a new Giants record) with 178 yards, including a 74-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter.

Cruz's 74-yard touchdown reception included 69 yards after the catch. Cruz had three catches this season where he gained at least 60 yards after the catch, tied for most in the league.

The Giants have now won six of their last eight regular season games against Dallas and swept the regular season series from the Cowboys for the fourth time in the last 10 seasons.

The Giants will host an NFC Wild Card round game against the Falcons next Sunday.

Tony Romo threw for 289 yards and two touchdowns, but also threw a key interception in the fourth quarter, finishing with a Total QBR of 11.0.

The Cowboys finished the 2011 season with losses in four of their final five games and missed the playoffs for the third time in the last four campaigns.

Dallas is on the outside looking in, in part because of a strong effort from Manning.

Manning was particularly successful on third down, completing eight of nine passes for 192 yards. Three of his third-down completions went to Victor Cruz for 123 yards, including the aforementioned touchdown in the first quarter and a drive-extending 44-yard pass in the fourth quarter.

Coming into this week, Manning had completed only 55.2 percent of his passes on third down, ranking 18th among qualified quarterbacks.

Manning used a quick passing game to avoid pressure from the Cowboys’ pass rush, as 57 percent of his passes traveled just five yards or fewer downfield.

In fact, all three of Manning's touchdown passes Sunday traveled five or fewer yards in the air, his single-game high the last four seasons. In Week 14 against the Cowboys, Manning only completed 53 percent of his passes on throws of that distance.

On the other side of the ball, the Giants sacked Tony Romo six times Sunday, including four with just a four-man pass rush. The Giants were second-best in the NFL this season at generating pressure in four-man rushes.

With Eli Manning and Tony Romo combining for 721 pass yards and six touchdowns in the New York Giants’ 37-34 victory over the Dallas Cowboys in Week 14, defense was a bit of an afterthought.

However, when the two teams meet Sunday night for the NFC East title, two of the most important players to watch for will be rushing the passer: Jason Pierre-Paul of the Giants and DeMarcus Ware of the Cowboys.

In Week 14, Pierre-Paul recorded two sacks –- one of which was a safety –- and blocked Dan Bailey’s game-tying field goal attempt.

The Giants relied heavily on a four-man rush against the Cowboys in Week 14, sending four or fewer rushers on 24 of Tony Romo’s 32 dropbacks, the Giants’ fourth-highest rate of the season. Pierre-Paul recorded both of his sacks in such rushes and has been one of the hardest defenders to stop in those situations all season.

Pierre-Paul’s active arms, as seen on that blocked kick, are also prevalent in his ability to swat down passes. Since the start of the 2010 season, no defensive lineman has batted or defended more passes than Pierre-Paul (15), whose eight this season are second-most on the Giants.

Romo is not the easiest quarterback to bat passes down against.

After having four passes batted down at the line of scrimmage in his first five games this season, he's only had one pass batted down in his last 10 games, in which he's made 292 pass attempts.

For the Cowboys, Ware had a quiet game against the Giants in Week 14. He was held without a sack for the fourth time this season despite rushing the passer 33 times. However, Ware’s versatility always makes him a tough assignment.

Ware’s 18 sacks this season are tied for second-most in the NFL, but unlike the other top pass rushers in the league, Ware has done his damage from both sides of the line.

Ware is just one of four defenders with at least 4.0 sacks when lining up on either the left side of the defense or the right side. By comparison, Pierre-Paul has recorded 12.5 of his 15.5 sacks when starting on the defense’s right side.

In contrast to Pierre-Paul’s ability to get to the quarterback in standard pass rush schemes, Ware is at his best when the Cowboys send extra rushers.

Ware has picked up a league-high nine sacks when a part of a five-plus man pass rush, 2.5 more sacks than the next highest rusher (Connor Barwin, 6.5).

Ware has lined up on the right side of the line on just under 70 percent of his snaps played, which means he is more likely to bring down the quarterback when lining up on the defense’s left.

Manning was ready for Ware in the first go-around and has a lot of experience in passing against teams sending five or more rushers this season. His 208 attempts are 34 more than anyone in the NFL.

Manning's completion rate against five-man rushes (55 percent) is right at the league average, but when he hits a pass against the blitz, his 16.5 yards per completion is the best in the NFL.

Regardless of where Pierre-Paul or Ware line up Sunday night, the offensive lines will have to take notice. Only Jason Babin has more games (six) with multiple sacks this season than Pierre-Paul and Ware (five each).

Mark Simon also contributed to this post

If Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo was looking for any further motivation regarding Sunday’s matchup with Eli Manning and the New York Giants, he can find it, at least statistically, in his omission from the NFC’s Pro Bowl roster.

Manning was selected over Romo despite Romo ranking eight spots ahead of him in the Total QBR rankings.

Romo’s Total QBR for the season is 72.4, fourth-best in the NFL and third-best in the NFC, behind Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers (85.2) and Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints (82.7).

Manning ranks 12th overall and among NFC quarterbacks, he also rates behind Matt Ryan of the Atlanta Falcons (66.2), Michael Vick of the Philadelphia Eagles (62.4), Matthew Stafford of the Detroit Lions (60.8), and Jay Cutler, who was placed on injured reserve on Tuesday by the Chicago Bears (59.5).

The biggest difference between Romo and his competitors is a big gap in the expected points he added in his pass attempts. He ranks fourth in that stat, (known as Pass EPA), adding 111.7 points to his team this season. Manning rates a distant fifth (85.9). A major reason for this is that Manning has thrown nearly twice as many interceptions (16) as Romo (nine).

Romo’s Total QBR was boosted by four games with a Total QBR of 90 or better, a 27-24 win over the San Francisco 49ers in Week 2 (Total QBR: 93.9), a 23-13 win over the Seattle Seahawks in Week 9 (Total QBR: 90.0), a 44-7 win over the Buffalo Bills in Week 10 (Total QBR: 99.3) and a 31-15 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 15.

In those four games, Romo was a combined 85-for-120 for 1,143 yards, with 10 touchdowns and no interceptions.

Manning only has one game this season that ranked in the Top 50, a 27-24 win over the Buffalo Bills in Week 6 (Total QBR: 91.4; 27th-best in the NFL this season).

He does have three others that rate very well, and it likely helps his cause among those selecting the Pro Bowl rosters, that two of those were in wins against the New England Patriots (Total QBR: 81.3) and the Cowboys (Total QBR: 77.1)

The Pro Bowl selections for the AFC were basically a match for the Total QBR rankings.

Tom Brady of the New England Patriots, Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Philip Rivers of the San Diego Chargers, are first, third, and fourth in the conference in Total QBR, respectively. Injured Houston Texans quarterback Matt Schaub was second.

The next-best possible AFC quarterback by Total QBR, Matt Hasselbeck of the Tennessee Titans was actually just one spot below Manning, at 58.8, 13th-best in the NFL.

On Sunday night, Dallas Cowboys kicker Dan Bailey had his potential game-tying 47-yard field goal blocked by Jason Pierre-Paul on the game’s penultimate play.

The block came after Bailey drilled the same 47-yard try moments earlier, a split-second after the Giants called timeout to ice him.

Since Bailey also missed a potential game-winning field goal against the Arizona Cardinals seven days earlier, after a timeout called by his own coach, many will undoubtedly look at this small sample size and conclude that icing the kicker should be a routine strategy employed by head coaches.

However, looking at the effectiveness of such a strategy reveals that coaches are better off pocketing their timeouts.

With 10 seconds or less remaining in the 4th quarter, kickers who are not iced have made 70.2 percent of field goals since 2001.

When a timeout is called immediately before the try, they made 83.0 percent of attempts. That increase of 12.8 percentage points means recent attempts to ice a kicker at the end of a game actually increased the kicker’s chances of success by 18.2 percent.

Breaking those numbers down by distance shows that icing is particularly ineffective on long field goals. Field goals are made a higher rate following a timeout at all increments, but kickers more than double their accuracy on tries of 50 or more yards, hitting 77.8 percent after a timeout, compared to 37.5 percent otherwise.

Something coaches should think about as they sidle up to the official, hands poised to call timeout in an end-game situation.

For the seventh time in eight weeks the Denver Broncos won with Tim Tebow as their starting quarterback. This despite Tebow recording a QBR below 50.0 for the third straight week and for the sixth time in those eight starts.

Tebow and the Broncos came away with another improbable comeback victory on Sunday against the Bears, rallying from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit and winning in overtime.

As is customary for him since taking over as starter, Tebow struggled early on, completing barely over a third of his passes and committing two turnovers as the Broncos were shut out for the first 55+ minutes of the game. But he was able to turn it around on the Broncos’ final three drives, leading the team to 13 points and an eventual victory.

However, if you look at Tebow’s game in total, he wasn’t actually that great. In a game that was close throughout…

- He was sacked five times and committed two turnovers (1 Int, 1 fumble)

- On eight third down pass plays, he went 3-7 with an interception and a sack, converting only two first downs

- On seven third down rush plays (including designed rushes and scrambles), he converted only two first downs

- The Broncos’ 15 offensive drives resulted in eight punts (including seven 3-and-outs), and only two made it inside the Bears’ 30

For these reasons, despite making some big plays, Tebow finished with a Total QBR of just 32.9 for the game since he did not lead the Broncos to many points.

For those who say “Yeah, but he came through in the clutch yet again!”, take a look at when and how the game was actually won and lost. The two largest impact plays of the game in terms of changes in win probability both took place in overtime:

- Marion Barber’s lost fumble took the Bears’ win probability from 63.3% to 29.8%, a decrease of 33.5%.

- Matt Prater’s game-winning 51-yd FG took the Broncos’ win probability from 70.0% to 100.0%, an increase of 30.0%.

Keep in mind that both of these plays greatly increased the Broncos’ chances of winning the game in overtime, but Tim Tebow was not on the field for either one of them.

Meanwhile Eli Manning had another clutch fourth quarter performance and finished with a 77.1 Total QBR, good for 9th best in Week 14.

After throwing one bad interception with less than seven minutes left in the fourth quarter, Manning was nearly flawless in leading the Giants back from a two-score deficit over the Cowboys.

Manning went 8-11 for 122 yards and seven first downs on New York’s final two drives (discounting the kneel at the end of the game), both culminating in touchdowns. The interception dropped his Total QBR from 79.7 to 62.8, but he was able to raise it back up to 77.1 with his clutch play in the game’s final six minutes.

For more information about how Total QBR is calculated, go here.

For the Dallas Cowboys, many eyes will be on stars like Tony Romo and DeMarcus Ware for Sunday's showdown for the NFC East lead against the New York Giants, but it could be third-year fullback Tony Fiammetta, who holds the key to this contest.

Though these two teams will meet once more in Week 17, this game will be very important to both team’s hopes to win the division. A Giants win, one that would snap a four-game losing streak, would put them in first place. A Dallas win would give the Cowboys a two-game lead with three games remaining.

Fiammetta’s presence could make a big difference in the Cowboys chances. He has missed the last three games due to an undisclosed illness, with symptoms of nausea and dizziness. He is listed as questionable this week, but expected to play. That could provide a huge statistical boost.

A quick look at the numbers show how much more productive the Cowboys running game has been with Fiammetta leading the way. His presence and success of the running game has also helped quarterback Tony Romo be a more efficient passer.

Without Fiammetta in the lineup, Romo has averaged more yards per game, but also attempted nine more passes per game to compensate for the lack of running production.

The key numbers to gauge Romo’s production with a good running game are his touchdown-to-interception ratio and Total QBR.

With Fiammetta clearing lanes for the running game Romo has excelled with 10 touchdowns, two interceptions and an 83.3 Total QBR. In the six games Fiammetta has missed, Romo has thrown twelve touchdowns, but also seven interceptions with a Total QBR of 62.0.

Rookie running back, DeMarco Murray, has also benefited greatly, rushing for 502 of his 872 yards with Fiammetta as his lead blocker.

By direction Murray is averaging over six yards per carry on rushes to the left and to the right, and 12 yards-per-carry on rushes up the middle when Fiammetta is lead blocking.

In fact no running back/fullback tandem has a higher yards-per-carry ratio in non-shotgun snaps this season.

So what does all this mean for Sunday?

If the Cowboys hope to win, they need to run the ball well against a Giants team that has surrendered 127 rushing yards per game this season. In the Cowboys seven wins they have rattled off 138 rushing yards per game, but just 83 rushing yards per contest in their five losses.

Last year at this time, Dallas Cowboys kicker Dan Bailey was still at Oklahoma State, and coming off a game at Kansas in which he missed two of his four field goal attempts.

The next week, Bailey made both of his field goal attempts in a loss to Oklahoma and polished off his collegiate career by making all three field goal attempts in a win over Arizona in the Alamo Bowl.

Flash forward to the present, where Bailey hit a pair of field goals, including the game winner with no time remaining, to help the Cowboys beat the Miami Dolphins in a Thanksgiving nail biter.

Bailey has made 27 of 28 field goal attempts in his rookie NFL season, including 26 in a row, one shy of the Cowboys team record by any player, set by Chris Boniol in 1996.

The Cowboys now have seven wins this season, and four of them have come via Bailey game-winning field goals.

Another rookie from the Big 12 has also played a major role in the Cowboys success this season, running back DeMarco Murray.

Murray played sparingly in the first five games of the season, totaling only 73 rushing yards on 25 carries, but has averaged 126.8 rush yards per game in the six games since, in which the Cowboys have gone 5-1.

Through 11 games, Murray has 834 rushing yards, already fourth on the Cowboys single-season rookie rushing list, behind only Tony Dorsett, Calvin Hill and Emmitt Smith. Dorsett is the only Cowboy to rush for 1,000 yards in his rookie season, totaling 1,007 in 1977.

It was Bailey and Murray’s first Thanksgiving games in the NFL, but that wasn’t the case for Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, who is now a perfect 5-0 in his NFL career on Thanksgiving as a starter, the best record for any quarterback with at least five Thanksgiving Day starts.

Romo threw a pair of first-quarter interceptions, something he’s now done just twice in his NFL career, but rebounded with a pair of touchdown passes, both to Laurent Robinson.

Robinson was targeted twice in the end zone on Thursday, and both throws resulted in touchdowns. Robinson has five receptions this season in the five times he’s been targeted in the end zone.

Romo is now 19-2 as a starting quarterback in the NFL in November, the best record of any starting quarterback in November in the Super Bowl era (minimum 15 starts in the month).

He did struggle throwing down the field in the victory, going just 5-14 on throws of 11 or more yards, with both of his interceptions coming on throws of that distance. Entering the game Romo had only thrown four interceptions on passes of 11 or more yards for the entire season.

Those three players helped the Cowboys to improve to 7-4 this season, one more win they had all of last season, when Dallas went 6-10 for its first losing season since 2004. Dallas has also won five of its last six Thanksgiving Day games.

Tim Tebow couldn't find the come-from-behind magic on Sunday that he had in Week 7 against the Miami Dolphins. As a result, his Denver Broncos lost by 35 points to the Detroit Lions with Tebow's Total QBR among the worst by a quarterback in a single game this season at 3.4.

Tim Tebow

In addition to Tim Tebow’s relatively poor passing stats (18-39, 172 yards, 1 TD, 1 Int), the Broncos quarterback took an incredible seven sacks for 55 yards and fumbled three times. When the game was within two scores early on, Tebow went just 3-11 for 32 yards and two 1st downs. His only saving grace was his ability to run, as he picked up 63 yards on 10 carries.

Despite being ineffective, Tebow played the entire game piling up a whopping 59 action plays, giving him the lowest Total QBR of any quarterback with at least 50 action plays in a single game since 2008 (more than 300 QB games reach that minimum).

Sunday marked Tebow’s fifth career start in the NFL and his Total QBR has declined significantly in each one.

Tebow’s season-long Total QBR now stands at 12.8, the lowest among 35 qualified QB so far this season.

Matthew Stafford

On the flip side of Tebow’s poor outing was Matthew Stafford’s great one, as the Detroit quarterback finished with a career-high Total QBR of 94.6 (previous high was 84.6 in Week 3 of the 2009 season vs the Redskins). When the game was still relatively close in the first half, Stafford went 16-22 for 11 1st downs and 191 yards, with 135 of those yards coming in the air (including a 41-yard TD strike into the end zone to Titus Young).

Stafford’s great day stood out even more when contrasted with Tebow’s paltry performance. The 91.3 difference in their Total QBRs was the highest among any two opposing quarterbacks in the same game this season, and the seventh-highest such difference in a single game since 2008 (only counting the QB with the most action plays for each team).

Michael Vick

Michael Vick had arguably his best game of the season on Sunday night, making plays with his arm and his feet in an impressive 34-7 victory over the Dallas Cowboys. In the first half when the game was still close, Vick was 13-17 for 187 yards and 2 TD through the air and had 45 yards and three 1st downs on the ground. He led the Eagles to three touchdowns and one field goal on their four drives in the half.

Vick’s 90.1 Total QBR was his second-highest since returning to the NFL in 2009 (minimum 10 action plays), behind only his record 99.8 Total QBR on Monday Night Football in Washington last season. Sunday’s high rating was also good enough to boost Vick into sixth place among qualifiers in season-long Total QBR, passing his opponent from Sunday night, Tony Romo (who finished with a poor 23.6 Total QBR for the game).

For more information about how Total QBR is calculated, go here.

Week 6 was a week of extremes as six quarterbacks who have played in at least four games this year set season-highs in QBR while five set season-lows. Rookies Andy Dalton, Cam Newton and Blaine Gabbert set career-highs.

Ryan and Rodgers lead the pack

Matt Ryan:

• Season-high 92.5 Total QBR

• Major cause: Two defensive pass interference calls in the end zone setting up 1st and goals for the Falcons. Ryan contributed 4.4 clutch-weighted expected points to the Falcons on penalties, the most in a single game for any quarterback this season.

• Ryan was also 3-3 for 53 yards on third downs in the fourth quarter. All three went for first downs.

• Since 2008, Ryan has 12 games with a QBR of 90 or higher, second most in the league.

Aaron Rodgers:

• 91.9 Total QBR, second highest of the season

• Major cause: In the first half Rodgers was 11-15 for 234 yards and three touchdowns. Despite Rodgers being unable to lead the Packers to any second half points, his superb first half gave Green Bay a 24-0 cushion which was never threatened.

Manning and Newton with season-highs

Eli Manning:

• Season-high 91.4 Total QBR

• Major cause: Stayed away from negative plays. This was Manning’s first game since Week 12 of last season without a sack, interception or fumble.

Cam Newton:

• Season-high 80.6 Total QBR

• Major cause: Scrambling. Newton added 8.1 clutch-weighted expected points with his scrambling, the most in a single game since Vince Young in Week 11 of the 2009 season. A large chunk of this came on Newton’s rush TD on a 3rd and 5 from the Falcons 14 yard line with the Panthers trailing by four in the third quarter.

Romo and Brady both above average, but not much more

Tony Romo:

• 62.6 Total QBR

• Major cause: It was a mixed bag for Romo. His biggest play of the game came on a 17-yard scramble on a 2nd and 13 in the 4th quarter with the game tied. That drive ended with a Cowboys field goal to take a 16-13 lead. However, Romo struggled on third downs all day, completing only two first down passes with an INT on seven attempts.

Tom Brady:

• Season-low 56.8 Total QBR

• Major cause: Like Romo, it was a mixed bag for Brady. His touchdown to Aaron Hernandez is what most people will remember (and was his biggest play of the game); however, Brady did not complete a single pass that traveled more than 12 yards in the air. This is the first time Brady did not complete a pass of that length since Week 4 of last season.

• Entering the final drive Brady’s QBR was 30.6, so the fact he was able to bring it all the way up to 56.8 on one drive was impressive.

For more information about Total QBR, go to http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/6909058/nfl-total-qbr-faq

The New England Patriots appeared headed to their first regular-season defeat at Gillette Stadium in nearly three years when Dan Bailey kicked a field goal late in the fourth quarter to give the Dallas Cowboys a 16-13 lead.

But the Patriots soon got the ball back at their own 20-yard line with 2:31 left and Tom Brady engineered his 21st career game-winning, fourth-quarter comeback drive, culminating in an eight-yard touchdown pass to Aaron Hernandez with less than 30 seconds remaining.

The Patriots extended several notable win streaks on Sunday with this come-from-behind victory, including their 20th straight regular-season win at home and their 18th straight home win versus NFC opponents.

However, one near-historic streak came to end when the team failed to score 30 points in the regular season for the first time since Week 9 of the 2010 season. That 13-game streak was one shy of the longest all-time, a record still held by the “Greatest Show on Turf”, the 1999-00 St. Louis Rams.

The last team to hold the Patriots under 30 points was the Browns, a defense coached by current Cowboys coordinator Rob Ryan. One of the things Cowboys defensive coordinator Rob Ryan brought with him from Cleveland was the "amoeba" defense, nicknamed for its shapeless, ever-changing appearance.

Ryan called for the “amoeba” formation on less than 15 percent of plays in the first 57 minutes Sunday. But it was used almost exclusively on the final drive with little success, as the Patriots averaged eight yards per play and scored the game-winning touchdown when that defense was on the field.

Brady and Bill Belichick have now won 116 games together as quarterback and coach, which ties them with Don Shula and Dan Marino for most wins in the Super Bowl Era by a coach-quarterback combo.

The Cowboys continue to play close games at a rate like no other team. Their last 11 games have been decided by four-or-fewer points, which is the longest such streak in NFL history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. It is four games longer than the next-longest streak, done by the 1983-84 Lions.

The New England Patriots and their high-powered offense host the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday afternoon in a marquee AFC-NFC matchup.

The Patriots have scored 30-or-more points in 13 straight regular season games dating back to last year, one shy of the NFL record set by the 1999-00 St. Louis Rams. The last team to hold the Patriots under 30 points in the regular season was the Browns in Week 9 of 2010, a defense coached by current Cowboys coordinator Rob Ryan.

The offense has been fueled by a Tom Brady-led passing attack which leads the league in touchdowns through the air since the start of the 2010 season. Not surprisingly, Brady has also posted the highest Total Quarterback Rating in the NFL at 75.0 over the last two seasons.

On Sunday Brady will face one of his stiffest tests during the streak, going against a Cowboys pass defense that has allowed a Total QBR of 29.1 this year, which ranks second among all NFL teams behind only the Ravens.

Brady has consistently been one of the top passers in the league, and this year leads all quarterbacks with 1,874 passing yards.

But there is one key difference in the Patriots passing game plan this year, as Brady is throwing the deep ball like no other season before.

Through the first five weeks, Brady leads the NFL in completions and yards on throws of 11-or-more yards downfield, and has 11 pass plays of 30-plus yards, which is tied for the NFL lead with Aaron Rodgers.

The Cowboys secondary, however, matches up well with Brady’s air-it-out passing attack. The Dallas defense is allowing just 8.7 yards per attempt on throws that travel 11 yards or more, good for fifth among NFL teams.

Brady won’t be the only quarterback to watch on Sunday, as many eyes (especially those in Texas) will be focused on the play of Tony Romo, who has had a roller-coaster season so far.

While his play has been fairly consistent in the first through the first three quarters, he’s played either like an MVP or a practice squad player in final 15 minutes.

The good news for Cowboys fans is that if the team can keep it close through three quarters, Romo might have a chance win the game late. He’ll be facing a Patriots defense that is allowing a Total QBR of 88.1 in the fourth quarter, which is by far the worst mark in the NFL.

The Detroit Lions overcame a 24-point deficit to beat the Dallas Cowboys a week after coming back to win from a 20-point deficit last week. With the 34-30 road win the Lions improved to 4-0 for the first time since 1980 and have won eight straight regular-season games for the first time since a nine-game streak over the 1953-54 seasons.

It’s the largest blown lead in Cowboys franchise history, and it’s tied for the second-largest blown fourth-quarter lead (13). The only time the Cowboys blew a larger fourth-quarter lead was in Week 1 of this season, when they led the New York Jets by 14 in the final quarter.

Calvin Johnson caught eight passes for 93 yards and two touchdowns, his fourth consecutive game with two touchdown catches. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, he’s the first player in NFL history with at least two touchdown receptions in each of a team’s first four games of a season.

He’s the second player (Cris Carter in 1995) with at least two touchdown catches in four straight games in a single season and his eight touchdown receptions are tied for the most all-time in a team’s first four games of a season.

Tony Romo threw three touchdowns, his 20th career game with at least three touchdown passes, tying Danny White for the most such games in franchise history. Romo also had two interceptions returned for touchdowns, the first time he’s done that since 2007 in Buffalo.

The last Cowboys QB to do that at home was Ryan Leaf in a 2001 loss to the Eagles. All five of Romo’s picks this season have come in the second half.

The Lions returned two interceptions for touchdowns in the same game for just the second time since 1977. They’ve outscored their opponents 92-20 in the second half and overtime this season.

Sunday was the second straight day that a Texas team lost a big halftime lead.

On Saturday in the same stadium, Texas A&M led Arkansas by 18 at halftime and would up losing the game 42-38. The Cowboys led the Lions 20-3 at halftime Sunday and made it 27-3 early in the third quarter.

The Lions used their defense to get themselves back in the game. After allowing Tony Romo’s third touchdown early in the third quarter, they used a four-man rush to pick off Romo three times, returning two of them for touchdowns.

Despite not scoring a single touchdown on Monday, the Dallas Cowboys improved to 2-1 on the season with an 18-16 win over the previously unbeaten Washington Redskins. Dan Bailey kicked six field goals in six attempts tying the rookie record for field goals in one game. Garo Yepremian had six for the Lions in 1966 (in a 32–31 win over the Vikings) and the Steelers’ Jeff Reed had six in 2002 (in a 25–23 win over the Jaguars).

Bailey is also the third kicker in Cowboys' history to kick at least six field goals in a game. The former Lou Groza Award winner out of Oklahoma State joins Chris Boniol in 1996 and Billy Cundiff in 2003 who each kicked seven field goals and also did it on Monday Night Football. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Bailey is also the first Dallas kicker since Cundiff in 2003 to make at least one field goal in six consecutive quarters (including an overtime period).

Tony Romo completed 22 of 36 passes for 255 yards, but saw his streak of 20 consecutive games with a touchdown pass come to an end. That had been a franchise record. Romo finished with a 60.7 Total QBR good for 11th best in the league this week. His counterpart Rex Grossman's Total QBR was just 23.3.

Monday night was a great example of how Total QBR is a better indication of a quarterback’s true contribution to his team than the NFL passer rating.

Although Romo and Grossman had almost identical “basic” QB stats, the difference in the game was Romo’s ability to make plays when it mattered most. On Romo’s last drive he was 3-4 for 57 yards, including a huge 3rd-and-21 conversion, which according to the Elias Sports Bureau was the longest third-down passing conversion of Romo’s career. On Grossman’s last drive he took a sack and lost a fumble, effectively ending his team’s chance of winning.

As a reminder, Total QBR is a quarterback rating that takes into account all of a QB’s contributions (passing, rushing, sacks, fumbles, penalties) to his team’s scoring and winning and summarizes them into one number on a 0-100 scale, where 50 is average.

The Cowboys have been in a number of close games dating back to last season as they became the first team in NFL history to play in nine straight games decided by three points or fewer. Dallas' win leaves the Philadelphia Eagles alone in last place with a 1-2 record in the NFC East.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Monday's game was the 12th this week decided by seven or fewer points. That ties the record for most such games in one week in NFL history. There were also 12 such games in Week 15 in 1993 and Week 12 in 2003. It was just the fourth NFL game since the merger with an 18-16 score and the first since 2000.