IRVING, Texas — At the end of this silly, petty-bickering week, the quarterback finally had his say.

Never mind the receivers' accusations. Never mind that it was December.

Never mind that with the New York Giants in town, the Dallas Cowboys had their backsides pinned firmly against the playoff wall.

Never mind all that, because quarterback Tony Romo manned up.

He got sacked once, twice, three times in the first half alone. He got thrown around like a rag doll on Christmas morning. His lower back ached. His customary choir-boy face was painted with pain.

But when the Cowboys needed him most Sunday night, Romo stood tall, even when he physically wasn't able.

With another shutdown performance by the defense backing him, Romo threw for two touchdowns and the Cowboys stayed very much alive in the NFC playoff hunt, cutting down the Giants 20-8.

Desperate weeks, perhaps, call for desperate performances.

Having clinched the NFC East the week before, New York might well have lacked the urgency the Cowboys were compelled to play with.

The Giants were shorthanded. Short-legged, you could say, too.

With starting running back Brandon Jacobs injured and star receiver Plaxico Burress out after shooting himself in the leg, New York's Eli Manning was like a quarterback with one arm tied behind his back.

But the Cowboys' defense had something to do with Manning struggling like that. For the second week in a row against a possible Super Bowl contender, the defense shone in the spotlight.

With no running game to lean on, Manning became the Cowboys defenders' warmest target. Like Romo, he, too, was battered and yanked and smothered often. The Cowboys sacked Manning eight times, three times by linebacker DeMarcus Ware.

But unlike Romo, Eli couldn't overcome the bad with the good.

The closest the Giants came to the Cowboys' end zone in the second half was the home team's 29-yard line.

"Our defense just played outstanding," Cowboys coach Wade Phillips said.

Give Phillips some credit. Whether it's him now calling the defenses or whether it was all the defensive coaches finally tightening loose ends, the Cowboys have been stifling opponents since the Thanksgiving Day game.

The Giants came into the Sunday night game tied for second in the NFL in scoring and first in rushing offense. But in the New York franchise's final game at Texas Stadium, the Giants never got to the end zone and were held to 218 net yards.

They ran 60 plays, and 27 of them were either incompletions or plays where yards were lost.

This is the same defense, mind you, that surrendered 35 points to the Giants six weeks ago and gave up 30 and 34 points to the Cardinals and Rams in back-to-back weeks.

Granted, Manning was missing some key pieces. But the Cowboys' pass rush has been a disruptive force for two games in a row now against the Steelers and Giants.

Speaking of disruptive forces, the Cowboys' sideline never heard a discouraging word Sunday. If Romo felt pressured to get the ball into Terrell Owens' hands, he didn't show it.

Owens was thrown to, by unofficial count, five times. He caught three, loudly dropped one, and otherwise played the role of loyal soldier.

Tight end Jason Witten, whose offensive attention Owens had beefed about, caught five passes, including the one that iced the game, when he turned a third-and-9 play into an 11-yard gain in the final minutes.

The defensive heroes were many on a night when the home team desperately needed them. Ware finished with seven tackles, but Bradie James, Terence Newman (two interceptions), Greg Ellis and Chris Canty all stood out.

The rest was Romo's work.

He's had flashier nights and more dazzling games, but Romo might never have turned in a tougher performance. The Giants were missing major weapons on offense, not defense. Romo took a night-long beating.

He has won games with his daring. He's won games with his elusive feet.

This one Romo won with his heart.

All week long, as the controversy swirled around him—and about him—Romo minded his tongue. Wisely, as it turned out, he stayed above the silly fray.

After the game, he joked to NBC that he was glad that his teammates fabricated the distraction.

"Really intelligent of them," he said, flashing his old grin.

The last word on this night, as it turned out, belonged to quarterback Tony Romo.

Mr. December?