NFL MONDAY Parcells' homecoming made sweet with OT win

Dallas' Billy Cundiff kicked seven field goals in the 35-32 victory over the Giants.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- Bill Parcells stood outside the locker room and congratulated each and every passing player.
He had just earned with his first victory as coach of the Dallas Cowboys and did it against the New York Giants, the team he led to two Super Bowl victories.
"I feel fortunate to win," Parcells said. "I would have been very disappointed to lose. It was one of the greatest games I've ever been involved in."
It took a record-tying game from a relatively unknown kicker and some help from New York's special teams to give Parcells the unlikely victory, a 35-32 overtime thriller Monday night.
"That was about as wild a win as I've ever been in," Parcells said a few minutes after Billy Cundiff kicked his seventh field goal with 5 minutes, 56 seconds remaining in sudden death.
Forced overtime
Cundiff's winning 25-yard kick came after he forced overtime with a career-long 52-yarder that barely got over the crossbar on the final play of regulation.
Cundiff probably never should have had a chance to tie it after Matt Bryant kicked a 30-yarder to give New York a 32-29 lead with 11 seconds to play.
The Giants -- who passed up a chance to run the clock down before the field goal -- merely had to put the kickoff in play so that the clock would start. That would have left the Cowboys with one desperation play, but they wound up with just enough time to tie it.
Jim Fassel said he told Bryant to squib the kickoff down the middle. Bryant said his instructions were to squib it to the left.
Big break on kickoff
The kick skidded on the artificial surface and went out of bounds at the 1, giving the Cowboys the ball at their own 40.
"They gave us a chance when they kicked the ball out of bounds on that kickoff," Parcells said.
Quincy Carter then hit Antonio Bryant with a 26-yard pass in front of the New York bench to put Cundiff in position to tie it.
"You've got to give a lot of credit to Coach Parcells," said Carter, 25-of-40 for 321 yards. "All through training camp we've been working on situational things. You never know when they'll come up. We were prepared for it. No one panicked."
An emotionally drained Fassel had trouble explaining what happened on the squib kick after the last of the Giants' 18 fourth-quarter points.
"I didn't plan on having the ball at the 40-yard line with no time off the clock," said Fassel, whose red eyes showed his deep disappointment.
Cundiff, who had never kicked more than two field goals in a game, made the Giants pay.
"To be honest, I felt I just did my job," said Cundiff, the fourth NFL kicker to make seven field goals in a game.
Cundiff's kicks covered 37, 49, 42, 21, 36, 52 and 25 yards. In Dallas' season-opening loss to Atlanta, he missed a 33-yarder on his only attempt and he had an extra point blocked.
Carter added an 8-yard touchdown run and linebacker Al Singleton scored on a 41-yard interception return for Dallas.
Three TD passes for Collins
New York's Kerry Collins was 21-for-51 for 265 yards and threw three touchdown passes, and cornerback Ralph Brown scored on a 29-yard interception return.
Collins' TD passes covered 6 yards to Ike Hilliard, 1 to Jeremy Shockey, and 20 to Amani Toomer. Tiki Barber ran for a two-point conversion to tie it at 29 with 6:20 to go in the fourth quarter.
"They just made plays at the end and we didn't," Giants defensive end Michael Strahan said. "We can't be mad at anybody but ourselves for coming back at the end and then letting it slip away."