NFL

Giants pull off great escape against Cowboys

ARLINGTON, Texas — It was one Big Whew for Big Blue, and they all knew.

So now here came Tony Romo, heaving a 37-yard Hail Jerry over Corey Webster and Michael Coe for Dez Bryant in the back of the end zone.

Touchdown.

Euphoria inside Cowboys Stadium.

:06 showed on the clock.

But did his right hand land out of bounds, or didn’t it?

A stadium filled with 100,000 Cowboys fanatics and two drained enemies waited for the replay booth verdict.

It seemed like an eternity.

Right hand out of bounds.

Incomplete pass.

Cowboys Stadium groaned.

The game clock was reset to 10 seconds.

Romo (four interceptions) to Jason Witten (18 catches for 167 yards) yet again. Twenty-seven yards to a Cowboys comeback victory for the ages. Six seconds left.

Incomplete deep middle for Miles Austin. One second left.

Timeout NYG.

Romo, flushed left, trying one last Hail Jerry for Witten … out of the end zone.

Giants 29, Cowboys 24. Big Whew!

Big stranglehold on the NFC East. Because Tom Coughlin’s champions know how to finish.

Champions can surrender a 23-0 lead and refuse to crack when it is Winning Time.

Though sometimes, it is better to be lucky than good, too.

“Obviously we earn our victories, but this one kind of just feels like we escaped a little bit,” Chris Canty said.

The Great Escape indeed.

“It was a crazy game — up, down, up, down — probably more turbulence than the team’s going to have landing in New York tonight,” Steve Tisch said. “What a great victory, what a great game, what a great crowd-pleaser … and the Giants prevail again.”

They say it is a game of inches, and the Giants had that reminder hammered home to them by the football gods.

A Bryant touchdown catch would have sent the Giants flying back to beat Hurricane Sandy at 5-3 on a day both the Eagles and Redskins lost.

There was no replay shown on Jerry Jones’ ten-gallon overhead scoreboard.

Hearts raced. Palms sweated.

“I was stressed, I was really anxious,” Tisch said. “But I saw that his hand was out of bounds, half of two of his fingers were out of bounds. It was a great, great call. The refs totally got it right.”

I asked John Mara what he was thinking when he saw back judge Scott Helverson signal touchdown.

“Disbelief,” Mara said. “It would have been a tough one to lose. But sometimes you win games by inches. And this one was literally by an inch, I think.”

Mara was riddled with anxiety until he saw the replay.

“You worry because the evidence has to be conclusive,” he said. “But fortunately, it looked pretty conclusive. … Sometimes you have to get lucky.”

Coughlin was comforted by the coaches upstairs.

“It was reported down to me right away that that’s what had happened, that the hand was out of bounds, and it was just a matter of the official having the necessary time to go ahead and make that call,” Coughlin said. “But I must say that it’s been a long time since I saw three plays in 10 seconds.”

Texas barbecue, Coach?

“No, I’m not saying that,” Coughlin said.

What he was saying was: “How in the world do you keep behind everybody in that defense?”

How in the world do you not call for your Victory defense — four men lined up on the goal line?

“I didn’t really see, I kind of was flying past,” said Coe, who first thought Webster had intercepted the pass. “I was asking Corey, ‘Did he catch it, did he catch it?’ He was like, ‘It might’ve hit the ground, I’m not sure, I didn’t see it.’”

I asked Webster about the last play.

“We were in a better situation, we were in Victory that time,” Webster said.

Should you have been in Victory earlier?

“We weren’t in it, but I don’t know whether we should have been in it or not, you asked the wrong person,” Webster said.

When you are kicking field goals instead of scoring touchdowns, when you show an alarming lack of killer instinct, you find yourself life-and-death with Romo at the end.

On the previous possession, Romo, fourth-and-1 from the Giants 19, threw one under duress for Witten and had Stevie Brown make his second interception.

Even on an off day Eli Manning summoned enough fourth-quarter magic to grab back the lead from Romo.

“The teams that end up winning Super Bowls, the team that wins big games like this — the ball kind of bounces their way,” Justin Tuck said.

Big Whew for Big Blue.