The Dallas Cowboys' hopes for a turnaround victory died overnight with a significant injury to quarterback Tony Romo and a 41-35 NFL loss to the New York Giants.
Romo broke his left collarbone in the second quarter and his teammates then let a 13-point lead evaporate against NFC East foes New York, who remained atop the division in which the Cowboys are bringing up the rear.
The Giants won their fourth straight game to improve to 5-2. The Cowboys fell to 1-5, their worst start since 1989.
Dallas' hopes that last night's game would mark a turning point for the better ended when Romo was hit by linebacker Michael Boley.
Romo went down hard on his left shoulder and remained on the turf. Even before halftime X-rays had shown the broken collarbone, which will likely sideline the quarterback for eight to 10 weeks.
Romo returned to the sideline for the second half with his arm in a sling, but his encouragement could not lift his teammates.
The Cowboys led 10-7 when Romo departed and stretched the advantage to 20-7.
But the Giants scored on their next five possessions.
Cowboys back-up Jon Kitna, who had not played since October 2008 - when he was part of Detroit's winless season - was clearly rusty and the Giants took full advantage.
Kitna eventually threw two touchdown passes to rookie Dez Bryant in the final four minutes, but it was not enough.
Giants quarterback Eli Manning was 25 of 35 for 306 yards. This was the fourth time he had thrown four touchdown passes.
