IRVING, Texas -Maybe all Ron Dayne needed was a chance. Filling in for injured Tatum Bell, Dayne rumbled 55 yards on the second play of overtime and Jason Elam followed with a 24-yard field goal to give the Denver Bron cos a 24-21 win over the Dallas Cowboys yesterday.

Denver (9-2) never trailed in winning its fourth straight, but it wasn’t easy. The Broncos had the ball 13 minutes less than the Cowboys in regulation, mainly because their vaunted running game struggled, Jake Plummer threw his first interception since Week 2, and a questionable ruling by officials on a fourthquarter fumble recovery by Dallas led to the tying touchdown.

The Cowboys (7-4) ended a threegame winning streak and, like all their other losses, saw this one decided late. Their four losses are by a total of 13 points, with the last two coming on game-ending field goals.

Dallas missed a chance to go ahead when Billy Cundiff missed a 34-yard field goal with 7:42 left in regulation. The Cowboys had the ball twice in the final 4:32 of regulation, but punted once and time ran out on them the other time. The Broncos won the overtime coin toss and, on second-and-3 from the 39, Dayne bowled through the left side of the line, pulled away from a would-be tackler around the 50, and kept going until he was dragged down from be hind at the 6. Denver called timeout, then went straight to Elam.

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In Detroit, Michael Vick’s arm, Alge Crumpler’s hands, and Warrick Dunn’s legs were too much for the Detroit Lions.

Vick threw two touchdown passes to Crumpler and Dunn ran for 116 yards to lead the Atlanta Falcons to a 27-7 victory over Detroit yesterday.

Atlanta took advantage of playing the lowly Lions, closing the gap behind NFC South co-leaders Carolina and Tampa Bay to a half-game after losing two straight at home.

The only positive for Detroit was the result of its annual Thanksgiving game wasn’t as bad as last year’s, when Indianapolis beat the Lions 41-9, handing them their most lopsided loss on the holiday.