SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Tony Romo felt sick to his stomach. It hurt to breathe, let alone bark out the cadence in a hostile road stadium.

Playing with the throbbing pain from a fractured rib, Romo rallied America’s Team just as he promised he would.

In a week when Romo vowed to play his best game, he delivered a gutsy comeback that looked so unlikely when he briefly came out from halftime and then returned to the locker room.

Moments after the Cowboys (1-1) announced the quarterback was done for the day, there came No. 9 ready to take charge of the huddle once again.

Romo hit Jesse Holley on a 77-yard completion on the Cowboys’ first play of overtime that set up Dan Bailey’s winning 19-yard field goal 2:53 into the overtime, and Dallas pulled off an improbable 27-24 victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.

In one frantic span, Romo emphatically left his mark on the storied Cowboys-49ers rivalry that dates back decades to all those epic matchups in the NFC title game that regularly set up Super Bowl victories by the winner.

“It’s got to be one of those things that will follow him through his career. I know what it was here in the locker room at halftime. I know what he had to do to get back on the field,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said.