Testaverde Has Learned To Shake Off Mistakes By Tom Orsborn San Antonio Express-News Staff Writer 9/23/04 It was Vinny Testaverde's strong right arm that delivered the perfect spiral to Terry Glenn. But Testaverde said it was actually his short memory that allowed him to make the clutch throw that clinched the Dallas Cowboys' 19-12 victory over the Cleveland Browns last Sunday. Leading by the final score with 2:04 remaining, the Cowboys faced second-and-nine at their own 26 when Testaverde connected with Glenn for a 37-yard gain. The play allowed Dallas to run all but nine seconds off the clock. It also showed the Cowboys that their QB takes it to heart when teammates tell him to "just shake it off." Testaverde, who turns 41 on Nov. 13, threw interceptions on three-straight second-half possessions against the Browns. He also underthrew or never saw several open receivers. But Testaverde said he refused to let those mistakes ruin his day. He finished with 322 yards passing and one touchdown to become only the second Cowboys quarterback to pass for 300 or more yards in consecutive games. Don Meredith did it in 1963. "As a quarterback, if you make a bad play, you have to put it behind you and move forward," Testaverde said earlier this week. "You can't worry about things in the past or in the future. You just worry about now. Because if you are worrying about yesterday or tomorrow, you aren't going to be successful today." Testaverde didn't always follow the live-for-the-moment philosophy he swears by today. All too often early in his career, he would allow bad throws or decisions to carry over to the next play. "I worried about bad plays in the past," he said. "I let them affect my decisions, my judgment for the next play." He must have worried a lot back then because he threw 35 interceptions in 1988, his second year in the NFL, and a combined 40 the next two seasons. Testaverde said playing for Cowboys coach Bill Parcells as a New York Jet in the late 1990s taught him that it was a waste of time to dwell on his mistakes. "It's important to do that (move on) with him as your coach because he is so hard on you," Testaverde said. "If you don't, you won't be able to function mentally." Testaverde got an earful from Parcells during the Cleveland game. But Parcells said he was proud of the way Testaverde bounced back. "Look it, that second half was not good for him," Parcells said. "He knows it. I know it. But at the end of the day, he made the play we needed to make to win the game." Testaverde recognized quickly that the Browns had bump-and-run single coverage on Glenn, who raced past cornerback Daylon McCutcheon to make the catch down the left sideline. "I knew that if I could make a good throw to Terry, it would help us win the game," said Testaverde, who added that his up-and-down performance against Cleveland won't change how he approaches Monday's game at Washington. "For most of three quarters, I played a pretty solid football game," Testaverde said. "I had a couple of bad throws and bad decisions that led to three interceptions. But, hey, I'll be out there winging it next week with the same confidence I had going into (the Cleveland game)."