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EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Ticker) -- Billy Cundiff turned "Tuna Melt" into "Tuna Delight."

Cundiff tied an NFL record with seven field goals, his last coming with 5:56 left in overtime, to lead the Dallas Cowboys to a thrilling 35-32 victory over the New York Giants in a battle of NFC East rivals.

Maligned after missing an extra-point and a short field goal attempt last week in a season-opening loss to Atlanta, Cundiff kicked a career-high 52-yard field goal on the final play of regulation to tie the game, 32-32, and drilled the winning 25-yarder in overtime after former Giant tight end Dan Campbell caught a 23-yard pass to the New York 6.

"It's the same thing I did last week when I missed my field goals," Cundiff said. "You do the same thing every time. I make sure I breathe and relax and went ahead and kicked the ball."

The Monday night spotlight shined on Bill Parcells, who was coaching here for the third time against the team he led to two Super Bowl titles. Although it has been 13 years since Parcells coached the Giants, this return was more significant since he is now in charge of the hated Cowboys.

"That was about as wild a win as I've ever been involved in," said Parcells. "I try to downplay every thing, but this is a division win on the road against obviously a team that is going to contend. To come in and win, I feel fortunate to do that."

And after watching his team dominate the Giants for three quarters, Parcells squandered a 29-14 lead but was bailed out by Cundiff.

"To be honest with you it really doesn't mean much now," said Cundiff, who tied the single-game record held by Jim Bakken (1967), Rich Karlis (1989) and Chris Boniol (1996).

"In the future, it's something I can tell my kids that is something I did. I had to do what I did today so we can win on the road and that is the most important thing."

Nicknamed "The Tuna," Parcells had been 49-0 when leading by 12 or more points in the fourth quarter. But that perfect record was about to be blemished by the Giants, who put together two touchdown drives in a 3:34 span of the fourth quarter to tie the game. Kerry Collins hit tight end Jeremy Shockey , who had been shut out, with a one-yard touchdown pass with 9:54 left to pull the Giants within 29-21. After the Cowboys made just one first down and punted, Collins engineered a three-play, 64-yard drive.

Ike Hilliard caught passes of 6 and 38 yards, respectively, before Collins hit Amani Toomer with a 20-yard touchdown with 6:20 left in the fourth quarter. After two pass interference penalties on the two-point conversion, Tiki Barber scored on a running play to tie the game, 29-29.

The Cowboys appeared somewhat rattled by New York's comeback and went three-and-out on their next two possessions.

The Giants took advantage with a nine-play, 40-yard drive which led to a go-ahead 30-yard field goal by Matt Bryant with 11 seconds left.

But Bryant gave the Cowboys a fighting chance when his ensuing kickoff rolled out of bounds at the Dallas 2. That gave the Cowboys possession at the 40 and infuriated Giants coach Jim Fassel.

"That was (supposed) to be a deep middle squib," Fassel said. "I didn't plan on them having the ball at the 40-yard line with no time off the clock."

Quincy Carter , who threw for a career-high 321 yards, then fired a 26-yard pass to Antonio Bryant , who was pushed out of bounds by cornerback Will Peterson at the New York 34 with four seconds left.

"We were back in soft coverage, but I give Carter credit for making a strong throw," Peterson said.

Cundiff then sneaked his 52-yard field goal just inside the left upright as time expired.

"They gave us a chance when they kicked the ball out of bounds on that kickoff," Parcells said. "We made a play to get in field goal range there and then Billy gave us a clutch kick."

Cundiff was 7-of-8 overall, converting from 37, 49, 42, 21, 36, 52 and 25 yards. He missed wide left from 53 yards in the first half.

Shockey made headlines last month in a New York magazine interview for criticizing Parcells, saying "let's see how many games he wins this year." But Shockey was a non-factor and even dropped a sure touchdown pass before catching one in the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, Campbell, who mentored Shockey with the Giants last year, made the critical play in overtime.

Carter scored on an eight-yard run in the first quarter and completed 25-of-40 passes, consistently hitting Terry Glenn , who had eight catches for 113 yards, Antonio Bryant and Joey Galloway on slants over the middle.

Carter did make one mistake in the first quarter, lofting a pass which nickel back Ralph Brown intercepted and returned 29 yards for a touchdown.

"If I hang my head after that one play then my whole football team is done," Carter said. "They had all the confidence in the world in me when I came back into the huddle. I give a lot of credit to my teammates."

Collins completed just 21-of-51 passes for 265 yards. But after throwing two interceptions in the first half, one of which was returned 41 yards for a score by linebacker Al Singleton in the second quarter, Collins passed for three touchdowns in the second half.

"I was really proud of the way we came back," Collins said. "We started spreading out the receivers in the second half, we knew we needed to play fast. It was a heck of an effort on both sides."

Toomer had seven catches for 126 yards and Hilliard added six receptions for 85 yards.