There's no preventing comebacks

• 10 game-winning touchdowns have been decided in the final two minutes in 2012
• Seven teams have pulled off double-digit comebacks in the fourth quarter
• Nine game-winning field goals have been kicked in the last two minutes of regulation

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Victor Cruz's 77-yard game-winning touchdown on Sunday was unbelievable.

Even for the New York Giants' wide receiver, who didn't think the Washington Redskins' secondary would possibly allow him to run through it like that with 1:23 to play while guarding a three-point lead.

"I just read it, saw that thing part like the Red Sea and I just took it. Once I started running, I was like, 'Man, this can't be,'" Cruz told USA TODAY Sports. "Then, I looked up, saw the ball there, just caught it and took it in for six."

Cruz and everyone else should start believing things like that are possible, because lately in the NFL, they certainly have been.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Cruz's catch was one of nine touchdowns of 30 or more yards to tie a game or take a lead in the fourth quarter this season. That ties the 2009 mark for most such scores in a season over the past five years. In 2008, 2010 and 2011, there were only nine such TDs combined.

Meanwhile, there's another disturbing trend for defenses giving up big plays and folding late: double-digit fourth-quarter comebacks. This season, according to Elias, there have been seven of them. Last year, there were eight. In the previous three seasons combined, there were only 10.

Cruz's 80-yard touchdown against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 2 fell into both categories. And with the New York Jets and Oakland Raiders erasing 10-point deficits in the fourth quarter this past week, you begin to wonder: What is going on? Why are defenses unable to close out games?

"I'm going to tell you, there's more time spent on that particular part of the game, which is incredible," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. "You spend a tremendous amount of time on two-minute (offense), you spend a tremendous amount of time on four-minute (offense).

"Those are the things in the old days where you just knew, 'There's going to be this coverage.' Week in and week out, you just recognized the personnel involved ... That's not the case today. As soon as that ball goes over the midfield line, anything can happen."

The old joke for those who couldn't stand the prevent defense used to be "all it does is prevent you from winning." Now we're seeing the opposite with teams refusing to default to that umbrella look to force an offense to dink and dunk its way to a comeback.

Prevent looks are being mixed in — the Redskins ran one just before Cruz's touchdown — but the days of abandoning a base defense for a four-deep look that keeps everything in front of defensive backs seem to be over.

"We don't have any defenses designed to give up 50-yard touchdowns," New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick said last week after Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Sidney Rice got behind Tavon Wilson for a 46-yard game-winning catch from Russell Wilson on a two-man route with 1:18 to play.

And they also don't have any defenses guaranteed to stop them, either.

Giants safety Antrel Rolle was watching Cruz's touchdown on Sunday with amazement. But he understands why Redskins safety Madieu Williams cheated forward.

"In this league anymore, with as talented as guys are," Rolle said, "you can have a guy make a catch for 10 yards, and then run for another 20 to make it 30 yards."

Or another 62 yards. That's how much of an 80-yard touchdown Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Cecil Shorts gained after the catch to stun the Indianapolis Colts in Week 3.

To sum up, players are so fast and talented these days, no call from a coach is safe.

"You have to play your defense," Rolle said. "But you also have to be smart about it. You can't give up the easy deep ball."

But there will always be fastballs by the offense for strikes, whether they're of the shorter catch-and-run variety or the long bomb many, including the players catching it, can't believe was allowed.

That's just the way it is with talented players being able to score quickly. It's what the league wants, and it's what the NFL is getting.

As Jaguars coach Mike Mularkey said after Shorts' stunning game-winner at Indianapolis: "Typical NFL finish. Up and down, up and down emotionally."

Of course, sometimes all a team needs to win is a field goal. And the nine game-winners kicked in the final two minutes is also a five-year high.