Even before kickoff Saturday night, the Dallas Cowboys' finale at Texas Stadium was far more than just another home game.

Alas, the Baltimore Ravens ruined the fun, wiping out an early Dallas lead and turning back repeated comeback attempts in the final minutes. Tony Romo threw two touchdown passes in the final 3:50, but the Cowboys lost in their 313th and final game here 33-24.

"I know the stadium was pretty electric out there and it was a great atmosphere for football," Romo said. "It's disappointing that we weren't able to allow the fans to have a better evening."

About half the crowd of 63,800 stuck around for the postgame celebration featuring around 100 former players and 12 members of the Ring of Honor. It started with a videotaped message from Garth Brooks, then Hank Williams Jr. ran out onto the field.

Banners unfurled showing 1971, the year the building opened, and 2008, around a stage where longtime Cowboys radio voice Brad Sham emceed the show. Players were introduced by era, most wearing jerseys. A few needed a golf cart and at least one, Mark Tuinei, was represented by his widow.

The biggest cheers were for the Ring of Honor members. Tom Landry Jr. highlighted that part by donning one of his dad's fedora in honor of the late coach. The odd part was renowned tough-guy Randy White wearing a long overcoat; it made sense on a chilly night, except that everybody else seemed OK in jerseys over long sleeves.

Emmitt Smith's run that pushed him past Walter Payton's for the NFL rushing record was named the No. 1 highlight in the 37 years here according to a vote by fans. Smith, Roger Staubach and team owner Jerry Jones were among the speakers during the ceremony.

A banner honoring Smith's run and the five Super Bowls won while Dallas played here were all lowered "so they may be taken to their new homes," Sham said.

"These historic symbols represent all the blood, sweet and cheers," he added.

Then came a video montage that started to the tune of Willie Nelson's "My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys." It included a clip of Ring of Honor member Don Meredith crooning "Turn out the lights, the party's over ..." during a "Monday Night Football" broadcast. Just then, some of the lights did go off, but the show went on.

Players went on a victory lap as fireworks went off. With smoke escaping through the semi-dome, the remaining fans made their way out for the last time.

Around town all week, the buildup for this game was more like an NFC championship - which is exactly what the Cowboys envisioned being their Texas Stadium finale. But with Dallas only able to get into the playoffs as a wild card, this 313th game here almost certainly was the last.

It sure was treated like it, all the way down to a 50-minute postgame ceremony that was to include about 100 former players. Security was beefed up, too, to make sure fans didn't try taking home souvenirs they weren't entitled to; $240,000 worth of stuff already has been auctioned off.

With a big crowd eager to get the party started, the parking lot opened an hour earlier than usual. Just before fans were allowed into the seats, Jones and his family posed for dozens of photos on the midfield star logo.

Once the crowd started having their commemorative tickets ripped, many stopped to buy commemorative programs with thick, shiny silver covers, or dropped $35 on T-shirts and $70 on sweatshirts bearing the words "Farewell to Texas Stadium" and a logo showing the iconic building and 1971 and 2008 separated by a blue star.

TV screens all over the stadium kept flashing the typographically challenged but widely understood message, "Its time to defend one last time."

At the start of pregame ceremonies, so many camera flashes went off that it looked like a gathering of fireflies. The flickering never stopped, either, as folks paraded out of the inflated helmet at the end of the tunnel from the Cowboys' locker room - first the cheerleaders, then guys carrying the team's flag, followed by the offense and then the defense, all of them coming out together instead of being introduced individually.

Players also came out with a new patch on their jerseys, the same "Farewell to Texas Stadium" logo as on the T-shirts and sweatshirts.

The national anthem was a solo trumpeter, a tribute to Tommy Loy, the solo trumpeter who played at Cowboys games for 22 years. Fans were quiet at first, then began to sing. More joined as the song went along, making it louder, too. It ended with cheers louder than for any headliner who's performed the anthem here all season. Then, up went hundreds of blue and white balloons, another nod to an outdated tradition.

When Dallas captains went to midfield for the coin toss, Smith and Tony Dorsett joined them.

The only way Dallas can host another game is if it snags the NFC's fifth seed and gets to the conference championship game against the sixth seed.

The Cowboys finished 213-100 in regular-season and postseason games here since 1971. Baltimore (1-0) joined the Oakland-Los Angeles Raiders (3-0) as the only NFL teams never to lose here.