Cowboys Take Care of Business

Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys Dominate Injured-Plagued Seahawks 38-17. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

After a 2-2 start, the Dallas Cowboys are beginning to resemble the team that started the season with such high expectations. Handing an injury-plagued and inferior team like the Seattle Seahawks a loss in dominating fashion for their third consecutive victory can do that for a team.

"I feel good about the progress we've made, but we've still got a ways to go," said Dallas Cowboys’ head coach Wade Phillips.

Dallas has won their last three games by an average of over 14 points a game and quarterback Tony Romo has 8 touchdowns and zero interceptions over that span, the longest interception-less streak of his career.

"I'm seeing things. It's as simple as that,” Romo said. “I'm not throwing and hoping."

Romo was 21 for 33 passing on the day with 256 yards and three touchdowns to three different wide-outs. Romo’s first touchdown pass of the game was a 33-yard strike to fourth-year wide-receiver Sam Hurd, his first touchdown since the 2007 season opener, which gave the Cowboys a lead they would not relinquish at 7-3. Romo completed passes to 10 different receivers on the day. One of those receivers was newcomer Miles Austin, starting his third career game. Austin continued his hot streak with 5 receptions for 61 yards along with a touchdown and is becoming Romo’s go-to-guy in the offense with three straight games with at least one touchdown. Miles Austin now has 482 receiving yards in the first three starts of his career, the most in NFL history over a player’s first three starts since the NFL-AFL merger. On the other side of the field, Roy Williams and Romo continued to have miscommunications as Williams caught only 2 passes for 19 yards, despite being targeted seven times for the game. Williams did account for one of Romo’s three touchdown passes, though, a 7-yard grab to give Dallas a 21-10 lead going in to halftime. The Dallas rushing game also accounted for 113 yards on 29 carries, led by Marion Barber’s 53 yards and a touchdown.

The Dallas defense showed up for the second consecutive week with an aggressive performance. After not having a sack in their first two and a half games, Dallas now has 17 sacks in its last 18 quarters played. The Cowboys had 3-sacks for the game and forced two fumbles, recovering both. The special teams also came up big and Patrick Crayton had an 82-yard punt return for a touchdown, his second in as many weeks and second of his career. Crayton did fumble yet another punt in this game, but quickly recovered it. It’s safe to say his job isn’t in jeopardy anymore.

Seattle is now 2-5 on the season while Dallas is 5-2 and tied for the NFC East division lead with the Philadelphia Eagles, who spanked the New York Giants 40-17. The Dallas Cowboys play at the Philadelphia Eagles a week from today, Sunday Nov.8, on NBC at 7:20 p.m. for sole possession of first place in the division.

(Portions of this article were taken from The Associated Press)