ARLINGTON, Texas - Three victories over teams with a combined 3-17 record. Two close losses against two teams with two combined losses.
Sunday wasn't a "must-win." Not with Halloween still a week away and two months of football to follow. But five games into the regular season, the Cowboys wanted to make a statement at home against one of the NFC's best.
They did.
In what head coach Wade Phillips called "our best game overall," the Cowboys burst out of their bye week with a 37-21 win over the Atlanta Falcons (4-2) - a playoff team from 2008 and a current NFC South contender.
Rather than "spinning wheels" at 3-3, as Phillips said earlier in the week, the Cowboys pushed their record to 4-2 with a very winnable home game next Sunday against the struggling Seattle Seahawks (2-4). They also moved into a half-game behind the first-place New York Giants (5-2) in the NFC East.
"It's just one of those things that allows you to really believe in yourself," said quarterback Tony Romo, who shook off an apparent neck injury in the first quarter to throw for 311 yards and three touchdowns (141.6 passer rating). "I think that we have that, but until you go out and do it - it's no different than before I started playing.
"When I ended up starting in the league (in 2006) it's like, 'I think I can do it, I really do. But can I? We'll find out.' You're always going to have that confidence that you think you can, but you've got to go do it."
The Cowboys did it in every way possible Sunday before a sellout crowd at Cowboys Stadium (81,521).
The offense scored a season-high 37 points behind another brilliant performance by fourth-year receiver Miles Austin. In his second career start, Austin had a team-high six catches for 171 yards and two TDs, giving him absurd totals of 16 catches for 421 yards and four TDs in his last two games.
Romo was both efficient and spectacular at times: He did not commit a turnover, and his five-yard TD to Patrick Crayton just before halftime - after eluding a heavy rush and three potential tackles - elicited "MacGyver" chants from the crowd.
The defense produced three takeaways and did what most teams haven't: pressure Matt Ryan. The Falcons' second-year quarterback had been sacked only twice in his first five games; on Sunday, the Cowboys dropped him four times, including sack-and-forced-fumble by linebacker DeMarcus Ware in the second quarter. Austin scored a 59-yard yard touchdown on the next play to take a 10-7 lead - part of a 17-0 run that kept them ahead for good.
"I really think it came down to our ability to protect (Ryan). I mean, they kicked our butt," Falcons offensive lineman Tyson Clabo said.
And the Cowboys' special teams remained solid. The Falcons' average drive start was their own 23-yard line, thanks in part to four touchbacks by rookie kicker David Buehler. The unit also scored points for the first time all season: Patrick Crayton, replacing an injured Allen Rossum (hamstring), returned a fourth-quarter punt 73 yards for a TD to put the Cowboys ahead, 34-14.
It marked the team's first punt return touchdown since 2006 and exemplified Crayton's grit. The sixth-year veteran, who had been replaced on punt returns (Rossum) and offense (Austin) in a two-week span, also caught his second touchdown of the season.
The Cowboys have now won consecutive games for the first time since Nov. 2008. But Phillips said his team can't be satisfied.
"It was a big game for us," he said. "We knew the importance of the game. I thought our offense, defense and special teams all made plays during the game.
We have things to work on, there's no doubt about that. But we played a good football team and we played them well."
Home | Email | Print | Register for New Alerts | RSS
Rob Phillips - 
