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IRVING, Texas - Early on the morning of Nov. 3, the Cowboys stepped off an American Airlines charter flight, a 35-14 beating in the Meadowlands packed neatly in their travel bags.
With Brad Johnson and/or Brooks Bollinger as the quarterback, the loss seemed like one last inevitable, humbling experience before the team hit its bye week.
But the next time the team boarded an airplane, the mood was different. After all, fearless leader and franchise quarterback Tony Romo was back at the helm, and things weren't so hopeless.
At 5-4, and with the deck seemingly stacked against them, playing on the road against the Washington Redskins, a team that had already beaten them once this season, the Cowboys faced a must-win game. The offense didn't immediately click that Sunday night at FedExField, but on the opening drive of the fourth quarter, Romo hit Martellus Bennett for the game-winning 25-yard touchdown. From then on, the offense has been as crisp and sharp as one could ask.
Two lopsided Cowboys wins in four days followed the Redskins game, with Romo throwing for a combined 672 yards and six touchdowns against only one interception.
Not only is Romo enjoying personal success, but the offense has scored points on 12 of 24 drives in the last two games, and two of those non-scoring drives ended with the Cowboys kneeling to run out the clock.
Yes, things appear to be lining up, finally. In fact, Romo has the Cowboys' offense functioning so well, tight end Jason Witten said his quarterback is playing the best football of his career. Romo, not surprisingly, is a little bashful about such talk.
"You just try to improve," Romo said. "And I think I'm doing some things I'm pretty proud of, and there's other stuff you've got to work on. But we're starting to do some good things offensively and as long as we can maintain a level of consistency and execution we'll be alright . . . We're doing some good things. We've got good personnel and I think we figured some things out earlier in the year that schematically is better, so we're excited about going forward."
Romo's return has restored the team's confidence, and suddenly no game seems unwinnable.
"We know what we can do when we play how we're capable of playing," said receiver Terrell Owens. "We're starting to do some things that we're capable of. I think you guys are seeing some flashbacks of what we're capable of doing, and we've just got to continue to do that."
Owens agrees that with Romo back, the Cowboys are a new-look team.
"It shows," said Owens. "When you get a guy like Tony, with his ability, if you give him time he's able to do some of the things that he's capable of. He's played some good football. We're getting there. That's always a breath of fresh air when you know he's playing that way and he's not totally 100 percent and he's getting better week-to-week."
In his first game back after injuring his pinkie, Romo's spiral fracture was still healing, and the quarterback wasn't completely used to playing with the protective splint on his throwing hand. He even blamed it for an interception against Washington, saying it kept him from properly gripping the ball. But Romo seemed to adjust to the splint in the two games since then, and now he's practicing without it, telling reporters Wednesday that he no longer experiences pain throwing the ball or taking snaps from center.
"Now, if I were to hit you in the head with it or something," Romo said, an acknowledgement of the way he has paid extra attention to the finger since the return, and sometimes not followed through on throws to protect it.
"It's getting better. Right now I still think I'm gearing toward not wearing it, but you never know, I don't want to say one way or the other."
Given the team's struggles during his absence, Romo's successful return has MVP talk beginning to swirl. The dramatic improvement that was seen immediately after he came back from the injury is especially impressive considering he's really done all this with one finger basically tied behind his back.
Coach Wade Phillips said he didn't expect the splint would negatively affect Romo's throwing, and he's hopeful its removal may mean even gaudier numbers.
"I said he was throwing it well three weeks ago when he had the splint on. I think he's still throwing it well," Phillips said. "We didn't think it would bother him too much. That's why he was able to play then. What percentage was he?
"I hope he does better, you know. If he doesn't, we'll put the splint back on."
Despite Phillips' joke, the likelihood is if Romo can make it through the week's practices without the splint, it probably isn't coming back since the last thing he would want to do is play with something he didn't wear during practice.
Four games remain on the Cowboys' schedule, and they may need to win three of them to make the playoffs. Despite what may seem like a steep hill to climb, Romo's assessment is correct: If the Cowboys can execute their offense consistently with him at the wheel, they should be able to get through the league's most brutal final month.
It's hard to imagine a tougher beginning to the four-game stretch than going on the road to play the league's top-ranked defense, the Steelers having not allowed more than 290 yards in any game this season. Romo said he expects the Steelers to mix up their blitzes, and explained the trouble Pittsburgh defensive coordinator Dick Lebeau can create for a quarterback.
"The thing that makes them so good is they have good personnel, but their scheme is different," Romo said of the Steelers. "You don't see it every week and Dick Lebeau just does a great job of getting the guys to be on the same page every week and do some exotic stuff."
Of course, the more Pittsburgh blitzes, the more chances there are to make plays. But with Lebeau allowing safety Troy Polamalu to roam a lot of the time, Romo will need to be extra careful where he goes with the football.
"If you stay within the system and do things the right way, you have a chance," Romo said. "You're just going to have to sometimes rely on your instincts a little bit because they're going to do stuff that's going to confuse you as a quarterback."
If the Steelers are able to confuse Romo into a bad game, folks will say the December slide of years past has returned, but if he can help pilot the Cowboys to a win followed by a playoff run, the quarterback will probably get most of the credit. Of course, it's worth noting that as poorly as the Cowboys have played in the season's final month of late, Romo hasn't exactly helped their cause.
In fact, he's played his worst football in the last two Decembers, just like the team as a whole. In nine starts in the month, Romo and the Cowboys are 4-5. His December completion percentage of 60.3 is below his career average, and he has thrown for 234.0 yards per game - also less than his best. He's thrown nine touchdowns to 13 interceptions in December, too.
At this point, though, the Cowboys, and maybe 30 other teams in the league, don't have a better option. They will go as far as Romo takes them, which should be a reason for confidence after watching the last three games.
"He's played awfully well," Phillips said. "The guy's won a lot of games, and I think that's part of it too, not just throwing the football.
"He's been the quarterback in a lot of wins."
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Josh Ellis - 
