Romo makes offense, defense better in Cowboys win

“That just gave me a shiver”, said Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, “and I know it inspired our team”. That’s fresh off of no competition for two months.

Quarterbacks have won the award seven of the past eight years.

“You take it as a challenge and it makes it even more enjoyable, if that makes any sense”.

After Bryant’s touchdown catch, Dallas increased its lead to 24-14 on a 30-yard field goal by Dan Bailey with 9:09 left in the fourth quarter. Miami finished a three-game trip with a 20-19 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles and will play five of their last seven at home.

But it’s hard to get too excited about the offense when the Dolphins can’t put up more than 14 points, even if their time of possession was limited to 21:10.

“We’re excited to have him back”, said tight end and Romo pal Jason Witten. “He brings that kind of energy to his team”. It’s raining. We’ve got gusting winds. “We’re not making up any fairy tale”.

Romo had some shaky moments against Miami, but he was solid overall as he completed 18-of-28 passes for 227 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions in his first game since Week 2 of the season.

“Tony is outstanding.” said Bryant. In terms of fearlessness, that’s the Romo effect. “It’s far from it. I think right now we just need to understand that we’re getting started, and we’ve got to go do our job and do it to the best of our ability and start getting this thing on the roll”, Romo said.

“The confidence he has spreads to the rest of our football team”, said Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett.

So what did the offense do in that game?

The defense was pretty good up front, but in the back it was a disaster.

The Cowboys, by virtue of their vaguely disgusting division, still aren’t completely out of the playoff hunt, but Dallas essentially has to win out.

Not surprisingly, Romo looked a bit rusty.

Tony Romo is back. “Whether they technically spy Cam Newton with Sean Lee or Rolando McClain, I’m not sure about that, but I think they’re going to give them keys and plays where they just say, ‘Look, in this situation, you take this zone and you obviously know, there’s a good chance he’s going to run, so you’re going to have to stay disciplined, you’re going to have to stay here, read it and react at the very last second, but be ready to take that away.’ I think you’re going to see that instead of a true, ‘OK, Sean Lee, you follow him wherever he goes and you’re just assigned to him.’ The Cowboys traditionally and Rod Marinelli don’t like to do that”. And not only are the Panthers (10-0) visiting four days after a long-awaited victory, but the Cowboys face December road games against Green Bay and Buffalo. The Cowboys capped a 12-play, 93-yard drive with a 31-yard touchdown pass to Terrance Williams, who beat cornerbacks Jamar Taylor and Brice McCain toward the back right corner of the end zone. To advance, a huge Thanksgiving day matchup with Carolina looms.

“Maybe that goes over in that dream category, but you saw (Sunday) the difference Tony made to his team”, Jones said Tuesday on local KRLD-FM radio in Dallas.

The Carolina Panthers come calling.

Defensively, the Cowboys received big plays when they needed them, stopping Ryan Tannehill and the Dolphins every time they needed a big stop. But if you are the Cowboys, you live with it because of all the positive plays he makes.

On this day, a storm replaced with a Romo-created ray of hope in the Cowboys fight to revive a season on life support.