Surging Cowboys Turn Focus to Eagles

ARLINGTON, Texas -- A month ago, the Dallas Cowboys were a 2-2 mess; inconsistent on offense, generous on defense and seemingly already out of contention in the cutthroat NFC East following a mistake-filled thrashing by the then-undefeated Broncos in Denver.

Flash forward to Sunday's lopsided 38-17 victory over the battered Seattle Seahawks -- the Cowboys' third consecutive win in their swank $1.2 billion home -- and Dallas' turnaround from bashed to brilliant seems accomplished.

Quarterback Tony Romo completed passes to 10 different receivers, including touchdown throws to the increasingly popular Miles Austin (five catches, 61 yards), as well as to the forgotten Sam Hurd and the once-missing Roy Williams. Romo's performance, where he hit on 21-of-36 passes for 256 yards, capped off the first three-game span without an interception in his seven-year career.

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Running back Marion Barber, still fighting myriad injuries, rushed for another touchdown. The Cowboys pass rush pummeled Seattle's patchwork offensive line and manhandled the Seahawks' fourth starter this season at left tackle, former Chief Damion McIntosh, on two of Matt Hasselbeck's three sacks.

Toss in an 82-yard Patrick Crayton punt return for a touchdown, his second in as many games, and Dallas (5-2) looks like a complete team at the halfway point. Or, at least, one that appears to have solved most of its earlier problems.

"I like that this team is explosive in that we're kind of rocking along and then we're ahead," said coach Wade Phillips, whose group scored 24 unanswered points on the Seahawks (2-5). "That we're able to do that can make you a good football team. It was 14-10 after awhile, and all of a sudden it was out of hand."

Dallas now sits atop the division standings with the Eagles -- and the two rivals have a Week 9 showdown in Philadelphia -- thanks to a complete offense-defense-special teams effort that fulfilled everyone's desire to pull this talented-filled franchise from the cliff's edge.

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"We just have to keep the same mentality each week," said linebacker Keith Brooking, the 12th-year veteran, who has been preaching the merits of keeping an even keel during this stormy Cowboys season. "A lot of people are real excited about the Cowboys right now, and they're gonna tell you how great they are, how you've won three in a row. The world's great.

"But we're not there. Our division is close, it's tight. You can never think that way. You have to keep your blinders on."

Dallas may not be where Brooking wants his team to be, but it is close. So close, the only point of contention seems to be when -- or if -- Romo will ever find his groove with Williams, the high-dollar receiver, a player for whom the Cowboys traded three draft picks and then awarded a five-year contract extension with $20 million guaranteed last season.

"It's tough right now," conceded Williams, who has just 29 receptions for 393 yards and two touchdowns in 12 games with Romo as his starting quarterback. "But it's fun to win, it's fun to see other guys do the things that they do, and I'm just happy to be a Cowboy, man. People don't understand that."

Sunday, Romo tried to find Williams deep on multiple occasions but failed -- those balls sailed wide, or high. Williams was targeted seven times and caught two balls for 19 yards, including a 7-yard scoring pass with 35 seconds remaining before halftime that pushed Dallas to a 21-10 lead.

If two catches sound lousy, consider Williams' Week 7 performance in the 37-21 victory over Atlanta, when the former Lions' first-round pick caught one pass for 16 yards and dropped two other balls. The chemistry with Romo just isn't happening, and Williams can't explain it.

"I don't know what it is -- we worked early in the offseason, came in a month early before everybody," Williams said with a shrug. "He throws to me every day, and it's just not there right now."

Again, this is like searching for flaws on what is nearly a perfect diamond. Romo-to-Austin has been a season-changing combination the past three games, and Dallas' underneath passing scheme Sunday took great advantage of Seattle's lack of depth at linebacker. Williams is a vertical threat, so when the Cowboys are moving the chains with screens, quick outs and slants, Williams looks like an afterthought.

"I missed him on a dig route early in the game," Romo said of Williams. "I've got to bring the ball down. I just missed him. He's running good routes. We're going to be fine. I know what Roy is doing."

So it's good feelings all around in Dallas-Fort Worth, just as Brooking said. And, also just as Brooking said, this is a surging team that can't let its guard down.

The Cowboys next make their annual trip to Philadelphia, where they were destroyed, 44-6, in Week 17 last season, eliminating Dallas from the playoff hunt. That makes Brooking's admonition of keeping a level head all the more important during the week-long buildup to the rematch.

Sunday, the Eagles (5-2) embarrassed the New York Giants, 40-17, so the Cowboys' path to revenge looks even more daunting.

"Last year is last year," Romo said. "We had to deal with that [Eagles game] all offseason. We had to grind it out to get better and improve, and not let that happen again. We've taken a lot of steps to be the ballclub that we're hopefully getting to be.

"For us, it's just about improving and getting better."