The Dallas Cowboys and Tony Romo figure that they will do just fine not having Terrell Owens.
It is easy understanding why when they are surrounded by a supporting cast full of talented players like Felix Jones, Marion Barber, Jason Witten, Miles Austin, Patrick Crayton and Roy Williams.
On Sunday, Romo began the post Terrell Owens era with 353 yards passing, his career best, along with three long touchdowns, keying the Cowboys win and spoiling the coaching debut of new Buccaneers coach Raheem Morris.
Without T.O. he had his career high in passing yards, Williams laughed before he turned serious.
No, it’s all good. It is good for him and good for our team, the replacement for Owens added. We had a team effort. Everyone contributed.
Austin was able to elude two tacklers near the sideline and score on a reception of 42 yards right before halftime. Early third quarter Williams was able to streak right through the error prone Buccaneers secondary on a 66 yard touchdown.
Romo connected with Patrick Crayton on an 80 yard pass play, the longest completion in Romo’s career, for a touchdown in the fourth quarter which effectively ended any hopes that Tampa Bay might have had for a comeback. Crayton caught four passes for a total of 135 yards.
Dallas head coach Wade Phillips stated, we knew going in that they are play makers. But until you are able to do it, all of the naysayer will say, you don’t have this, you don’t have that. I think that we do.
Byron Leftwich, Tampa Bay’s quarterback, went 25 for 41 passing for a total of 276 yards and had no interceptions. However, the relentless pass rush of the Cowboys gave him a beating after Romo put Dallas in control.
Derrick Ward and Cadillac Williams each scored touchdowns on one yard runs for Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers had 174 rushing yards but had to eventually abandon their running game.
Morris, who at the age of 33 is the youngest head coach in the NFL said, we are disappointed obviously. However we did a lot of very good things with our offense.
Cadillac Williams, who returned after two knee surgeries in the last 15 months, had 97 yards in 13 carries. Ward rushed for 62 yards in 12 carries and helped to spark a long drive in the second half to put Tampa Bay briefly back into the game.
Dallas and Tampa Bay are both hoping that this season they can rebound after collapsing last December and missing the playoffs last year.
Tampa Bay lost four games in a row after starting the season at 9-3. They fired Jon Gruden and hired Morris to replace him as head coach. Dallas lost three out of their last four games to finish the season at 9-7.
The biggest move in the offseason for Dallas was to get rid of Terrell Owens and make Roy Williams their lead receiver. Williams is excited about the role after he spent his first 5 ½ years in the NFL in Detroit and struggled under the shadow of Owens after he was traded over from the Lions during last season’s trade deadline.
Romo connected on his first two passes with the 215 pound, 6 foot 3 Williams. However after that the pair remained fairly quiet until the big catch in the third quarter by Williams put Dallas ahead 20-7.
Coming into the game Romo had thrown eight touchdowns and had no interceptions in his two career games versus Tampa Bay. He finished the game 16 for 27, improving his September starts record to 8-1. Williams caught three passes for a total of 86 yards.
Romo said, you are not thinking about yards. You are not being judged on yards. He holds the franchise record with 17 games passing for over 300 yards. In this position you get judged from winning and losing.
Leftwich didn’t suffer a sack from the DeMarcus Ware led defense. However during the fourth quarter he did suffer several hard shots. The pro of seven years led the Bucs on an 84 yard, 11 play drive capped by Ward’s touchdown, trimming the deficit to 20-14 for Tampa Bay with 13:45 left in the game.
Romo spotted Crayton two plays later wide open down the right sideline. Crayton outran his defenders Jermaine Phillips and Sabby Piscitelli easily to restore Dallas’ lead of 13 points.
Ronde Barber said, we had chances all day. The final score definitely doesn’t indicate how good we did play at times. The big plays just destroy a football team.
The 6 yard touchdown run of Barber, set up by the 44 yard pass play from Romo to Crayton, ended the scoring for Dallas.
During the closing minutes of the game, Tampa Bay marched 74 yards down field and scored on a two yard pass from Leftwich to Kellen Winslow. However, by the time that happened, most of the 63,806 crowd had already left the stadium, to leave large pockets of Cowboy fans in the stands.
