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But by dismantling the one-win Jaguars Sunday in London, the Cowboys sent a message to the rest of the league. That's because a team that has been known to look past weaker opponents in big spots played its most complete game yet.
The Cowboys were supposed to collapse on Sunday. They'd lost back-to-back games after a 6-1 start and were mired in controversy following a report from NFL Media's Ian Rapoport that more than a third of the players on the roster missed a Friday night curfew that may or may not have existed.
They were calling it a "trap game," even though that made little sense considering the 'Boys were coming off a loss and had a bye week on deck.
Regardless, with all of that negative buzz and with quarterback Tony Romo restricted by another back injury, the Jaguars were somewhat of a trendy pick.
Instead, the Cowboys built a 31-7 lead by the middle of the third quarter. Romo returned after missing a week and put together the 10th-best game of his career, passer rating-wise (138.8). On only 19 carries, running back DeMarco Murray hit the 100-yard mark for the ninth time in 10 games. Top receiver Dez Bryant had over 150 yards and two touchdowns for the second time in his career.
And an unquestionably talented but recently maligned offensive line did its job, keeping the brittle Romo upright for the majority of the evening. The quarterback was sacked just once.
ESPNDallas.com's Todd Archer has a statistical nugget that sheds light on just how much Romo and the offense benefited from strong pass protection:
"The Cowboys had three touchdowns of 35 yards or more—by Dez Bryant (35 and 68 yards) and Joseph Randle (40)—for the first time since Week 5 of the 2009 season."
Meanwhile, the defense gave up just seven points before fourth-quarter garbage time. It forced a fumble in its territory when the game was still competitive late in the first half and put the icing on the cake with a fourth-quarter interception in the red zone.
Rookie fourth-round pick Anthony Hitchens, who made another big fourth-down play and led the team with nine tackles, continues to look like a steal at linebacker, while Bruce Carter made another big play with that fourth-quarter pick.
Plus, they're finally starting to get pressure and take down opposing quarterbacks.
The pass rush has been viewed as this team's Achilles' heel and rightly so. The Cowboys entered Week 10 ranked 28th in the NFL with only 12 sacks in nine outings. But on Sunday, a team that had just one three-sack game this season recorded four for the first time all season.
Nine of their 16 sacks have come in the last three weeks, which is promising with Henry Melton and Anthony Spencer getting healthier and rookie second-round pick DeMarcus Lawrence finally able to contribute.
This D, which has given up 23 or fewer points in six of its last seven games, is greater than the sum of its parts. But those parts are still proving to be better than anyone expected.
The 31-17 scoreline doesn't do it justice—this was a nearly perfect performance from a team many thought was beginning to wilt.
This could have been like Week 16 of the 2012 season, when Dallas lost at home to a mess of a New Orleans Saints team that was out of it at 6-8. The same thing happened to them at home against the 6-8 Philadelphia Eagles in 2011, and earlier that year they fell in overtime to the 4-7 Arizona Cardinals.
Those Cowboys teams tripped over themselves far too often, and they weren't as talented or as steady across the board as this version. Proof of that came Sunday at Wembley.
Brad Gagnon has covered the NFC East for Bleacher Report since 2012.
Follow @Brad_Gagnon
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