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ARLINGTON – Two days after Roger Staubach heaped praise on him, Tony Romo made the Hall of Fame quarterback and Dallas Cowboys legend look good.
Playing behind a reshuffled offensive line in the dress rehearsal for the regular season, Romo fired his first two touchdown passes of the season to lead the Cowboys to a 24-18 preseason win over Cincinnati on Saturday night at AT&T Stadium.
“If there’s a bigger Romo fan in town, I don’t know who it is,” Staubach said at a practice. “I want to argue with all my negative Romo fans and tell them how great this guy is.
“…He makes plays. He’s got a strong arm, and he just does a lot of good things out there (that) only a few quarterbacks in the league can do…Tony is a franchise quarterback.”
Facing a Bengals defense that statistically was the NFL’s sixth toughest last season, Romo was 13-of-18 for 137 yards with no turnovers before giving way to Kyle Orton in the third quarter after staking Dallas to a 14-7 halftime lead. Romo finished with a 131.0 passer rating in leading the first-team offense to its best showing of the preseason.
Romo’s TD tosses went to Dez Bryant and Miles Austin and covered 5 and 12 yards, with both coming on third downs in the second quarter.
Prior to Saturday, Romo had directed only one scoring drive for a field goal in five possessions. He likely won’t play in Thursday’s preseason finale against Houston.
“I thought it was important more than anything just to score points and put us in a position to have a good feeling as we finish the preseason a little bit with the starters,” said Romo, who finished the preseason 23-of-36 for 367 yards with two TDs and no turnovers for a 123.3 rating after missing the offseason following minor back surgery in April. “We have been playing well. I think it was just something we needed to do to cap the preseason.”
Romo was also happy to see a turnover-free game after the Cowboys committed six in losing 12-7 to Arizona last week.
“We had a little more extended time tonight and it’s good to see the guys play as well as they did against a really good defense,” he said.
Bryant caught six passes for 54 yards, Austin snagged four for 59.
“We really haven’t show what we have been working on (offensively),” owner Jerry Jones said. “But it’s obvious there is a lot of confidence there (between Romo and the top two receivers).”
The Cowboys (2-2) increased their lead to 21-10 late in the third on a 7-yard swing pass from Orton to DeMarco Murray, who dodged four defenders en route to the end zone.
Dallas coach Jason Garrett benched Murray after he fumbled in the first quarter. But Murray responded with a strong second-half performance that propelled him to 51 rushing yards on 12 attempts behind a line that featured Doug Free at right guard for the first time.
Cincinnati (2-1) drew first blood, scoring on Brandon Tate’s 75-yard punt return late in the first quarter. Tate scored on a do-over punt after Chris Jones’ first effort hit the giant video board.
Dallas’ special teams have struggled throughout the preseason under new coordinator Rich Bisaccia, allowing a blocked field goal, coughing up two fumbles, committing several penalties and yielding Tate’s score.
“We can’t have that and have to do that better,” Garrett said.
Fortunately for the Cowboys, their defense turned in another strong effort, forcing four turnovers via fumbles forced by safeties Barry Church and Jeff Heath recoveries and interceptions from rookies cornerbacks B.W. Webb and Xavier Brewer.
Dallas has eight takeaways in the preseason after collecting just 16 in 2012.
Continue reading...
Playing behind a reshuffled offensive line in the dress rehearsal for the regular season, Romo fired his first two touchdown passes of the season to lead the Cowboys to a 24-18 preseason win over Cincinnati on Saturday night at AT&T Stadium.
“If there’s a bigger Romo fan in town, I don’t know who it is,” Staubach said at a practice. “I want to argue with all my negative Romo fans and tell them how great this guy is.
“…He makes plays. He’s got a strong arm, and he just does a lot of good things out there (that) only a few quarterbacks in the league can do…Tony is a franchise quarterback.”
Facing a Bengals defense that statistically was the NFL’s sixth toughest last season, Romo was 13-of-18 for 137 yards with no turnovers before giving way to Kyle Orton in the third quarter after staking Dallas to a 14-7 halftime lead. Romo finished with a 131.0 passer rating in leading the first-team offense to its best showing of the preseason.
Romo’s TD tosses went to Dez Bryant and Miles Austin and covered 5 and 12 yards, with both coming on third downs in the second quarter.
Prior to Saturday, Romo had directed only one scoring drive for a field goal in five possessions. He likely won’t play in Thursday’s preseason finale against Houston.
“I thought it was important more than anything just to score points and put us in a position to have a good feeling as we finish the preseason a little bit with the starters,” said Romo, who finished the preseason 23-of-36 for 367 yards with two TDs and no turnovers for a 123.3 rating after missing the offseason following minor back surgery in April. “We have been playing well. I think it was just something we needed to do to cap the preseason.”
Romo was also happy to see a turnover-free game after the Cowboys committed six in losing 12-7 to Arizona last week.
“We had a little more extended time tonight and it’s good to see the guys play as well as they did against a really good defense,” he said.
Bryant caught six passes for 54 yards, Austin snagged four for 59.
“We really haven’t show what we have been working on (offensively),” owner Jerry Jones said. “But it’s obvious there is a lot of confidence there (between Romo and the top two receivers).”
The Cowboys (2-2) increased their lead to 21-10 late in the third on a 7-yard swing pass from Orton to DeMarco Murray, who dodged four defenders en route to the end zone.
Dallas coach Jason Garrett benched Murray after he fumbled in the first quarter. But Murray responded with a strong second-half performance that propelled him to 51 rushing yards on 12 attempts behind a line that featured Doug Free at right guard for the first time.
Cincinnati (2-1) drew first blood, scoring on Brandon Tate’s 75-yard punt return late in the first quarter. Tate scored on a do-over punt after Chris Jones’ first effort hit the giant video board.
Dallas’ special teams have struggled throughout the preseason under new coordinator Rich Bisaccia, allowing a blocked field goal, coughing up two fumbles, committing several penalties and yielding Tate’s score.
“We can’t have that and have to do that better,” Garrett said.
Fortunately for the Cowboys, their defense turned in another strong effort, forcing four turnovers via fumbles forced by safeties Barry Church and Jeff Heath recoveries and interceptions from rookies cornerbacks B.W. Webb and Xavier Brewer.
Dallas has eight takeaways in the preseason after collecting just 16 in 2012.
Continue reading...