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ARLINGTON — There were a lot of firsts at Cowboys Stadium on Sunday.
For the first time, the roof was closed while the doors were open; Tony Romo has his first-career, three-game stretch with no interceptions; cornerback Orlando Scandrick had his first career fumble recovery; linebacker Bobby Carpenter made his first sack in 38 games; Sam Hurd scored his first touchdown since the season opener in 2007; and rookie Kevin Ogletree made his first career catch.But the biggest first came in the standings.The Cowboys’ 38-17 victory over the Seattle Seahawks — combined with the New York Giants’ loss to the Philadelphia Eagles — moved Dallas into a first-place tie with the Eagles. Both teams are 5-2 heading into next week’s showdown at Lincoln Financial Field."We are just now starting to see all the hard work and sacrifices we’ve made come into fruition, and it’s a good feeling," Cowboys linebacker Keith Brooking said. "That’s the reason we play this game. This is so much fun. That’s the reason I came here — to be a part of Sundays like this. I’m just excited about my football team, our football team, the way we’re coming together."There’s a fine line, though. We need to enjoy it, but everyone’s going to be drinking the Cowboy Kool-Aid here and telling us how great we are and how good we’re doing. We have a long way to go and a lot of football to play. As long as we prepare the way we’ve been preparing and come out on the field with confidence on Sunday, we’re going to be right where we want to be."The Cowboys have won three in a row. Since halftime of the Chiefs game — the past 10 quarters plus overtime in Kansas City — the Cowboys have outscored their opponents 98-48 and outgained them 1,072 to 803. They have returned two punts for touchdowns.Over that same stretch, Tony Romo has completed 62.5 percent of his passes for 762 yards with eight touchdowns and no interceptions, and Miles Austin has 17 receptions for 411 yards and five touchdowns."I thought we came together after that ballgame [in Kansas City] as far as believing in each other," Cowboys coach Wade Phillips said. "You still have to execute, and we did those things at the end of that ballgame."It’s a good, hard-working group. I like the way they work. I like their attitude. We’ve got to get better, but I think we will."The Cowboys didn’t waste much time putting away a lesser opponent Sunday.Though the Seahawks did score on their first series, kicking a 43-yard field goal, and hung around through much of the first half, they couldn’t stay with the Cowboys. In a 14-minute, 14-second span, from the end of the second quarter to near the end of the third, the Cowboys went on a touchdown-fest to increase their lead from 14-10 to 38-10. Roy Williams scored on a 7-yard pass from Romo with 35 seconds left before halftime; Austin caught a 3-yard TD pass from Romo with 2:39 left in the third quarter; and Patrick Crayton returned a punt 82 yards for a touchdown only 1:28 later. "This team is explosive in that we’re going along, kind of rocking along, and then all of a sudden, we’re way ahead," Phillips said. "The ability to do that can make you a good football team. It was 14-10 there for a while, and all of a sudden it was out of hand."It was a team effort as the Cowboys had 10 players catch passes from Romo, six players carried the ball, 14 players made tackles on defense and three players had a sack. "It is great for this team that we’re playing as many people as we are," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. "... Given how our young people are playing and the numbers that are playing, that’s a healthy thing for a team. It is healthy from the standpoint of the attitude. Everybody is excited; everybody got to participate in the victory."The Cowboys will celebrate with Victory Monday today, a day off, before coming back to work to get ready for their first-place showdown. They haven’t forgotten what happened in last season’s finale at Philadelphia, where they lost to the Eagles 44-6 in an elimination game."Last year is last year," Romo said. "We had to deal with that all off-season. 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."ONLINE: star-telegram.com/cowboysCharean Williams, 817-390-7760
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