By RANDY GALLOWAY
ARLINGTON — What’s this, another Miles-stone in the suddenly booming career of Mr. Austin?
On Sunday, it appeared Magical Miles had advanced to that next level, the one where all NFL receivers dream to reach.
Star treatment?
Yellow hankies hit green plastic on two separate possessions at the Big Yard in Arlington as defenders were whistled for committing pass interference on Miles.
Both came on third downs. Both led to touchdowns. Add another touchdown for Austin and he was directly involved in three TDs as the Dallas Cowboys, on their seventh Sunday of the season, rested their case.
Yes, an outmanned opponent — in this case, Seattle — was dispatched rather swiftly, erasing a local concern that if you’re going to be a good team, then act like it against the bad clubs.
Not so sure in today’s NFL that it’s a totally valid issue, but Cowboys by 38-17 (and it wasn’t really that close) was the season’s first blowout.
"Hopefully," smiled Austin, when asked if it was "star treatment" on those, well, somewhat borderline interference calls. "I’m just out there running the routes, and I thought both were, yes, the right calls.
"Anyway, they were called, and that was good. Sometimes, you don’t get those, so when you do, I’ll take ’em."
Tony Romo got a good postgame laugh out of the "star treatment" question.
"Now, really, I think those were good flags," Tony answered. "[Austin] put the double move on them. Either you give up the TD or you get a flag."
Austin didn’t go statistical crazy on this afternoon (five catches, 61 yards) but his impact was very vital again in the continuing resurgence of the Cowboys’ offense. In the last 10 quarters, plus an overtime, there have been 10 touchdowns from the offense, and you can say Miles figured in seven of them, catching five.
Not bad for an offense that in early October appeared to be a red-zone field goal waiting to happen.
"I like the way we can score in a hurry," coach Wade Phillips said. "Today, we were just kind of rocking along, then suddenly, we got way ahead."
Actually, the being-way-ahead issue led to a postgame question for Phillips. Why was Romo still flinging in the fourth quarter, taking body blows, a couple of which were rather nasty, and came with a 28-point lead?
Is Jon Kitna an H1N1 threat?
No harm, no foul, I guess. Romo suffered no apparent damage. Phillips’ answer, by the way, indicated Kitna was going to play at some point when the fourth quarter clock ticked under nine minutes.
Except Romo got sacked attempting to pass with a 28-point lead, lost a fumble, the Seahawks scored, and, well, Tony stayed in.
Long before that, everyone except those on the Cowboys’ bench, if you believe linebacker Keith Brooking, had already turned thoughts to next Sunday, an anticipation fueled by ongoing stadium announcements of the Eagles bombing the New York Giants, a final score that reached 40-17.
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