Texas NFL Capsules: December means questions for Romo, Cowboys

"Yeah, they won, but ... " Romo playfully said Thursday night, mimicking the inevitable conversations about the Cowboys now that they're headed into December.

The NFC East-leading Cowboys (8-3) have won six of seven games after their 24-7 victory over Oakland. They are 4-0 in Thanksgiving Day games since Romo became the starter.

But now comes the post-Thanksgiving stretch where the Cowboys have faltered so often in the past, both before and since Romo took over.

"It's going to be something we're going to have to continue answering, honestly until we get better," Romo said. "So we'll hopefully do that this year."

Just last season, the Cowboys went 1-3 in December to miss the playoffs by one game. They were 13-3 the season before, when they lost twice in December before getting beat in the playoffs.

"We know where we were in the past and what it's been about. It's not going to be any easier this year," tight end Jason Witten said. "We've done all this work to get to this point and we don't need to let it slip away."

That was basically the message owner Jerry Jones delivered in the locker room after the victory over the Raiders, though receiver Patrick Crayton said that would be a PG-rated version of how the owner encouraged the team to take advantage of what's in front of them.

"I feel like that we probably have been forewarned about what happened to us last year," Jones said. "And that's the whole point. Now let's learn by the events of the last two seasons and have focus and work on that."

The Cowboys' last playoff victory came during the 1996 season, a year after their last Super Bowl title. They are 20-39 in games played after Thanksgiving since then, including five playoff losses.

Romo is 15-2 in November games, then 5-10 in games played after that, with losses in both of his playoff games.

Still, he insists he doesn't feel any extra pressure now that the calendar will flip to December.

"It's not different than the weight of a specific game," Romo said. "I don't know that it's any bigger than this last game because it was November and this next one is in December. ... I know it will be a fun little story; I'm sure there will be a few of them about it. But for us, we'll just kind of keep the blinders on and keep going."

Dallas plays Dec. 6 at the New York Giants (6-5), who back in September kicked a field goal on the final play of the game to ruin the Cowboys' debut in their new stadium.

The Cowboys' other remaining games are against division leaders New Orleans and San Diego, plus NFC East rivals Washington and Philadelphia.

After being limited to only one touchdown in each of their last two games, Romo and Co. had a much-needed resurgence against the Raiders (3-8).

Dallas had 494 total yards and became the first NFL team in three years with eight plays of at least 25 yards. It was Dallas' fifth 400-yard game, one short of matching the team record for an entire season.

The Cowboys have 4,313 total yards (392 per game), only 15 short of the most they've had through 11 games in a season — and that was 43 years ago.

Romo, playing four days after taking a knee to his back against the Redskins, was an efficient 18-of-29 passing for 309 yards with two touchdowns in his 50th career start. It was his 21st 300-yard games, and only Saints quarterback Drew Brees (28) has more since Romo became a starter.

Witten, playing with a sprained left foot, and Miles Austin gave Dallas two 100-yard receivers in the same game for the first time since the 2006 regular season finale. There was balance in the running game, with Felix Jones, Tashard Choice and Marion Barber all running for more than 60 yards and each with a play of at least 32 yards.

Now they get a three-day weekend before returning to practice Monday, the final day of November.

"This was a feel-good game for us. It was a game where we did a lot of things well. We feel good about ourselves," coach Wade Phillips said. "Confidence-wise, it certainly helps you. ... We probably have as tough of a schedule as anybody has, but we feel good about if we play well, we can do well."

Related Stories

The problem was what happened on Dallas' other 10 offensive plays in the 24-7 Thanksgiving victory, a recurring theme this year for a defense that has been too susceptible to allowing the big play.

The Raiders (3-8) allowed 384 yards on Dallas' 10 longest plays, while holding the Cowboys to 110 on the other 46 snaps.

"You see a lot of high integrity defense, fitting it right, tackling it well, and then the next thing you know, bang, something comes out," coach Tom Cable said Friday. "It's a person letting up somewhere in there, whether it's a lack of focus or concentration or maybe overrunning something. That's part of it, too."

There was a 49-yard pass from Tony Romo to Miles Austin, a 66-yard run on a direct snap to Tashard Choice, a 46-yard touchdown run by Felix Jones, a 42-yard reception by Marion Barber and a 32-yard run by Barber. Plus two more long passes from Romo to Austin and three from Romo to tight end Jason Witten.

The Cowboys capitalized on mismatches, miscommunications and blown assignments all day long in rolling to the victory Thursday.

"More than anything, we're a man team, play press coverage, and we didn't really play them up real tight," Cable said. "The runs, really, were empty gaps, people not defending the gap properly. But just too many of them. That's really the tale of the game defensively."

It's been the tale of the season defensively for the Raiders, who have played top-notch defense in stretches but have rarely maintained it for an entire game.

Excluding kneel-down plays, the Raiders entered the week with the most negative rushing plays on defense, hitting backs for losses 37 times for a loss of 94 yards. But Oakland has also allowed the third-most runs of at least 10 yards this season, giving up 45, including seven that went for touchdowns.

Overall, Oakland has yielded an NFL-worst 54 plays that have gone at least 20 yards, 15 the ground and 39 through the air.

"Everyone has a job to do," defensive lineman Richard Seymour said after the game. "That's what it boils down to. Everyone has to take care of their responsibilities. If we don't, this is going to be the outcome."

Raiders Pro Bowl cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha blamed the short week of preparation for some of the miscues against the Cowboys, whose 494 yards were the most against the Raiders since Tennessee gained 527 in a 40-35 loss to Oakland on Dec. 19, 2004.

"We didn't have our normal seven days to study the team," Asomugha said. "That kind of stuff is going to happen. We just didn't expect it to happen as much as it did. There were a lot of blown assignments and that was disappointing."

The Raiders get the weekend off before preparing for the stretch run of what is heading toward another lost season. Oakland needs to win its remaining five games, starting with Dec. 6 at Pittsburgh, to avoid a seventh straight losing season.

Cable said he isn't concerned about the team quitting in December with few tangible goals remaining.

"The character of this team is really too strong," Cable said. "I just feel like we'll go to work every day and put forth the right effort, put forth what it takes to succeed. It's just a matter of being more stubborn than that negative emotion or negative feeling."

-- Josh Dubow

Giants at crossroads with 6-5 record