Tony Romo Sparks Dallas Cowboys in Win Over Jacksonville Jaguars in London

By Michael Compton @MWCompton on November 9, 2014

To no one’s surprise, the Dallas Cowboys proved on Sunday that they are clearly better with Tony Romo at the helm. The veteran quarterback, broken back and all, paced the Cowboys’ offense as America’s team halted a two-game slide and defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars  31-17 at Wembley Stadium in London in the third and final game of the NFL’s International Series this season.

Any concerns over Romo’s health were quickly put to rest. Nursing two fractures in his back, Romo, who sat out last week’s 28-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals, took advantage of clean pockets and spread the ball around effectively against the Jaguars. Romo hit tight end Jason Witten for a touchdown early, putting the Cowboys up 10-7. That touchdown followed a Jaguars’ miscue, their 20th of the season, when Ace Sanders fumbled a punt at the six-yard-line to set up the score. It only got worse for the Jaguars from there.

The Cowboys scored their second touchdown of the evening late in the second quarter when Romo connected with Dez Bryant on an underneath route that resulted in a 35-yard touchdown. Bryant caught the ball on the run and made four Jaguars miss en route to the end zone. Johnathan Cyprien, Dwayne Gratz, Demetrius McCray and Chris Clemons all had shots at tackling Bryant, but came up empty.

While the Cowboys rediscovered their mojo, the Jaguars continued to make costly mistakes. Following a 53-yard Blake Bortles to Cecil Shorts III pass play, running back Denard Robinson fumbled on the next play and gave the ball back the Cowboys with just over two minutes remaining in the half. The Cowboys promptly returned the favor when Cole Beasley fumbled at the Jaguars’ 22-yard line with just over a minute left. The Jaguars failed to capitalize, however, going three-and-out.

The Cowboys wasted little time finding the end zone one more time before heading to the locker room. With only seconds remaining in the half, Romo threw his third touchdown pass of the game to Bryant, this time connecting for a 68-yard touchdown to put Dallas up 24-7 at halftime. It was Bryant’s second score of the game and his 159 yards receiving (on seven receptions) in the first half marked a new career high.

Romo gutted it out nearly the entire game. Sacked only once, Romo completed 20-of-27 passes for 246 yards and three touchdowns before giving way to Brandon Weeden late in the fourth quarter. Romo has now thrown a touchdown pass in 37 consecutive games, breaking a tie with Brett Favre for the fifth-longest streak in league history.

The Cowboys relied on a balanced offensive attack to keep the game out of reach in the second half. Running back DeMarco Murray was effective, carrying the ball 19 times for 100 yards. Joseph Randle, who made headlines earlier this season after being arrested for stealing underwear, even got into the action. He rambled 40 yards for a touchdown early in the third quarter to give Dallas a commanding 31-7 advantage.

Jacksonville started the game quickly and took an early lead when Robinson exploded for a 32-yard touchdown run on the Jaguars’ first possession of the game to put the home team up 7-3 early. Behind strong blocking up front, Robinson darted through a gaping hole off the right side, made a savvy cut inside and then sprinted to the end zone to cap a nine-play, 80-yard drive that gave the Jaguars a 7-3 short-lived lead. Robinson added another touchdown late in the game and Bortles hit Allen Robinson for a two-point conversion to make the score 31-17.

Reports surfaced early Sunday morning that 20 members of the Cowboys had missed curfew on Friday night, suggesting that Dallas might have entered the Week 10 matchup overlooking the lowly Jaguars. Team owner Jerry Jones said there were no curfew violations because there were no curfews. Either way, the Cowboys didn’t appear to lack focus on the field. They made big plays on both sides of the ball to win a game against a team they were expected to beat.

Romo (season-high 138.8 passer rating) played smart and showed no ill-effects of his injury as the Cowboys, now 7-3, halted their losing streak at two games ahead of a Week 11 bye. With Sunday’s loss, the Jaguars fall to 1-9.

Michael Compton is a Jacksonville Jaguars writer for RantSports. Follow him on Twitter at @MWCompton and connect with him on Google.