There's probably some witty British slang that could be used here to describe today's success at venerable Wembley Stadium in London, bob's your uncle or something along those lines.
But that's not what this trip overseas was about for head coach Jason Garrett and his Dallas Cowboys. America's Team, coming into the game having lost their last two, needed to take care of business against the lowly Jaguars.
And take care of business they did. In cruising to a relatively easy 31-17 victory over Jacksonville, the Cowboys dominated on both sides of the ball, even though the stat sheet wouldn't necessarily reflect so. Dallas had 399 yards of offense to 333 for Jacksonville, and came out on top in time of possession, 31:32 to 28:28.
Leading the charge to victory was a man who many felt shouldn't have even been on the field. Tony Romo had missed the previous week's game, a loss to Arizona, after suffering a back injury against the Redskins on Oct. 27. But whatever pain with which he may have been dealing certainly didn't shortchange his performance. The quarterback posted 246 yards on 20-of-27 passing and tossed three touchdowns with Dez Bryant giving the fans in London a show, racking up 158 receiving yards on six catches, all of which came in the first half.
DeMarco Murray also had a solid day on the ground, running for 100 yards on 19 carries, the ninth time in 10 games this season that he's reached the century mark. Overall, Dallas totaled 151 rushing yards, as they ran the ball 30 times, compared to dropping back to pass on 28 plays.
Defensively, the Cowboys forced three turnovers and sacked Jacksonville quarterback Blake Bortles four times for minus-28 yards. They also only gave up 71 yards rushing with 32 of those coming on one play in the first quarter. The Dallas D also allowed the Jaguars to convert only four of 14 third-down attempts, 28 percent.
Of course, that's not to say there weren't a few tense moments early on. After jumping out to a quick 3-0 lead on a 54-yard field goal by Dan Bailey, the Jaguars came right back and marched 80 yards on nine plays to take an early advantage, 7-3. Twice Jacksonville was able to convert on third down before Denard Robinson scampered 32 yards to end the end zone.
After that, however, the Jaguars really had no answer for the Cowboys, their troubles compounded with turnovers, the first of which effectively turned the tied in the game.
Dallas was forced to punt with just more than three minutes left to play in the first quarter, but Jaguars returner Ace Sanders muffed the catch and C.J. Spillman was there to recover it for the Cowboys at the Jacksonville 6-yard line. It took just three plays before Romo scrambled to his right and then found Jason Witten open in the end zone for the score, Dallas taking the lead for good, 10-3.
The second quarter then turned into the Romo and Bryant show, as the two connected on a pair of highlight-reel completions that essentially put the game away even before the teams headed to the locker room for halftime.
Facing a second-and-8 at the Jacksonville 35, Romo threw a short pass to Bryant on the right side, the receiver then showing a burst of speed before breaking several tackles near the goal line to reach paydirt.
Soon after that, with only 31 seconds left in the quarter, Bryant beat his man at the line of scrimmage and then hauled in a Romo offering down the right sideline, sprinting 65 yards for his second score on the night, the Cowboy now leading comfortably, 24-7.
And it was just more of the same after the break, as the Cowboys tacked on another score in the third quarter. This time it was Joseph Randle, the team's backup running back, darting off right tackle from 40 yards out, his first touchdown of the season and third of his career.
Really the only question from that point on was how long the starters would remain in the lineup, the quarterback in particular. But all were on the field into fourth quarter, Romo, Murray and Bryant finally calling it a day midway through the final frame.
Jacksonville did pick up two points in the fourth quarter when Kyle Wilber was called for holding in the end zone during a Dallas punt, and the Jaguars then added a touchdown and two-point conversion in garbage time largely against the Cowboys' backups, but the outcome had already long since been decided, the final score 31-17.[embeddedad0]
How perfect was the day for the Cowboys? Even London-native Jack Crawford registered a sack in front of the home crowd, only the second of his career, taking down Jaguars quarterback Bake Bortles on the first play of the fourth quarter.
With the victory, the Cowboys will head into their bye week with an impressive 7-3 record, for now a win up on Philadelphia (6-2) for first place in the NFC East, the Eagles set to host the Carolina Panthers (3-5-1) on Monday. After the much-needed break, Dallas next visits the Giants for a primetime Sunday night game on Nov. 23.
