Romo leads Dallas over Giants

Sep 10, 2007, 3:51 GMT

Irving, TX - Tony Romo threw for a career-high 345 yards and four touchdowns to lead Dallas to a 45-35 victory over the New York Giants to give new coach Wade Phillips a victory in his debut in the season opener for both clubs.

Jason Witten caught six passes for 116 yards with a touchdown for Dallas. Romo, who ended last season by botching the hold on a potential game-winning field goal in a wild card-round loss at Seattle, completed 15-of-24 passes and was intercepted once for the Cowboys (1-0), who racked up 478 total yards of offense.

Romo also ran for a score and Marion Barber added 65 yards rushing and a touchdown in the victory while Terrell Owens had two touchdown receptions.

It was a much different result than last year when the Cowboys lost their opener with Bill Parcells at the helm.

'I think he showed what he can do,' Phillips said of Romo. 'He had protection. Our offensive line did a good job. I just thought we had an outstanding game offensively.'

Plaxico Burress finished with eight receptions for 144 yards and three touchdowns for the Giants (0-1), who lost three starters to injuries in the contest.

Eli Manning threw for 312 yards with four touchdowns and an interception on 28-of-41 passing for New York, but left the game late in the fourth quarter with a bruised right shoulder. He'll have an MRI Monday.

Third-year pro Brandon Jacobs, who will see the bulk of the carries in the backfield for the Giants this season with Tiki Barber enjoying retirement, left the game in the second quarter with an MCL sprain in his right knee and did not return. He finished with 26 yards on six carries.

Derrick Ward led New York's ground game with 89 yards on 13 carries.

Giants defensive end Michael Strahan, who officially ended his lengthy holdout earlier in the week after flirting with retirement, played and notched four solo tackles while assisting on another.

'We didn't get the pressure on the quarterback that we thought we were going to get,' Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. 'When you rely on that type of defense, you certainly do have to get to the quarterback. We didn't get to him.'

Owens' second touchdown reception of the contest, a 47-yard catch-and-run with 11:43 to play in the final quarter, gave Dallas a 38-22 advantage that looked like it was plenty.

Following Owens' score though, Manning marched down the field and dumped off a shovel pass to Ward, who dove into the end zone with 7:20 left to make it a 10-point contest after the two-point conversion failed.

New York's defense then came up huge as Gibril Wilson picked off Romo on the second play of possession that followed Ward's score and returned it to the 22-yard line of Dallas with 7:01 to play.

Five plays later, Manning threw a 10-yard strike to Burress in the end zone to pull New York to within three points with 4:09 remaining.

The Cowboys then put the game away after Romo and Sam Hurd connected on a 51- yard touchdown pass to give them a 10-point lead with about three minutes left.

It didn't take long for the Giants to take an early 6-0 lead as they won the coin toss and on their third play from scrimmage, Manning completed a 60-yard catch-and-run touchdown pass with Burress on a deep post pattern over the middle to silence the home crowd. New York botched the hold on the extra point attempt.

The Cowboys then recovered and scored 17 straight points to take control.

Dallas came right back and got on the board after Nick Folk ended a 14-play, 67-yard drive that spanned almost seven minutes with a 31-yard field goal with 6:32 left in the opening quarter.

With 9:40 left in the second quarter, Barber took a hand off on 4th-and-1 and the bruising back bounced to the outside up the right sideline and dove across the goal line near the right pylon for an 18-yard score to give Dallas a 10-6 lead.

On New York's ensuing possession, Manning was picked off by Jacques Reeves and Dallas took over inside Giants' territory. The Cowboys made Manning pay for his mistake as Romo found Witten open over the middle of the end zone for a 12-yard score to make it 17-6 with 3:59 left in the second.

The Giants though managed to score 10 points in the final 21 seconds of the first half to pull within a point. First, Manning and Burress hooked up for the second time in the game, this one a four-yard TD pass. Then on the kickoff, Tyson Thompson fumbled for Dallas and the Giants recovered inside Dallas' territory, setting up a 44-yard field goal by Lawrence Tynes to make it 17-16 heading into the second half.

The Cowboys got the ball to start the second half and scored on the drive as Romo hit Owens with a 22-yard touchdown pass to make it 24-16 just three minutes into the third quarter. On the play, Owens juggled the ball and managed to keep both his feet inbounds in the back of the end zone while maintaining possession.

'You just kind of dictate what they're giving you a little bit,' Romo said. 'I think they came out with the game plan to try and take Terrell out of the game a little bit. As a quarterback you just have to find the people who are open. Jason did a great job today. T.O. and some of the other guys obviously got open in the second half.'

With 5:47 left in the third stanza, Tynes split the uprights with a 48-yarder to pull the Giants within five points.

Late in the third quarter, Dallas extended its lead to 31-19 after Romo scrambled across the goal line from nine yards out for his first-career rushing TD.

New York continued to attempt a comeback and cut its deficit to nine after Tynes booted a 24-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter. The key play on the scoring drive was a 44-yard run by Ward to the Dallas 11-yard line.

Game Notes

Owens, who didn't have a reception in the first half, ended with three catches for 87 yards...Julius Jones added 66 yards rushing for the Cowboys...Dallas nose tackle Jason Ferguson left the game in the first half with a right elbow injury and did not return...Cowboys wide receiver Terry Glenn missed the contest and will most likely be out next week as he recovers from knee surgery...Manning has thrown at least one touchdown pass in 31 of his last 34 starts...New York Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora left the game early in the first quarter with a left leg injury. He managed to walk off the field and into the locker room on his own power. He underwent X-rays that came back negative, but the team announced he would not return as a precautionary measure...The Giants host Green Bay next Sunday, while Dallas is at Miami.

© 2007 The Sports Network

Game Notes

.