Cowboys’ Romo Throws Five TDs In Rout of Bucs

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The New York Sun

IRVING, Texas — The more Tony Romo plays, the stranger it seems that he spent the first 3 1 /2 years of his career on the bench.

Having won NFC offensive player of the week honors and outplaying Peyton Manning in his last two starts, Romo took his growing reputation even higher yesterday by tying a Dallas Cowboys record with five touchdown passes in a 38–10 victory over Tampa Bay.

It was the ninth time it’s happened in team history and the first time on Thanksgiving. More impressive: Troy Aikman never did it in regulation and Roger Staubach never did it.

As wild as it seems to mention Romo with those Hall of Famers — especially because this was only his fifth start — he’s certainly proving worthy.

Dallas has won three straight for the first time this season and is 4–1 since Romo took over for Drew Bledsoe. Now 7–4, the Cowboys go into the weekend with a half-game lead over the Giants in the NFC East and are second only to Chicago in the conference.

Tampa Bay (3–8) drove 80 yards for a touchdown on the first drive of the game, but got only a 46-yard field goal the rest of the game. Rookie Bruce Gradkowski threw two interceptions, both of which resulted in Dallas touchdowns.

Romo led the Cowboys to five touchdowns in a span of six drives from late in the first quarter to the middle of the third. They might’ve gotten a sixth TD, but settled for a 22-yard field goal from MikeVanderjagt on the next series.

Romo was 22-of-29 for 306 yards. He completed 13 straight passes in one stretch and was 8-of-9 in the second half; he’s 28-of-30 after halftime over his last three games.

Having come into the game 0.5 behind Manning as the NFL’s top-rated passer, Peyton is going to need a heck of a game this weekend or else the new league leader is going to be the undrafted former Division I-AA MVP from Eastern Illinois.

***

DOLPHINS 27, LIONS 10 Joey Harrington’s face was splashed across the video boards while Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” played — a jab at the quarterback’s piano playing.

Harrington got the last laugh.

He threw three touchdown passes yesterday to help the Miami Dolphins erase a 10-point deficit and roll to a 27–10 victory over the Detroit Lions, who drafted him third overall in 2002 and gave up on him earlier this year.

Harrington said the song meant to mock him was clever, not a cheap shot.

“I’m proud of who I am and what I do,” he said. “If anybody wants to sit down and play a little bit, I’ll be happy to take them on.”

Harrington did find it interesting that he was the only Miami offensive player the public-address announcer introduced before the game.

“It was for all those people that wanted to boo me,” he said. “And, they did.”

Not for long.

By the third quarter, with the Lions trailing 17–10 after another poor possession by their offense, Harrington said his lineman told him they didn’t need silent counts because they could hear him from the shotgun.

That’s because the fans stopped booing Harrington and directed their frustration at team president Matt Millen with the loudest “Fire Mil-len!” chants of the season.

Detroit is an NFL-worst 23-68 since Millen took control of the franchise in 2001.


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