Cowboys Crush Colts

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ARLINGTON, Texas — Tony Romo came into his postgame proudly sporting a t-shirt reading “COWBOYS RUN THE EAST.”

The emphatic performance of Romo and the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday afternoon was worthy of all caps. Romo threw four touchdowns and the Cowboys clinched the NFC East title by blasting the Indianapolis Colts 42-7 at AT&T Stadium.

Dallas improved to 11-4 going into next Sunday’s regular-season finale at Washington. The Cowboys, in the playoffs for the first time since 2009 and in coach Jason Garrett’s five-year tenure, are still in the running for a first-round bye as one of the top two seeds in the conference.

“This is such a long journey and to get to a point to achieve your first goal of winning the division title, a lot goes into that,” said Garrett, who received a Gatorade bath on the field. “The way you play in securing that matters and we played really well.”

Romo became the franchise’s all-time leader in passing yards, surpassing Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman. Romo set the record on a 25-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jason Witten in the third quarter.

“Me and Jason have been through it all together,” said Romo, a former undrafted free agent from Eastern Illinois with 32,970 career yards. “I literally was on the bus from the airport when we arrived in Dallas together for our first rookie minicamp.

“He’s obviously got a special place in my heart. I want more success for him than maybe anybody else on the planet. He deserves it. I want him to have that. For him to be the guy is just a bonus.”

Romo completed a near-perfect 18 of 20 passes for 218 yards and found four different receivers for

scores, including a 19-yarder to Dez Bryant. Romo led the Cowboys to touchdowns on their first four possessions.

Dallas running back DeMarco Murray played despite having surgery Monday on a broken left hand. The NFL’s leading rusher scored a touchdown and finished with 58 yards on 22 carries.

“The guys are just playing and executing, and doing their job at a high level,” Romo said.

The Colts (10-5) didn’t have as much on the line with the AFC South title already sewn away, and little-to-no chance to beat out Denver or New England for one of the conference’s top two seeds.

Indianapolis was also without leading receiver T.Y. Hilton, who was resting a hamstring injury. The Colts are at Tennessee next Sunday in their final postseason tune-up.

“I’m thinking about Tennessee first,” quarterback Andrew Luck said. “We’ve got to fix this game, focus on Tennessee and then we can worry about the playoffs.”

Without his favorite target, Luck (15-22 for 109 yards and two interceptions) turned in his poorest performance of the season. Luck didn’t have a touchdown pass for the first time this season and left the game in the third quarter.

Luck came into the game leading the NFL in touchdown passes and yards.

Indianapolis avoided its first shutout since 1993 on running back Zurlon Tipton’s 1-yard touchdown catch from backup quarterback Matt Hasselbeck in the fourth quarter.

The Colts managed only 229 yards — 104 in the first half — and turned the ball over three times.

“I guess it is a bit surprising,” Luck said of the offensive struggles. “There are high expectations for us on the offensive side of the ball, to go out and score every drive, to get points and to move the ball. When we don’t, it’s disappointing.

“It’s a pride thing. When you go out and play like this, it’s a bad feeling. We managed to get a couple of wins early and survive some of those mistakes, but it’s obviously against a good team like the Cowboys you’re not going to. We’ll improve. We’ll get back on track.”

Dallas had the game in hand in the first quarter after jumping out to a 14-0 lead thanks to a long drive and a botched fake by the Colts.

The Cowboys methodically drove 80 yards on their first possession to go up 7-0. Romo completed 5 of 6 passes on the march for 33 yards, and scrambled twice for another 21 yards.

Murray carried it seven times (for only 16 yards) before Romo hooked up with receiver Terrence Williams from 9 yards out for the game’s first touchdown.

Indianapolis had stopped the Cowboys on third down, but a taunting penalty linebacker Jerrell Freeman kept the drive alive.

“Have a foolish penalty and extend the drive,” Indy coach Chuck Pagano said. “And from there it never got any better and we couldn’t overcome a lot of things.”

After the Colts lost five yards on their first three plays, a fake punt had Dallas totally fooled. Punter Pat McAfee lofted a perfect spiral down the sideline, but wide-open safety Dewey McDonald dropped the pass and gave Dallas great field position on the Colts’ 19-yard line.

Romo took the gift and found Bryant on the ensuing play for a two-touchdown advantage.

The lead grew to 21-0 early on Romo’s third scoring strike. A skinny post plus poor tackling by Indy’s secondary enabled receiver Cole Beasley to find the end zone from 24 yards out.

Murray’s 1-yard dive later in the second period capped a 67-yard drive and essentially put the game away. Dallas set a season high for points in the first half by taking a 28-0 lead into the break.

Dallas backup quarterback Brandon Weeden tossed a 43-yard touchdown pass to Williams in the fourth quarter.

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