Cowboys excel in all three phases of the game

There were so many stories from last night’s game that it’s hard to cover them all. We could just lump them all together by saying the Cowboys offense, defense and special teams all came together to spank the Bears. Mickey Spags covers it all in this article. But let’s look at things with a little more detail.

Where to begin? How about the man, the myth, the legend, Tony Romo? He’s getting love from everywhere this morning and this constant refrain is heard: Time to pay the man, Jerry. Don’t worry, Jerry will get it done. The thing that most impressed me about Romo last night was his sixth-sense in the pocket. Play after play it looked like something really bad was going to happen but Romo either got the pass away just in time or gave a shake-and-bake to the pass rush and continued on with the play. It was masterful. Here’s a Lenny P. article about the game where he describes the same thing.

But it was Romo's show. Perhaps most impressive was how he used his feet to elude an often-fierce Bears' pass rush, to buy time and to permit his receivers an opportunity to uncover. By unofficial count, nearly two-thirds of Romo's passing yards in the second half came on plays in which he moved deftly around the pocket to bob and weave away from Chicago defenders.

Amen. A Chicago paper put it this way:

Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo looked like a more mobile Tom Brady, sidestepping the intense pressure of the Bears' front line to make play after play.

Have we gone from Favre to Brady in describing Romo? He sure is being heaped in with some heady company this year.

Let’s get the sober, logical analysis from Nick Eatman.

It's one thing to light up the Giants with five touchdowns on opening night or pick apart the Dolphins last week.

But for the kid from Eastern Illinois University to come into Soldier Field, against arguably the NFL's toughest defense of the last few years and pass for 329 yards and two touchdowns is a different story.

Romo might not have felt he made some kind of statement, but his coach doesn't exactly agree.

"I think he made a statement, for sure, that Tony can compete against the top defenses in the league," head coach Wade Phillips said. "That was a question coming in, and I think he made a statement there. I think Tony is an outstanding quarterback. The decisions and he makes plays that a lot of other guys can't make."

OK, so Tony Romo rocks. But he gets help from his stable of stars and they did not disappoint. T.O. ripped off huge chunks of yards repeatedly last night, Jason Witten continues to be stellar and MB3 knows how to close a game. JJT has more on the Cowboys relying on their stars to win games, here. And Jason Witten gets some love in this article.

How about a special shout-out to the special teams for shutting down and shutting up Devin Hester? Hester challenged the Cowboys during the week to kick it to him and at first it looked the Cowboys might not. After the initial kickoff was angled and went out of bounds the Cowboys strategy was not to give him a chance. But Keith Davis was having none of that.

"I go straight to the sideline and say, 'Coach, we kick the ball to him and we'll cover,'" Davis recalled his conversation with Cowboys special teams coach Bruce Read. "He said, 'Alright.' We started kicking it and we made some great plays."

Credit Pat Watkins with some excellent coverage plays in this game. The only special teams mistake was the blocked FG.

Over the last two games the defense has stepped up its play. They will give up some passing yards, but they are stingy against the run and they are getting turnovers. Calvin Watkins discusses the defense.

But the Cowboys forced four turnovers, had three sacks, knocked quarterback Rex Grossman down six times and defended eight passes.

Yeah, it was the Bears, and their 30th-ranked offense, but the Cowboys' defense is supposed to control a game like this.

It did that in the second half.

"You are starting to see some of Wade [Phillips'] philosophy," owner and general manager Jerry Jones said. "We told the guys in training camp it was going to be a transition for them."

The big news is that DeMarcus Ware finally got in the sack column with a couple in this game. We need Ware to make a difference. Anthony Henry has had two good games in a row and we needed it with the absence of Terence Newman. And yes, it was good to see Newman back on the field. Here's another article on the defense.

But let’s give the last word on the Cowboys effort last night to Chicago coach Lovie Smith, who had this grin-inducing assessment.

"In the second half," Chicago coach Lovie Smith said, "Dallas did pretty much what they wanted to against us."