Tulsa World: December means questions for Dallas

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December means questions for Dallas
Cowboys hope to reverse trend of late-season struggles.

Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo hopes to help his team avoid a post-Thanksgiving swoon such as last season's 1-3 mark in December. Erich Schlegel / AP

By STEPHEN HAWKINS Associated Press
Published: 11/29/2009 2:28 AM
Last Modified: 11/29/2009 7:29 AM

ARLINGTON, Texas — Tony Romo was sitting at the podium after answering questions about Dallas' win over the Raiders when the quarterback turned to a group of media nearby with a grin on his face.

"Yeah, they won, but ... " Romo playfully said Thursday night, mimicking the inevitable conversations about the Cowboys now that they are headed into December.

The NFC East-leading Cowboys (8-3) have won six of seven games after their 24-7 victory over Oakland. They are 4-0 in Thanksgiving Day games since Romo became the starter.

But now comes the post-Thanksgiving stretch where the Cowboys have faltered so often in the past, both before and since Romo took over.

"It's going to be something we're going to have to continue answering, honestly until we get better," Romo said. "So we'll hopefully do that this year."

Just last season, the Cowboys went 1-3 in December to miss the playoffs by one game. They were 13-3 the season before, when they lost twice in December before getting beat in the playoffs.

"We know where we were in the past and what it's been about. It's not going to be any easier this year," tight end Jason Witten said. "We've done all this work to get to this point, and we don't need to let it slip away."

That was basically the message owner Jerry Jones delivered in the locker room after the victory over the Raiders, though receiver Patrick Crayton said that would be a PG-rated version of how the owner encouraged the team to take advantage of what's in front of them.

"I feel like that we probably have been forewarned about what happened to us last year," Jones said. "And that's the whole point. Now let's learn by the events of the last two seasons and work on that."

The Cowboys' last playoff victory came during the 1996 season, a year after their last Super Bowl title. They are 20-39 in games played after Thanksgiving since then, including five playoff losses.

Romo is 15-2 in November games, then 5-10 in games played after that, with losses in both of his playoff games.

Still, he insists he doesn't feel any extra pressure now that the calendar will flip to December.

"It's not different than the weight of a specific game," Romo said. "I don't know that it's any bigger than this last game because it was November and this next one is in December. ... I know it will be a fun little story; I'm sure there will be a few of them about it. But for us, we'll just kind of keep the blinders on and keep going."

Dallas plays Dec. 6 at the New York Giants (6-5), who back in September kicked a field goal on the final play of the game to edge the Cowboys.

The Cowboys' other remaining games are against division leaders New Orleans and San Diego, plus NFC East rivals Washington and Philadelphia.

After being limited to only one touchdown in each of their last two games, Romo and Co. had a much-needed resurgence against the Raiders (3-8).

Now they get a three-day weekend before returning to practice Monday, the final day of November.

"This was a feel-good game for us. It was a game where we did a lot of things well. We feel good about ourselves," coach Wade Phillips said. "Confidence-wise, it certainly helps you. ... We probably have as tough of a schedule as anybody has, but we feel good about if we play well, we can do well."

Up next

At N.Y. Giants

3:15 p.m. Dec. 6

TV: KOKI-5/23

Radio: KTBZ am1430

By STEPHEN HAWKINS Associated Press

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forkandknife, Tulsa (12/1/2009 9:46:36 AM)

Best of luck to Romo and his team. I would love to see them make it to the post season this year.

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