Cowboys play it straight

Minus all the drama, Dallas wins 4th in a row, takes lead in NFC East

PHILADELPHIA -- The Dallas Cowboys have kept the melodrama to a minimum and the on-field results are falling into place. They became the surprising leaders in the NFC East halfway through their season when they used a fourth-quarter touchdown pass from quarterback Tony Romo to wide receiver Miles Austin to beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 20-16, on Sunday night at Lincoln Financial Field.

The Cowboys won their fourth straight game to improve their record to 6-2, putting them a game ahead of the second-place Eagles (5-3).

"It's huge for our team," Cowboys tight end Jason Witten said. "I'm proud of our composure. To fight back and be in the lead at the halfway mark shows a lot about our team. But there's a long way to go. We didn't play great tonight."

Few, it seemed, expected this from the post-T.O. Cowboys. But Romo has been steady and Austin has been among the receivers making major contributions to compensate for the offseason exit of wideout Terrell Owens. Austin struck again Sunday with just more than eight minutes remaining, beating cornerback Sheldon Brown to catch Romo's well-placed throw and race to the end zone for a 49-yard touchdown that broke a 13-13 tie.

The Eagles got a 52-yard field goal by kicker David Akers, but the Cowboys held on from there, getting two first downs to run out the clock.

"I know we needed two first downs to win, with no timeouts for them," Cowboys Coach Wade Phillips said. "That's Marion Barber time. We challenged our offensive line on the sideline. We told them we needed first downs to win, and they did it."

Eagles Coach Andy Reid had used two timeouts on failed second-half replay challenges. Each came with Reid disputing the officials' spot of the ball, the second time when the Eagles were stopped short of a first down on a fourth-down quarterback sneak. Reid also gambled and lost when he had Akers kick his final field goal with 4-1/2 minutes to play instead of trying for a first down.

The Cowboys got a first-quarter touchdown run by Tashard Choice, and converted two interceptions thrown by Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb into 10 points. McNabb did have a third-quarter touchdown pass to tight end Brent Celek. The Cowboys won in their return to the site of a 44-6 defeat to the Eagles that ended last season for them.

"Our players left history in the past, I think," Phillips said. "This is a new team, a new year. We came in here to play our game. ... We've got a tough road in the second half of the season. But after 2-2, I couldn't be more pleased with where we are now."

Said Romo: "You can't look back, in my opinion. ... That was last year. They got us. That was their year, compared to ours. We're trying to make this year ours."

That lopsided loss kept the Cowboys out of the playoffs and perhaps played a role in prompting the team's offseason decision to release Owens. If the Cowboys hoped that move would prove to be addition by subtraction, the early-season results had been promising for them.

Austin has been a standout with Owens gone, and the locker room had been relatively controversy-free until wide receiver Roy Williams made some recent comments about his role in the offense. Still, that was mild by the Cowboys' standards of the last few seasons, and they arrived back in Philadelphia with Romo thriving of late and with first place in the division at stake.