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Romo returns, Cowboys beat Jaguars in London

Nov 10, 2014 - 12:24 AM London, England (SportsNetwork.com) - Tony Romo returned early from a back injury and threw three touchdown passes, leading the Dallas Cowboys to a 31-17 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley Stadium.

Romo was diagnosed with two small fractures in his back following a loss to the Redskins on Oct. 27. He was held out of last week's 28-17 home loss to Arizona but made the trip to London and showed no ill-effects from the injury, completing 20-of-27 passes for 246 yards.

Dez Bryant had six receptions for 158 yards and two touchdowns -- all in the first half -- good for the second best receiving game of his career. Jason Witten also made a touchdown catch and DeMarco Murray ran for 100 yards.

"We did some good things tonight," Murray said. "Give Jacksonville a lot of credit. They're a tough team. I thought that was a really good team win for us."

Murray, the league's leading rusher, has gone over 100 yards on the ground in nine of 10 games this season.

Dallas (7-3) improved to 4-0 away from home.

Denard Robinson had another productive day running the football for Jacksonville (1-9) in his fifth straight start, carrying 15 times for 60 yards and two touchdowns.

Blake Bortles threw for 290 yards with an interception, and Cecil Shorts III caught five passes for 119 yards in the setback.

"I wanted to thank the fans. It was an outstanding environment for our team," said Jaguars head coach Gus Bradley. "We faced a really good team tonight, a really well-coached team. They played very well."

On the first play from scrimmage, Murray ran 23 yards down the right sideline. He then took a screen pass 17 yards before the offense stalled. On 3rd-and-6 from the Jaguars 36, Romo overthrew Witten near the goal line, and Dallas settled for a 54-yard Dan Bailey field goal.

The Jaguars responded with a scoring drive of their own. Shorts' 24-yard reception highlighted a nine-play drive, and Robinson found the end zone from 32 yards out. On 1st-and-10 from the 32, Robinson took a handoff and patiently waited for his blocks to develop before bursting through the hole and running untouched to the right pylon.

After Jacksonville's defense made a stand, Ace Sanders muffed a punt at the 14-yard line and C.J. Spillman pounced on it, setting up Witten's go-ahead touchdown catch.

Midway through the second, Dallas found the end zone once again thanks to a special individual effort from Bryant. Romo found him short of the sticks on 2nd-and-8, and Bryant juked a defender before busting down the sideline. Bryant made three more players miss as he weaved his way to a touchdown.

Both teams fumbled in enemy territory late in the half, and the Cowboys were set to take their 17-7 lead into halftime, but Romo and Bryant had other ideas. Starting at their own 32-yard line with 31 seconds left, Romo took a shot downfield and Bryant came down with a difficult catch. He shook off his primary defender, stiff armed Jonathan Cyprien and muscled his way over the goal line.

Murray gained 33 yards on four touches on Dallas' first series of the second half. He went to the sideline on first down from the Jaguars 40, and his replacement found the end zone on his first touch. Joseph Randle got a huge hole and accelerated through it before breaking a tackle near the 20 and rumbling for a touchdown.

After Bortles' fourth down pass fell incomplete deep in Cowboys territory early in the fourth, Dallas was forced to punt out of its own end zone. Chris Jones got off a 59-yard kick, but Kyle Wilber was whistled for holding, resulting in a safety.

Robinson's 1-yard TD out of the two-minute warning capped the scoring.

Game Notes

Murray tied Calvin Hill for the third most 100-yard rushing games in Cowboys history with his 16th ... Jaguars wide receiver Allen Hurns left the game with a concussion ... Jacksonville was only penalized twice ... Both teams have their bye next week.