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Romo shines, Grossman stumbles as Cowboys pound Bears

Sep 24, 2007 - 5:11 AM By Scot Marcotte PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

CHICAGO (Ticker) - It took 30 minutes for him to find his game, but in a battle of young quarterbacks, Dallas' Tony Romo looked ready for prime time.

Romo threw for over 300 yards and two touchdowns as the Dallas Cowboys staked their claim as the best team in the NFC with a 34-10 drubbing of the Chicago Bears on Sunday night.

"To come here into this environment and play this well, we're pretty excited," Romo said. "We've got a lot of good players and I just go out there and try to get them the ball and get out of the way."

After a yawner of a first half, the Cowboys (3-0) came out strong in the second on both sides of the ball. Romo, who was 9-of-17 for 140 yards in the first half, led two third quarter touchdown drives. The Cowboy defense put the game away with a 28 yard interception return for touchdown by Anthony Henry.

"Anthony Henry made another big play for us, really sealed the game, to intercept it, then run it all the way back," Dallas coach Wade Phillips said. "He's one of our playmakers."

Henry had two of Dallas' three interceptions of Bears quarterback Rex Grossman, who turned in another sub-par performance.

The embattled Chicago signalcaller was 15-of-32 for 195 yards and was sacked three times.

"It's on my shoulders," Grossman said. "I have to take care of the football. I have to start making plays, do what I do best. Don't turn the ball over, that's the key. I definitely need to start playing better."

The Bears (1-2) defense started strong, limiting Dallas to just 139 yards of total offense in the first half, including only 18 of it on the ground. But a series of key injuries took four Bears starters, Lance Briggs, Nathan Vasher, Ruben Brown and Tommie Harris, out of the game.

"At halftime I thought we had gotten ourselves back in it, but in the end, they were able to pull away from us," Bears coach Lovie Smith said. "Defensively, we hung in there for a while. The second half, they did what they wanted to against us."

It could have been even uglier, as Cowboys receiver Patrick Crayton dropped a sure touchdown from Romo on 3rd-and-10 at the 12 in the second quarter, leaving the Cowboys to settle for a 30 yard field goal by Nick Folk that tied the game, 3-3.

"We kept grinding," Phillips said. "It didn't seem like we were phased, even though bad things happened. That's a mark, I think, of a good football team."

The Cowboys were equally stingy, keeping Bears quarterback Rex Grossman from gaining any momentum. Their defense limited him to just 84 yards in the air in the first half, and 195 overall.

"It was great," Henry said. "We came in with a new defense, so we were trying to get this thing together and take some picks away today. Our focus was to outplay their defense."

Romo completed 22-of-35 passes for 329 yards. He was intercepted once in the first half but bounced back after the break. He found his primary receiver, Terrell Owens, for 145 yards.

"We came in here, mission accomplished, and I feel like a statement was made," Owens said.

Jason Witten and Marion Barber III caught TD passes from Romo in the third quarter as the Cowboys opened up a 17-10 lead.

"Jason's certainly one of the top tight ends in the league and he showed it again tonight," Phillips said.

Folk kicked a 44-yard field goal, Henry returned a pick for a TD and Barber added a one-yard TD run in the fourth as Dallas poured it on.