Romo's fumble saved the day for the Dallas Cowboys according to WMAQ

Everybody likes it to come from behind. That is our motto for last weekend’s NFL review.


Great goodbye for Monday Night Football at Texas Stadium. Romo was outstanding, awful and then outstanding again. In the second half Dallas defense held the Eagles to 10 points. That was good. Poor plays by Romo, interception and fumble in endzone, put Philly in excellent position in the second quarter and they capitalized. That was bad for the ‘Boys. Looking back to that fumble I think it was better taking the fumble recovery for a touchdown than a safety and having to kick off again to the Eagles for another shot by them at the endzone. So maybe it was only seven in stead of nine or ten (Andy Reid would have loved going for two-point conversion).

The Eagle defense was not able to rattle Tony Romo into any other dumb plays in the second half and no matter what you might read the Dallas defense looked much better in the second half, watch out for Zach Thomas.

The play-fake reverse handoff McNabb-Westbrook mishap so to say put the game more or less in the pocket. An overthrown ball by Romo to Barber gave the Birds another shot but no Hail Mary attempt. That was strange.

Despite the bad call by the referee at Mile High Stadium, San Diego should not complain too much. They failed to stop the Broncos after the blown call. Coaches should put emphasis on players (and themself) to take decisions by the referees as they are. Just win baby. If you would keep stats of bad decisions by the Zebras it could well turn out to be so that everybody profit or loss is the same. Only in the play-offs and Superbowl dubious calls should be turned over if possible.

In other NFC action Washington was so fired up by the taunting of Reggie Bush that they fought back to steal one from the Saints. The Giants were all over the Rams and now share the lead in the division with Dallas.

Based on last weekend’s play all 4 NFC East teams are play-off like caliber. Other teams looking good in the NFC are Arizona, Tampa Bay, Carolina and Green Bay. Early outsiders are Chicago and New Orleans, whereas the Seahawks could be back on track within a couple of weeks.

In the AFC Lane Kiffin was instructed to put the ball out of the hands of Jamarcus Russel into those of Darren McFadden. This paid off huge dividends. Kiffin will not be fired before the end of next season, but his assistants will get more power.

Look for Cowboys’ spin-off Ken Bartel to take the starting job with the Chiefs. The Titans looked good on the road in Cincinatti and are my pick to make it to Tampa for the AFC.

Next weekend the beasts of the NFC East will play the Bengals, Packers, Steelers and Arizona. My bet is that the NFC East will go 4 and 0 with the Cheeseheads and Big Ben (my fantasy QB) having a chance to upset.

Other interesting games to watch are:

Oakland @ Buffalo
Carolina @ Minnesota (A. Peterson most likely to get 40+ carries)
NY Jets @ San Diego (Favre not so magic yet)



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recommended columnists

Peter King’s Monday Morning Quarterback on www.si.com
Gregg Easterbrook’s Tuesday Morning Quarterback on www.espn.com (Page2)