Cowboys show a little bye-week intensity, say they know there’s room to improve on 3-2 start

Bye week shows Cowboys know they have work to do

IRVING, Texas — Tony Romo knows at least one way he thinks Wade Phillips is tougher than Bill Parcells: bye-week practices.

The Cowboys coach with the soft reputation says this break is no different than his first two in Dallas. Still, Phillips talked about a Thursday workout with a playoff atmosphere, while Romo reflected on a Wednesday session that the quarterback said “was hard and it was long and it was rewarding.”

Such bye-week intensity indicates that Dallas isn’t in denial over a 3-2 record, even though the Cowboys say they were a play or two from knocking off the unbeaten New York Giants and Denver Broncos and sitting at 5-0 themselves.

The Cowboys acknowledge an overtime victory against winless Kansas City wasn’t the prettiest way to keep their record above .500 heading into their break. So they’re fine-tuning things while hoping for a boost from the likely return from injury of receiver Roy Williams, running back Felix Jones and safety Gerald Sensabaugh.

“Whatever the wrongs are, we have to right them,” linebacker Bradie James said. “Everybody is waiting for us to have a breakout game where we just annihilate someone. We’re waiting on it, too. But we’re the only people who can do something about it.”

Phillips didn’t want to bore fans with details of the long Tuesday workout, but they sounded like offseason chatter. How much weight is that pass rusher putting on his front foot? Is he taking the right path to the quarterback?

“Those kind of details that make you get to the quarterback half a step quicker,” Phillips said. “It makes a difference.”

The tiniest details matter to a defense puzzled by an inability to stop teams late in games. The Cowboys are among the statistical leaders on defense and have been downright dominant at times in all five games. But they let the Giants drive to a winning field goal on the final drive, gave up a huge play late for the decisive score against Denver and let the woeful Chiefs go the length of the field for a tying score.

At the same time, Dallas stopped Kansas City twice in overtime, including a possession that started at midfield and went nowhere before the Cowboys answered with the winning touchdown.

“We just need to keep moving forward, clean up some things and become a dominant defense in this league,” said Sensabaugh, who missed the Kansas City game with a broken thumb that will still need protection when he returns. “I think we have the defense to accomplish anything.”

When they return Oct. 25 at home against Atlanta, the Cowboys are hoping their offense will be intact for the first time since Week 2 against the Giants, when Barber strained a quadriceps muscle on a long run that set up the go-ahead touchdown. Since then, Jones has gone out with a right knee injury against Carolina, and Williams hurt his ribs against Denver when he was hit while trying to catch a high throw from Romo.

Dallas didn’t have any trouble moving the ball in a season-opening win at Tampa Bay and the loss to the Giants, who turned three Romo interceptions into three touchdowns. But middling performances against Carolina and Denver were followed by a first half without a touchdown in Kansas City. Three long touchdowns — a run by Tashard Choice and two catch-and-run plays by Miles Austin — improved the mood of the offense heading into the break.

“If we minimize the mistakes, I think we have a good chance of being a pretty darn good ballclub,” Romo said. “I know that New Orleans goes out there in the first two weeks and lights it up and then, all of a sudden another team holds their offense to 10 points. A lot of it is that perception side that people talk about. Does it really mean anything? No.”

The unbeaten Saints are among a tough late-season stretch for Dallas, which is why conventional wisdom said the Cowboys had to be at least 4-1 heading into the bye to be in good shape for a playoff run. Dallas hasn’t won a postseason game since the 1996 season, the longest drought in franchise history.

The Cowboys didn’t do much to change that thinking when they struggled to beat a Chiefs team with just two wins since the middle of the 2007 season. While the Cowboys aren’t in denial over where they stand, they’re not ashamed of the win in Kansas City and not ready to concede anything.

“Every season someone’s getting crowned Super Bowl champions this time of year,” Romo said. “Some of the 5-0 teams are better than anybody else in the league right now. That’s fine. Let them go. It will all be about what happens as you move forward and which team (is) … playing its best ball when the games become one-and-done in the end.”

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