ARLINGTON, Texas — Tony Romo and the Cowboys had their way with the Raiders, piling up their most yards of the season and getting another solid performance from the defense.
Now comes the big challenge for the NFC East leaders: keeping it up.
Dallas beat Oakland 24-7 on Thursday for its sixth victory in seven games, guaranteeing it will remain atop the division going into the final month. Because Decembers have been such disasters for the Cowboys during the past decade-plus, they can only hope this performance indicates things will be different this season.
“I think we have a lot to prove — just for this season, though,” Romo said.
Despite a back injury suffered four days earlier, Romo threw for 309 yards. He got more than 100 yards receiving from each of his two favorite targets, Miles Austin and Jason Witten, and threw a touchdown to his highest-paid receiver, Roy Williams.
Dallas (8-3) also had nice balance with more than 60 yards each from running backs Felix Jones, Tashard Choice and Marion Barber.
The defense kept Oakland (3-8) from crossing midfield in the first half, crushing whatever good vibes the Raiders generated by a victory over the division-leading Bengals on Sunday. They got within 17-7 early in the second half on the first career touchdown catch by top draft pick Darrius Heyward-Bey, then hardly threatened again.
“Trying to win two games for us has been like trying to climb Mount Everest,” cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha said. “We haven’t been able to get any momentum going.”
The Cowboys gained 494 yards, sparked by lots of big plays — five of at least 40 yards, and eight of at least 25; no NFL team had done that since New Orleans in October 2006.
The defense went from giving up 68 yards rushing in the first quarter to just 56 the rest of the game, and linebacker Anthony Spencer had his first two sacks of the season. It was especially sweet for him because his predecessor, Greg Ellis, was watching from the Oakland sideline. Ellis made a few plays early but missed the second half because of swelling in his left knee.
