By Nick Wagoner

Senior Writer

 

IRVING , Tex. – As the ball sailed over Dallas quarterback Tony Romo’s head, bouncing deep into Cowboys’ territory, it carried with it the potential for hope and momentum for the Rams in a game in which they were heavy underdogs.

 

But a play that had the potential to get the Rams going and perhaps lead to a halftime lead went awry as Romo gathered the ball and found a way to get a first down that would eventually lead to a touchdown that gave Dallas a lead it would never relinquish.

 

“Romo makes a great play out of a potentially very costly play for them,” coach Scott Linehan said. “That’s what good players do. They find ways to make plays like that and make the worst plays into their best plays. We can’t allow that to happen.”

 

And with that, the Cowboys surged to a 35-7 lead against the Rams at Texas Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The loss drops the Rams to 0-4 on the season and the Cowboys move to 4-0 with the victory.

 

With the ball on the 50 and 56 seconds to go in the first half, the Cowboys had a third-and-3. The score was tied at 7 and the Rams were playing with emotion on the heels of a dazzling 85-yard punt return for a touchdown from Dante Hall.

 

Center Andre Gurode sent the ball flying over Romo’s head. As Romo ran back to collect it, he had trouble getting control with defensive ends Leonard Little and James Hall bearing down on him.

 

Hall collided with Little as Romo finally gathered the ball around the Cowboys’ 20. Instead of bringing him down for a loss of about 30 yards, Romo broke containment and took off down the sideline for a gain of 4 yards (though he ran about 60 total) for a first down. Five plays later, Romo scored on a 15-yard scramble, the Cowboys took a 14-7 lead and proceeded to score 28 unanswered points for the win.

 

“He just made a play on the ball,” Little said. “Nine times out of 10, that play would be stopped but he is pretty athletic so he took the ball up and made a play.”

 

Meanwhile, the Rams offense was continuing its search for ways to make plays of its own. One week after posting three points against Tampa Bay , the offense failed to come up with a score as Hall’s return accounted for the lone points of the game.

 

All told, the Rams posted 187 yards of total offense with an average of 3.5 yards per play. Along the way, they were three-of-12 on third downs and missed some golden opportunities to get in the end zone.

 

Included in those miscues was an interception by Dallas safety Ken Hamlin in the end zone on a play in which quarterback Marc Bulger took the blame. The rest of the opportunities seemed to go awry with a penalty, a sack allowed or even a missed 28-yard field goal from Jeff Wilkins.

 

Dating to the San Francisco game, the Rams offense hasn’t scored a touchdown in 31 possessions. Bulger finished the day with 114 yards on 11-of-24 passing. That second number represented the first time in Bulger’s NFL career as a starter that he posted a completion percentage below 50 percent.

 

“It’s as frustrating as it looks,” Bulger said. “No points offensively again so it’s pretty tough. I hate to lose and that’s what motivates me. We are not putting up points and the crowd is going nuts and we are not holding our end of the bargain. I hate watching other people celebrate at our expense.”

 

Playing with broken ribs for the second consecutive week, Bulger would not place the blame on his injuries. Still, with the Rams trailing 35-7 and 2:16 to go in the third quarter, Linehan inserted backup Gus Frerotte into the lineup for Bulger.

Linehan said after the game the move was made in an effort to try to preserve Bulger and perhaps create a spark.

 

“The game kind of got away from us,” Linehan said. “We made a change there and gave Gus a chance to get in and get some time and change the game a little bit. It was nothing major. We are back to square one starting tomorrow.”

 

Meanwhile, the defense turned in another incomplete after a terrific start began to fade in the second half.

 

That unit allowed 167 yards in the first half and came up with a trio of three and outs, a four and out, a five and out and  its first interception of the season courtesy of free safety Oshiomogho Atogwe.

 

But with the offense struggling to find a rhythm and the sun beating down, that start slipped away in the second half as Dallas rolled up 340 yards and 21 points in the final half.

 

When all was said and done, Romo accounted for 339 passing yards and four total touchdowns and receiver Patrick Crayton had a career day with seven catches for 184 yards and two touchdowns.

 

Regardless of how the final score is breaking down, though, strong safety Corey Chavous said there is no time or occasion for finger pointing.

 

“As far as we are concerned, we have to do what we have to do to play good football because we know as a team we can play better.” Chavous said. “We talk about things in totality. There is never a time where you look at football from the perspective that players on this side over here say this could happen or that could happen. There are three phases of a football team, but all three of those phases can say we didn’t play well enough as a unit to win the football game.”