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ARLINGTON, Texas The young backup who comes from nowhere to make big play after big play for the Dallas Cowboys is the storyline made famous by Tony Romo. Now, he's leading Miles Austin down that same path.
Austin proved his incredible performance in his first career start was no fluke by catching six more passes for 171 yards and two long touchdowns, sending Dallas to a 37-21 victory over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday that the Cowboys hope shows they're no fluke, either.
Dallas (4-2) had been alternating wins and losses, needing overtime to beat Kansas City last time out. Now the Cowboys have consecutive wins and this was their first against a winning team.
It also was their best overall performance, with Romo having fun without making any careless mistakes, the defense making Matt Ryan miserable and the special teams breaking the game open with a 73-yard punt return for a touchdown by Patrick Crayton.
Coincidence or not, Dallas is 2-0 since Austin became a starter. Could this turn into the same kind of boost the Cowboys got when Romo burst onto the scene in 2006?
Austin is an undrafted guy in his fourth season who'd done little more than special teams the first three years, all of which follows Romo's script. With Terrell Owens gone, the fast kid from Monmouth College showed he could be the new deep threat with a team-record 250 yards and two touchdowns against the Chiefs, and backed it up Sunday with touchdowns of 59 and 22 yards.
"He's definitely a big part of this offense," Romo said. "I'm glad to see all his hard work and effort is paying off."
Atlanta came in 4-1, matching the best start in franchise history, but former Falcons star Keith Brooking, DeMarcus Ware and the rest of the Dallas defense pestered Ryan into four sacks, two interceptions and two fumbles. He only lost one, and on the very next play Romo hit the long TD pass to Austin.
Ryan had gone 142 passes without a sack and had gone down only twice all season before Dallas got him on consecutive plays in the first quarter.
"It's frustrating because we feel we can play better," said Ryan.
Interconference
Saints 46, Dolphins 34: The unbeaten Saints overcame an early 21-point deficit, mounting touchdown drives of 82, 79 and 60 yards on successive possessions in the second half to overtake the Miami Dolphins. NFL passing leader Drew Brees had his worst day of the season, with three interceptions and five sacks. But he scored twice, the second time on a 2-yard keeper with 8:35 left to give the Saints the lead. Tracy Porter's 54-yard interception return sealed the win for the Saints (6-0), off to their best start since 1991. The league's highest-scoring team topped 40 points for the fourth time. Miami (2-4) fell 21/2 games behind AFC East leader New England.
Texans 24, 49ers 21:Steve Slaton scored two touchdowns and the Houston Texans built a big lead before holding on for a home victory. The Texans led 21-0 at halftime, then withstood a rally led by backup quarterback Alex Smith. Eugene Wilson's interception on fourth down halted the 49ers' last-gasp drive. San Francisco (3-3) benched Shaun Hill after a terrible first half, and Smith threw three touchdowns to Vernon Davis to close the gap. Michael Crabtree started for the 49ers in his NFL debut after a 71-day holdout. He had five receptions for 56 yards. The Texans (4-3) won consecutive games for the first time this season. Davis' third touchdown came on a 23-yard reception got San Francisco within 24-21 with 3 minutes, 49 seconds left. Houston's only second-half points came on a 50-yard field goal by Kris Brown midway through the fourth quarter.
Colts 42, Rams 6: Peyton Manning was 23 for 34 for 235 yards and three touchdown passes and the visiting Indianapolis defense got its first score of the year on rookie Jacob Lacey's 35-yard interception return. Coming off their bye, the Colts won their 15th straight regular-season game and set a franchise record with their eighth straight road victory. The Colts are 6-0 for the fourth time in five seasons. The Rams (0-7) lost their 17th straight regular-season game, wasting a season-best 134 yards on 23 carries by Steven Jackson. St. Louis' highlight came on its opening drive, a 50-yard flea-flicker from Marc Bulger to Donnie Avery to the Colts 14, but the Rams settled for a short field goal.
The Colts intercepted Bulger twice and Dwight Freeney ran his sack streak to seven straight games - three off the NFL record - by beating rookie Jason Smith. All-Pro safety Bob Sanders (knee) made his season debut for the Colts.
Indianapolis' offense had plenty despite losing Reggie Wayne (groin) for a quarter and Donald Brown (shoulder) for most of the last three quarters.
Packers 31, Browns 3: Aaron Rodgers threw three touchdown passes, Ryan Grant rushed for 148 yards and visiting Green Bay (4-2) warmed up for Brett Favre's first visit back to Lambeau Field next week with a laugher in Cleveland. Rodgers finished 15 of 20 for 246 yards and three TDs - a 71-yarder to Donald Driver, 41-yarder to tight end/linebacker Spencer Havner in the first half, and a 5-yarder to James Jones to cap a 99-yard drive in the fourth quarter. The Browns (1-6) have scored four offensive touchdowns and 72 points all season.
Patriots 35, Buccaneers 7: Tom Brady threw three touchdown passes and had more than 300 yards as New England (5-2) beat winless Tampa Bay (0-7) at Wembley Stadium in the NFL's third regular-season game at the iconic London venue. The Bucs have lost 11 straight overall. The game was played before a sellout crowd of 84,254 at Wembley, England's national stadium.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said last week that he envisions playing multiple regular-season games in Britain in coming years with the possibility of London having its own franchise. The loss capped a bad day for the Glazer family, which owns the Bucs. The Glazers' also control English soccer powerhouse Manchester United, which lost to Liverpool 2-0 earlier in the day and missed a chance to regain first place in the Premier League from Chelsea.
Bengals 45, Bears 10: Cedric Benson ran for a career-high 189 yards and a touchdown against the team that let him go and Carson Palmer threw five touchdown passes - four of them in a dominant first half - as host Cincinnati shocked Chicago (3-3).
The Bengals (5-2) scored on all five first-half possessions and went up 31-0. It tied for the third-most points the Bears have allowed in an opening half. In that half alone, Chad Ochocinco had 103 yards receiving and Benson had 98 yards rushing as the Bears gave up more points than they had in any game all season.
Jay Cutler got a two-year extension last week through the 2013 season, an extra $20million guaranteed as a sign of the Bears' faith in him. In his first game since the show of confidence, Cutler threw three interceptions, fumbled two snaps and finished 26 of 37 for 251 yards.
AFC
Steelers 27, Vikings 17:Brett Favre, Adrian Peterson and the Minnesota Vikings were anything but perfect. The Vikings couldn't gain a half-yard when it might have turned the game, then watched the Steelers' big-play defense end their unbeaten season with two long touchdown returns in the final 61/2 minutes. LaMarr Woodley's 77-yard fumble return and Keyaron Fox's 82-yard interception return on turnovers by Favre allowed the Steelers to turnback Minnesota's repeated comeback attempts, and the Steelers rode three major defensive stands to an important win Sunday.
Jets 38, Raiders 0: With a ball-hawking defense and a punishing running game, the visiting New York Jets took the pressure off struggling rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez and handed the Oakland Raiders (2-5) their most lopsided home loss ever.
Sanchez shook off the worst start of his young career by running for one touchdown and throwing for another, fellow rookie Shonn Greene ran for 144 yards and two scores and the Jets (4-3) stopped a three-game losing streak.
It was a low-pressure day for Sanchez, who started two of his first three drives at the Oakland 4 after turnovers by JaMarcus Russell. Those mistakes led to touchdown runs by Thomas Jones and Sanchez, and played a role in Oakland coach Tom Cable's decision to bench the former No.1 overall pick in the second quarter.
Chargers 37, Chiefs 7: Philip Rivers threw three touchdowns passes and LaDainian Tomlinson rushed for a season-high 71 yards, leading San Diego (3-3). Rivers was 18 for 30 for 268 yards and three TDs as the Chargers won their third in a row in Kansas City for the first time since 1981. The Chiefs (1-6) had hoped a sloppy win against Washington the week before might provide some much-needed momentum.
But they played miserably in just about every phase of the game, falling behind 20-0 in the first half. Matt Cassel threw three interceptions and the Chargers scored their final touchdown when Jacob Hester blocked a punt at the 20, chased the ball into the end zone and fell on it.
NFC
Cardinals 24, Giants 17: The visiting Arizona Cardinals bewildered Eli Manning with their blitzes, forced four turnovers and used timely plays by their veterans to beat the New York Giants.
With less-heralded Cardinals Jason Wright, Tim Hightower and rookie Beanie Wells finding the end zone, Arizona (4-2) took over first place in the NFC West. The Giants (5-2) lost their second in a row.
