Dallas Cowboys Football Team

IRVING, Texas -- A week after his Mexico getaway, Dallas quarterback Tony Romo couldn't get away, from pass-rush pressure -- or from questions about his judgment. Not far away, teammate Terrell Owens tearfully came to his defense. At least the Dallas Cowboys can say they were knocked out of the NFL playoffs by a Manning. Only it was the other Manning -- Eli, not Peyton.

IRVING, Texas -- The Dallas Cowboys called Sunday's showdown with the New England Patriots a measuring-stick game, and it surely felt like one -- right across the backside. The so-called Duel in Dallas turned into a drubbing, with the Patriots nearly doubling the point total of the NFL's erstwhile top-gaining offense in a 48-27 victory. New England (6-0) and Indianapolis (5-0), which had the week off, are the league's remaining undefeated teams. It was the first defeat for the Cowboys (5-1).

IRVING, Texas -- Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones lives for this stuff. He has the NFC's only undefeated team, a matchup hyped as a Super Bowl preview, and a star receiver who's finally making headlines for the right reasons. "This is the big showroom here," Jones said. "It's not the lounge, it's the big showroom." Hard to argue with that today, as the Cowboys and New England Patriots, both 5-0, face each other in a showdown between two of the NFL's most popular -- and polarizing -- franchises.

Three victories do not a season make, but a handful of NFL teams have started the 2007 season undefeated and taken a big step toward the playoffs. The select group includes preseason favorites Indianapolis and New England, mild surprises Dallas and Pittsburgh, and a bigger surprise in Green Bay.

Bill Parcells did the retirement rumba again Monday, stepping down as coach of the Dallas Cowboys and calling it a career for the fourth time in a 19-year career. "I'm retiring from coaching football," he said in a statement sent by e-mail. Since the Cowboys were knocked out of the playoffs two weeks ago, Parcells had given every indication he planned to stay for a fifth season. He was at the office every day, and had booked a trip to scout players at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala.

After the NFL fined Terrell Owens $35,000 for Saturday's spitting incident, Cowboys Coach Bill Parcells said Monday the club might penalize Owens further. "We don't condone that kind of activity, that's for sure," Parcells said, though he added if the Cowboys do punish Owens, they won't make that punishment public.

This is how serious Bill Parcells is taking the Dallas Cowboys' stretch drive: He cut inconsistent kicker Mike Vanderjagt on Monday and signed Martin Gramatica to replace him. Hailed as the answer to the Cowboys' kicking woes when signed in March, Vanderjagt hasn't lived up to his credentials as the most accurate kicker in league history. He has made only 13 of 18 field-goal attempts, a 72.2% success rate that was the lowest of his nine-year career.

He led the Dallas Cowboys to victory over the previously unbeaten Indianapolis Colts. In only four NFL starts, he has the poise and swagger of a young Troy Aikman. Rumor is, he's even dating Jessica Simpson. Tony Romo seems almost too good to be true. Which is why his coach is, for now, withholding judgment. Pleased as he is with Romo, who in a month has gone from clipboard-holder to Cowboy cover boy, Bill Parcells needs more convincing. Things have gone beautifully so far.