Romo leads Dallas past Seattle

IRVING, Texas -- The Dallas Cowboys are ready for December.

On the verge of collapse just a few weeks ago, Tony Romo, DeMarcus Ware and the Cowboys guaranteed they will be a team to watch in the final month by crushing the Seattle Seahawks 34-9 on Thursday for their third straight victory.

Romo got it rolling with touchdowns on the first three drives and points on the first four, then the defense took care of the rest. They racked up seven sacks -- three by Ware, giving him an NFL-best 15 -- and each was punctuated by a gobbling turkey version of the Chicken Dance, the kind of giddiness expected from a team playing the way Dallas (8-4) has been lately.

The Cowboys have wiped away the bitterness of a 2-4 rut and surged near the top of the NFC wild-card race. The turnaround began with Romo returning from a broken pinkie finger, albeit with a splint on his passing hand, and now he's expected to be back to full strength for the next game. Dallas also will get cornerback-punt returner Adam "Pacman" Jones back from a suspension.

Yet the Cowboys aren't getting too carried away with their good fortune. They realize they've padded their confidence with consecutive blowouts over bad teams and now they're going to play three straight tough foes: Pittsburgh, the New York Giants and Baltimore. Another stumbling block is their woeful recent history in Decembers -- no winning records in the month since 2001.

"We had a rough patch and we're still not out of it," Romo said. "We've still got to go forward and keep putting together wins to get in the playoffs. Our confidence level is that on any given Sunday we can compete with the best of anybody. It'll be interesting to see how we do going forward."

About the only tense moments Thursday came in the third quarter, and they had nothing to do with the score. It was Marion Barber going out with a dislocated right pinkie toe, then Ware limping off with an aching left knee. Ware felt good enough that no exams were done immediately, but still will have an X-ray and an MRI to make sure everything is OK.

"At this moment, I feel good about both of those players," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said.

The Seahawks lost their fifth straight game and fell to 2-10. It matches the most losses outgoing coach Mike Holmgren has had in his 17 years in the NFL, and there are four games left.