Cowboys just another opponent for Pats

Football Betting Lines

10/16/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The week-long buildup ended in a familiar way for the New England Patriots. In the end, the Dallas Cowboys were just another opponent.

And nobody undersold it more than their quarterback.

"It's really early in the season. The reality is that it's a win on the road and we're 6-0," Tom Brady said. "Any time we're winning, I'm doing just fine. The season really doesn't start until after Thanksgiving anyway."

Brady threw a career-high five touchdown passes and the Patriots shook off their first second-half deficit of the season to beat the previously- undefeated Cowboys, 48-27, on Sunday.

If not for a Week 9 matchup with Indianapolis, it may have been the Patriots' biggest game of the season.

Dallas is the class of the NFC -- a potential Super Bowl opponent, they say -- and one of the few teams capable of challenging a New England team that now (let's face it) has a real chance to be the first undefeated NFL team since the 1972 Miami Dolphins.

But the Patriots handled them like any other team.

The Cowboys were the sixth team in a row to allow New England to score at least 34 points this season. They were the sixth consecutive Patriots opponent to lose by at least 17 points.

For a few fleeting minutes, it looked like it might be a different story.

Dallas rallied from a 14-0 deficit to pull within 21-17 at halftime, then took a 24-21 lead in the third quarter when Tony Romo capped a 74-yard drive with an eight-yard touchdown pass to Patrick Crayton.

It was the first second-half deficit levied on the Patriots this season, and the first time they trailed at all in three weeks. The response was swift: a 77-yard drive ending with a one-yard TD catch by tight end Kyle Brady.

It was the beginning of a 27-3 run to end the game.

"Hopefully we'll see them down the road," Cowboys wide receiver Terrell Owens said, a wink at the possibility of a Super Bowl meeting between the teams.

But you gotta think nobody wants to see the Patriots right now. Not even the Super Bowl-champion Indianapolis Colts, who will host the Nov. 4 meeting between the teams in what could be another matchup of undefeateds.

Following the Colts game, the toughest remaining tests for the Patriots will be contests against the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens. After that, they may be their own toughest opponent.

If they wrap up homefield advantage early, their stars would likely sit out the remaining games.

"We're trying to win as many games as we can, establish some depth and continue to get better each week," said Brady.

Underselling the hell out of it again.

TAKING PEYTON'S PLACE?

Brady is the first quarterback in NFL history to pass for three touchdowns or more in six consecutive games to begin a season. He is well ahead of the pace Peyton Manning set in 2004, when the Colts quarterback set the NFL single- season record with 49 touchdown passes.

Of course, Brady underplayed the prospect of breaking Manning's record.

"The touchdowns passes are not very important. I think winning the game is most important. Getting the team in the end zone and making first downs, there's a lot that goes into playing quarterback," said Brady.

"When you win, that's the most satisfying thing, more so than throwing a touchdown pass. I haven't thought about [the single season TD pass record] at all. I don't set my goals like that. That's not what our team's about.

"I'd love to set plenty of team records. But the individual records are based on opportunities you get. What's the difference if you throw it in from one yard or run it in. It's just a touchdown for our offense, and that's what I get excited about."

What, you expected him to brag?

RUN, RUN, RUN AWAY

The Patriots hadn't scored 48 points since racking up 50 against the Colts in 1984. They have now outscored their opponents by a 230-92 margin this season.

Much has been made of the way they've put opponents away since the cheating scandal broke following their Week 1 win against the New York Jets. Sunday's game was no different, with the Patriots tacking on a touchdown with 19 seconds remaining and already leading by 14 points.

'THE OTHER 81'

Much was made before the game about the two 81s: wide receivers Terrell Owens and Randy Moss.

Both wideouts caught six passes, with Moss' going for 59 yards and Owens' for 66. They both scored a touchdown. But only one receiver's team walked away with a victory.

"It wasn't me against him," Owens said afterward. "It's a team game. We lost the game."

UP NEXT: AT MIAMI

The Patriots will have to avoid a letdown in Miami next Sunday, where the Dolphins await with an 0-6 record. New England dropped a 21-0 decision in Miami last season that ended a seven-game road winning streak.