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IRVING, Texas -- If Doug Free played this well the past couple of seasons, the Dallas Cowboys wouldn’t have had any problem with his contract.

Free, who accepted a pay cut that slashed his salary in half instead of being released this offseason, has been phenomenal in the Cowboys’ first three games. ProFootballFocus.com’s grades rank Free as the No. 1 tackle in the NFL so far this season.

By comparison, ProFootballFocus.com ranked Free 44th and 66th during the first two seasons of his four-year, $32 million contract, which explains why the Cowboys insisted on tearing up the deal.

“He’s responded really well,” coach Jason Garrett said. “We’ve talked a lot about how we rotated him at the end of last season. He responded well to that, responded in the offseason, came back in great shape and was ready to go. He really has been impressive since the start of OTAs, really trying to take advantage of the opportunity.

“I think he’s working on some technical things that will help him. I think he’s playing tougher and he’s staying on blocks, both as a pass-protector but also in the run game.”

Perhaps the pay cut has given Free a renewed sense of urgency. Free, whose performance improved after he started splitting time with Jermey Parnell late last season, has probably benefited from being more familiar with offensive coordinator Bill Callahan’s zone-blocking scheme.

“When you’re working with a new offensive line coach, there are new techniques that you use,” Garrett said. “For a guy who has played a little bit, sometimes there’s some unlearning that has to happen. I think that’s a cycle and a progression that has to happen for a player, but Doug’s a smart guy. I think he understands where he is in his career. He’s developing more and more confidence, and he’s technically becoming better and better.”

IRVING, Texas -- Dez Bryant will keep his touchdown celebrations simple from now on.

Bryant received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for making a throat-slash gesture after his customary X signal with his arms when he scored in Sunday’s win over the St. Louis Rams. He actually just waved his hands under his chin, as if to say, “Cut it off,” but Bryant acknowledged that he made a mistake.

“I shouldn’t have done it anyway,” said Bryant, who nevertheless plans to appeal the fine he anticipates is coming from the NFL office. “I never put anything with the X. Do the X and go on.”

After being flagged, Bryant made a beeline to coach Jason Garrett to apologize for the penalty.

"He said, ‘I screwed up. I’m sorry. It’s just a reaction I had. I won’t do it again,’” Garrett said. “What do you say to that? Let’s go to the next one."

IRVING, Texas -- Five days after working him out, the Dallas Cowboys signed defensive tackle Drake Nevis on Tuesday, according to a source.

To make room for Nevis, the Cowboys released defensive lineman Jerome Long, who was among the team’s final cuts but re-signed on Sept. 7 and played in the first three games. Long did not record a tackle in limited playing time.

Nevis was cut last week by the San Diego Chargers, the Cowboys’ foe this week. He was a third-round pick by the Indianapolis Colts in 2011.

In two seasons with the Colts, Nevis played in 14 games and had 35 tackles and a sack. The Colts released him on Aug. 31.

IRVING, Texas -- I’m not a big rollercoaster fan, but I wonder if being a fan of the Dallas Cowboys is like riding one of them.

Last week the reaction after their 17-16 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs was, “They’ll never win again.” This week’s reaction to their 31-7 win against the St. Louis Rams is, “Print the playoff tickets.” The media is as guilty as fans in this up-and-down belief, but the ride can be a doozy.

With that quick wonder it’s on to this week’s Five Wonders:

** I wonder if the Cowboys will decide to keep Orlando Scandrick in the starting lineup even when Morris Claiborne is back to full strength. Sometimes it is as if a player is born into a role based on draft status, free-agent money or past achievement, but maybe this staff is different. It did not wait a week too long (or multiple weeks too long) to make the switch at safety from Will Allen to J.J. Wilcox. Scandrick has played well in his two starts and will compete to the end. Claiborne was much better against the Rams and that came two days after impressive work in red zone one-on-one drills. His confidence is high. Competition drives everybody. In the end if Scandrick plays well, then Claiborne will know he has to play well to get this job back. That’s the way Jason Garrett should want it.

** I wonder if the Cowboys are starting to form some sort of home-field advantage at AT&T Stadium. The $1.2 billion stadium has never been too friendly to the Cowboys. They are just 19-15 now in the regular season (20-15 overall) in the five-year run of the place, but they have won their first two home games in a season for the first time there. They are averaging 33.5 points a game. They have seven takeaways (six against the New York Giants) and nine sacks (six of the Rams’ Sam Bradford). There’s a long way to go and better teams are coming: Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos, Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers and teams that should be better than they are, like Adrian Peterson and the Minnesota Vikings and Robert Griffin III and the Washington Redskins. But these first two games are a good start.

** I wonder if fans will recognize the Cowboys’ decision to sign safety Barry Church to a contract extension last season even after he tore his Achilles. Whenever Jerry Jones spends his money people are quick to bring up the supposed bad deals (Nate Livings, Jay Ratliff, Doug Free, Roy Williams the safety and Roy Williams the receiver) but never really acknowledge the good ones. Church is looking like a good one. The Cowboys signed him to a four-year, $9 million deal that could escalate to $12.4 million and included $3.8 million in guaranteed money. He has shown no signs of the Achilles’ injury that ruined his first season as a starter. In fact, Church has displayed more lateral quickness and the ability to make some big hits than he did before the injury. Is he a finished product? No, but the team felt so well about Church being a calming influence on the secondary that they did not hesitate to make the move to the rookie Wilcox.

** I wonder if the Cowboys will keep the rotation going at right guard between Mackenzy Bernadeau and Brian Waters. They alternated series Sunday against St. Louis after Waters played two series in each half the previous week at Kansas City. The Cowboys have showed they are willing to play this rotation game having done it last year late in the season at right tackle with Free and Jermey Parnell. The Cowboys believed it made Free a better player and kept him fresher. Maybe that helps Bernadeau and Waters, who is still getting used to things after not playing football last season. Continuity is an issue with the constant in and out, but maybe the Cowboys are on to something here.

**I wonder if it’s too early to talk about this year’s rookie class. First-round pick Travis Frederick has been a stabilizing force at center. Gavin Escobar, the second-round pick, has a touchdown catch and can be a factor in the passing game. (His blocking, however, needs a lot of work. A lot). Wilcox (a third-rounder) is now starting at strong safety. And the other third-rounder, receiver Terrance Williams, has shown the ability to make some plays but also has work to do. Frederick, Williams and Wilcox have started games. Last year the only draft picks to start were Claiborne (15) and tight end James Hanna (two).

IRVING, Texas -- Cowboys coach Jason Garrett remains optimistic that Anthony Spencer will be able to fill a full-time role at some point this season despite knee problems that caused the defensive end to miss two of the first three games.

“I think it’s realistic,” Garrett said. “It’s a long season. Remember, he was hurt for a couple of games early last year. You just keep banging away and keep trying to get better each and every day and week by week, and hopefully he will be healthy and ready to roll.”

Spencer missed two games last season due to a shoulder injury that didn’t require surgery to repair. He is still having issues with the knee that underwent arthroscopic surgery on July 25, sidelining him through the season opener.

The Cowboys thought Spencer would be a game-time decision on Sunday, but he didn’t even work out before the win over the St. Louis Rams. His knee was too sore when he woke up to consider playing.

“I don’t think it was a setback,” said Garrett, who hopes that Spencer will be available for Sunday’s game against the San Diego Chargers. “He played a lot of plays in the [previous] game. I think he played over 30 plays in the game in Kansas City. It just didn’t respond the way he wanted it to and we wanted it to.”

George Selvie, who was signed by the Cowboys after Spencer’s operation, has started every game in Spencer’s place and been a pleasant surprise with production that includes two sacks, more than he had in any of his previous three NFL seasons.

IRVING, Texas -- After an emotional season-opening win against the New York Giants, the Dallas Cowboys lost on Week 2 at the Kansas City Chiefs.

Sunday’s 31-7 win against the St. Louis Rams was not emotional, but the Cowboys are facing the same circumstance this week as they play at the San Diego Chargers.

“We’re trying to fight the roller-coaster effect,” cornerback Brandon Carr said. “That’s what the good teams do. They can win at home and go on the road and win those tough ballgames in hostile territory.”

The Cowboys finished 8-8 in 2011 and ’12 because they could not get off the roller coaster. A four-game winning streak in 2011 put the Cowboys in position for a playoff run, but they lost four of their last five games. Last year the Cowboys’ best win streak was three games, but they lost their last two games.

While coach Jason Garrett said he blocks out what is happening to the other teams in the NFC East, he is a believer in momentum.

The last five times the Cowboys have started 2-1 (2004-06, ’09, ’11) they failed to improve to 3-1.

“I believe momentum exists because you can consistently do the right things,” Garrett said. “If you’ve had success, you still have to come back and do the right thing. In our game there’s a lot of levels of ‘Play the next play, play the next series, play the next game, and do things the right way.’ … [Sunday] was a good day for us, it was a good football game. It was a good team win. All three phases, we played well. Now we have to put that to rest and we’re focused on San Diego. We’ve already had our scouting report from our personnel departments, so our attention is forward. You build on the positives and correct the negatives, and you go to work on Wednesday.”

ARLINGTON, Texas -- The Cowboys have rushed 31 times to the left side of the offensive line this season, including 14 times off left tackle, third-most in the NFL.

After Dallas' 31-7 victory over the St. Louis Rams on Sunday, when the Cowboys rushed for 193 yards and one touchdown, plenty of offensive linemen were pleased with their work, but they also understood more work is needed.

"It's all about whatever the defense gives you, and we try to take advantage of it," guard Brian Waters said. "You could have a day like this and people would call it luck or take something away from the defense. That defense is a pretty good group. As an offense, as we continue to move on, it's all about moving the football. We're going to go against some good teams that are better at other things."

What was also important was keeping quarterback Tony Romo from getting knocked around. Romo was sacked just once on Sunday and didn't seem to be under much duress. You could point to Dallas' getting the run game going -- Demarco Murray rushed for a season-high 175 yards -- and getting tight end Jason Witten involved in the offense (five catches for 67 yards), which got the linebackers worried about him rather than the run game.

After the Week 2 loss to Kansas City last Sunday, there were concerns about the offensive line and whether starting Waters would fix things. Mackenzy Bernadeau and Waters played the guard spots to give the Cowboys a different look.

"It was pretty important for us to make a statement and put (the Kansas City game) in the past," left tackle Tyron Smith said.

"They did great," quarterback Tony Romo said of the offensive line. "They created some big holes, and they also gave me time throughout the game to do some different things and get to some certain guys that you normally wouldn't get to."

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dwayne Harris' first punt return of the game against the St. Louis Rams was a muff.

Turnovers with the Cowboys will raise the ire of coach Jason Garrett who benched running back Demarco Murray for a fumble in the preseason and sat Lance Dunbar for the same incident in Week 2.

Harris wasn't benched, but he hurt his hip and had to watch Cole Beasley field punts.

"Fumbles happen, but punt return is a hard job," Harris said. "You fumble the ball you got to take it to the next play, my teammates do a good job, when a bad play happens, of picking me back up and getting me back on the right track and getting my mind right."

Harris returned and got some significant snaps on offense, even catching the last touchdown of the day, a 24-yard pass from Tony Romo in the 31-7 victory over the Rams. Romo's pass was his best throw of the day, down the seam, over a defender and into the arms of Harris, who never broke stride as he ran down the field.

It was Harris' only catch of the day but it was the cherry on top of an easy day for the Cowboys offense.

"It was a great throw," said Harris, who played 12 offensive snaps. "It was the same play to (tight end Gavin) Escobar, same route, a seam route down the numbers and Tony found me and it was a great pass by Tony."

A review of four hot issues from the Dallas Cowboys' 31-7 win against the St. Louis Rams on Sunday.

Scoring early: The Cowboys have put up points on their first drive in every game so far this season but scored a touchdown for the first time Sunday when Tony Romo hit Dez Bryant from 2 yards. But it was the touchdown on the Cowboys’ first drive of the second half that put the game away. Thanks to DeMarco Murray’s legs (59 yards) and Romo’s right arm (24-yard TD to Gavin Escobar), they put the game away for a 24-0 lead.

“Obviously, the game wasn’t over at that point, but it’s a tough one to come back from that amount,” Romo said. “We knew getting the ball that we had a chance to really put some pressure on them to make them become one-dimensional right away.”

Running from the spread: The Cowboys do not have a fullback on their roster and prefer to use multiple-tight end packages, but Murray’s work out of “11 personnel” showed you what worked best for the Cowboys.

Murray had 15 runs for 101 yards when the Cowboys used three wide receivers. His longest run of the game -- a 41-yarder -- came out of “12 personnel" (two tight ends), but that was the only carry of more than 10 yards he had out of that grouping.

Sack-master: The Rams entered Sunday as the only offense to not allow a sack but left Sunday having given up six. Cornerback Orlando Scandrick started it off with a blitz off the slot to bring down Sam Bradford. Scandrick has 7.5 sacks for his career, which is the fourth most in team history by a defensive back.

“He’s got good timing, and he wants to be around that football,” coach Jason Garrett said.

Nice comeback: If Garrett is looking for a teachable moment, he can point to second-year defensive end Kyle Wilber. With 3:19 left in the second quarter, Wilber was blindsided on a punt return by T.J. McDonald and needed medical attention.

In the fourth quarter, Wilber was able to record the first sack of his career when he dropped Bradford for a 10-yard loss.

After the Dallas Cowboys 31-7 victory against the St. Louis Rams Sunday, we review who played well and who did not, in our weekly Three up and Three Down.

Three Up

DeMarco Murray. The starting running back heard about how he couldn't make defenders miss or that he was becoming Julius Jones. Murray responded with his best game of the young season, 26 carries and 175 yards with his first rushing touchdown of the season. Murray also caught three passes for 28 yards and looked fast, strong and re-established himself as the lead runner for the Cowboys.

DeMarcus Ware. He had two sacks, three tackles for loss and two quarterback hits on his ledger from Sunday's game. Ware's third-quarter sack moved him into sole possession, unoffically, on top of the franchise's list in career sacks with 115, surpassing Harvey Martin. Also, Ware picked up his first tackles of the season, he finished with six total, five solo.

Jason Hatcher. From his midweek speech to the team, to his play Sunday, Hatcher has emerged into a force on and off the field. Hatcher had a sack and three quarterback hits but it was his pep talk following a Wednesday practice that inspired the troops last week.k

Three Down

Miles Austin. The Cowboys wideout left in the third quarter with a hamstring injury and will be monitored this week. He's got a history of these problems and it has to worry the Cowboys that he's got this problem just as the team begins to hit a stride with some tough opponents, starting this Sunday at San Diego. Austin had two catches on Sunday.

Anthony Spencer. It's not really his fault, but his left knee isn't responding to treatment. He's played just one game, Week 2 at Kansas City, and since then the pain in his knee hasn't gone away. Spencer did some light work last week but couldn't do anything for three days. His knee issue could be an ongoing problem.

Dan Bailey. The man is human. He missed his first field goal of the season, a 35-yarder which was wide right, but it's not the end of the world. Bailey did send five of his six kickoffs into the end zone, which is good, but his miss, surprising as it was, places him on Three Down.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- As a golfer, Tony Romo knows the secret is in the dirt, as Ben Hogan once said of work on the practice range. He knows it’s true as a quarterback, too.

Coming out of the preseason Romo talked about some mechanical tweak he made to his throwing motion that he felt would help him greatly when the games became real.

He always mentions these kind of adjustments without going on and on about them, but whatever it is, he believes it has helped his accuracy.

“No, it’s just random and I’m getting lucky,” he laughed as he walked to an AT&T Stadium elevator after Sunday’s 31-7 win against the St. Louis Rams.

Through three games, Romo has completed 83 of 115 passes, good for 72.2 percent. He entered Week 3 as the NFL’s most accurate quarterback.

Romo entered the season with a 64.7 completion percentage for his career. In a full season, his career-best was 66.3 percent in 2011.

On Sunday, Romo completed 17 of 24 passes, giving him 34 games in which he has completed at least 70 percent of his passes. Troy Aikman holds the team record with 39.

Since 2006 only Peyton Manning (45), Drew Brees (44), Philip Rivers (39) and Matt Schaub (35) have more games of 70 percent or better.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Stingers have been a problem for Dallas Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Ware for the past few years, but he thinks he might have found a solution to the problem in the second half of Sunday’s 31-7 win against the St. Louis Rams.

Forced to the sideline briefly in the first half when the buzzing started down his left arm again, Ware changed his neck padding for the second half.

“I didn’t have (a stinger) last year; then this year, it’s like all of a sudden, ding, and I did it again (Sunday),” Ware said. “I think I’ll be alright. I’ve just got to be cognizant of it. I got an adjustment to my neck (pad) and it went away. It was fine. It was too far back, but now I put on the old brace and it was fine.”

ARLINGTON, Texas – When is the last time the Dallas Cowboys’ defense played this well?

“I can’t recall when I’ve seen us play better. Ever,” owner/general manager Jerry Jones said.

Gotta love some of that good ol’ Jerry hyperbole, huh?

It’s not like Jerry had to go all the way back to the '90s glory days to recall a time when Dallas played pretty darn good defense. How about the last time the Cowboys made the playoffs?

Then again, the 2009 season does seem like so long ago. That’s when the Cowboys closed out the regular season with the first consecutive shutouts in franchise history, clinching the NFC East division. Dallas allowed the second-fewest points in the league that season.

Not coincidentally, the Cowboys’ lone playoff win since 1996 came in 2009.

This might not be the best defense during the owner’s 25-year tenure, but the Cowboys have legitimate reasons to be confident that they have a playoff-caliber defense again.

Monte Kiffin's unit gave up a lot of yards in Week 1, but the defense forced five turnovers and keyed the Cowboys’ win over the Giants. The Cowboys held Kansas City to 17 points and 313 total yards in a losing effort in Week 2. And the defense was dominant in Sunday’s rout of the St. Louis Rams, holding Sam Bradford’s bunch to 232 total yards and seven points.

The Rams’ offensive line, which didn’t allow a sack in the first two games, couldn’t block the Cowboys. Dallas had six sacks, including two by DeMarcus Ware. That had a lot to do with St. Louis’ inability to convert on third down (1-of-13).

“It’s just one more step to trying to get where we want to go,” cornerback Brandon Carr said. “We’re still trying to establish our identity.

“Just across the board, we want to be that physical, aggressive, high-energy defense. Everybody swarming, everybody getting to the ball, guys in the right position to make plays, just flying around and having fun. This is Week 3. We still have some more progress to go, but this is a step in the right direction.”

Defensive tackle Jason Hatcher, who had a sack for the third straight game, added: “The sky’s the limit for this defense. We’ve just got to keep the bar high and work during the week.”