Stock Report: Meteoric rise for Tony Romo

November, 14, 2011
11/14/11
8:00
AM CT
The Cowboys had their most dominating performances of the season, a 44-7 beatdown of the Buffalo Bills on Sunday afternoon. As always we review the performances in our weekly Stock Report.

Streaking
STOCK UP

Tony Romo. The quarterback has gone consecutive games without an interception for the first time since 2009. Sunday, Romo completed his first 13 passes before an incompletion. He completed 23-of-26 passes for 270 yards and three touchdowns. Romo's quarterback rating, 148.4, was the second-highest of his career. It was Romo's best game of the season and it seems he's getting better.

Terence Newman. The old man had two interceptions on the day, to take the team-lead away from Sean Lee with four on the season Newman, 33, is playing his best football because he's healthy and got a comfort level in the defensive scheme. Defensive coordinator Rob Ryan wants his corners to play with courage and make plays on the ball and Newman is doing that.

DeMarco Murray. His stock rises every week. Another solid performance for the rookie. He rushed 20 times for 135 yards with one touchdown. Murray makes defenders miss and he also breaks tackles along the way. His vision is excellent while running the ball and it's apparent the offensive line loves blocking for him.

Slumping
STOCK DOWN

Return game. At some point you're going to need somebody to give you a quality kick or punt return and the Cowboys are not getting it this season. There were no kick returns Sunday, but Akwasi Owusu-Ansah made his season debut and returned two punts for just four yards. He also had one fair catch.

Bradie James. The veteran inside linebacker had zero tackles, marking the fourth time that's happened this season. James had compiled 16 tackles the last three weeks, but coming up empty is rather disappointing vs. the Buffalo Bills. Yes, Sean Lee returned to the lineup after missing last week's game with a dislocated left wrist, but James should have made at least one tackle but it's hard when you get fewer than five snaps in a game.

Felix Jones. Murray has taken over the No. 1 job at running back and while we're not saying he should go in the Ring of Honor, however, Jones' injury raises questions about his status. He most likely won't return to the starting role, but his health needs to improve, or rather he needs to stay healthy and he hasn't done that on a consistent basis in the NFL.
Calvin Watkins joined ESPNDallas.com in September 2009. He's covered the Cowboys since 2006 and also has covered colleges, boxing and high school sports.

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