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A weekly analysis of the Cowboys’ quarterback play:

Rewind: Tony Romo was efficient in the Cowboys' 30-21 loss to the San Diego Chargers, completing 27 of 37 passes for 244 yards and two touchdowns, but he was limited by a lack of opportunities. The poor outing by the defense resulted in Romo running only seven plays in the third quarter and just 14 by the time there was 6:49 to play in the game. When the Cowboys did have the ball, they were done in by drops and penalties that forced the end of drives. Romo was sacked three times, matching his season high, but two were coverage sacks and not the fault of the offensive line.

Fast-forward: The Broncos are allowing 316 yards per game through the air so far this season, but some of that is a function of how well their Peyton Manning-led offense is playing. Opponents are forced to throw the ball to play catch-up, and Denver is content to allow some yards. But the Broncos are allowing opposing quarterbacks to complete just 57.8 percent of their passes, and their six interceptions are tied for sixth in the league. And that has come without Champ Bailey, who has yet to play this season. Romo has been careful with the ball so far, with just one interception in 152 pass attempts, and is completing 72 percent of his passes.

Matching wits: This game will be billed as Romo versus Manning, but Romo will have to avoid trying to match Manning throw for throw and score for score. He has to make sure he does not give the Broncos any short fields to work with, while also being aggressive enough to take shots. He’s done this before actually. In just the fourth start of his career in 2006, he beat Manning, who brought an undefeated Indianapolis Colts team to Texas Stadium, 21-14. Romo wasn’t great, but he was effective, completing 19 of 23 passes for 226 yards with no touchdowns and one pick. The Cowboys held the ball for 33 minutes, 42 seconds thanks to a persistent running game (36 carries, 117 yards).

Prediction: I said Romo would have his first 300-yard game last week against San Diego and he didn’t, so I’ll make the claim this week that he reaches that mark. A possible return of Miles Austin will help, but Dez Bryant will give the Broncos' secondary trouble. Romo has at least one touchdown pass in 17 straight games and has 59 multiple-touchdown games in his career. He will get to 18 and 60 against Denver, but it’s hard to imagine it will be enough to beat Manning.

IRVING, Texas -- In the first four weeks of the season, Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo has thrown just nine passes of 20 or more yards and fewer than 10 passes with 21 or more air yards.

To say the Cowboys don't take enough shots down the field would be fair. In Sunday's loss to the San Diego Chargers, 19 of Romo's 27 completions went for fewer than 10 yards.

Defensive coverage, time in the pocket and play call affect whether or not Romo throws passes down the field. It would seem Romo has the weapons necessary to take shots down field in wide receiver Dez Bryant and at times rookie wideout Terrance Williams. When healthy, Miles Austin is a deep threat, but his ability to beat defenses on slants is something the Cowboys like to take advantage of.

The Cowboys struggled on third down, going 3-of-9 and had four drops in the passing game, three coming on third-down plays. The Cowboys ran the ball well, averaging 5.8 yards per carry, but still didn't challenge one of the worst pass defenses in the NFL with deep throws.

"That’s certainly something you want to do," coach Jason Garrett said of deep throws. "You want to be able to make some chunk plays in the passing game. The touchdown that Dez had, the 34-yarder, was one of those kinds of plays. A ball doesn’t always have to travel that far in the air but you want to be able to make those plays, complete the ball in the intermediate range where you give your receiver a chance to break a tackle and go score. We didn’t do that on a consistent enough basis throughout the ballgame."

The touchdown Garrett is speaking of is the throw Romo made to Bryant in tight one-on-one coverage against the Chargers on a throw to the end zone.

"He can make that catch with two people on him," Cowboys owner/general manager Jerry Jones said Tuesday on KRLD-FM.

Jones said he doesn't feel the need to challenge defenses deep all the time. In the Chargers game, Jones felt Romo had time to complete all sorts of throws because the offensive line played well.

It's just interesting that Peyton Manning (17), Geno Smith (17), Philip Rivers (15) and Alex Smith (14) just to name a few have more 20-yard throws than Romo. Michael Vick leads the NFL with 23 passes of 20 or more yards.

"I think if we would have done a better job on third downs, you get a few more of those opportunities and we wanted to be balanced and consistently try to run the ball throughout," Garrett said. "We were able to do that, and hopefully you mix in a high-percentage game with a chunk, big-play passing game and that’s the way you want to play offensive football."

SAN DIEGO -- After a 30-21 loss to the San Diego Chargers, the Cowboys come home in first place in the NFC East, but it doesn't feel like it. We review what we've seen in our weekly Three up and Three Down report.

Three Up

Tony Romo. The quarterback had the ball for seven snaps in the third quarter and three possessions in the fourth quarter. Romo completed 27 of 37 passes for 244 yards and two touchdowns. It was a solid effort for Romo, who threw one pass away and was victimized by four dropped passes.

George Selvie. In a game where the Chargers needed to play four backup offensive linemen due to injuries, the Cowboys didn't get a good enough pass rush. Selvie had the best game among the pass-rushers with one sack, a pass breakup and a tackle for loss.

DeMarco Murray. The starting running back rushed for 70 yards on 14 carries Sunday. He didn't get enough touches in the second half because the Cowboys were forced to throw the ball, but you can't blame the run game for the Cowboys' struggles on Sunday.

Three Down

Bruce Carter. He allowed two touchdowns, was benched for veteran Ernie Sims and is having questions raised about his ability to make plays in the passing game. Carter is an athletic player but looks lost right now.

Morris Claiborne. The cornerback might never get his starting job back. Like Carter, he's struggling to cover people and doesn't seem to be playing with confidence. Claiborne has a bad shoulder and the Cowboys are forced to use him because B.W. Webb isn't ready yet.

Monte Kiffin. The defensive coordinator sounded confused when talking about the benching of Carter, and while he did admit the defense didn't make enough plays, his Tampa 2 scheme looked bad against the Chargers' hurry-up offense and it's clear the secondary has issues.

SAN DIEGO -- The bad news is the Dallas Cowboys come home following a 30-21 loss to the San Diego Chargers.

The good news is the Cowboys are still in first place with a 2-2 mark in what is developing into a bad NFC East .

Dallas had a chance to put some distance between themselves and the rest of the division. Only Washington, among the four NFC East teams, won on Sunday. The Cowboys hold just a one-game lead over the 1-3 Philadelphia Eagles and Redskins.

"It's tough, really tough," tight end Jason Witten said. "You don't want to win one, lose one and that’s disappointing. It's still a lot of football to play and we have a close group that believes in themselves. We'll get better and bounce back. We have a lot of resolve on this team and we got to go do it though, we can't just say that."

The Cowboys were trying to win consecutive games for the first time since November and start a season 3-1 for the first time since 2008. It seems strange the Cowboys are having trouble doing something like this, but that's the situation this franchise is in right now.

The Cowboys held a 21-13 lead in the first half against the Chargers but were shutout in the second half for the first time since Week 2 at Seattle last season.

"It's disappointing after a loss like today," quarterback Tony Romo said. "We had a good week of practice, guys prepared well and were ready to go so to not come out and play as well as we hoped, is frustrating and disappointing. Our football team has a close knit group of people that are going to go back to work and learn from the mistakes that each one of us made to make us better going into the next game."

SAN DIEGO -- Tony Romo kept waiting and watching. So did Dez Bryant. So did Jason Witten and DeMarco Murray.

From the time the Dallas Cowboys took a 21-10 lead with 1:19 left in the second quarter, thanks to Sean Lee’s 52-yard interception return for a touchdown, to the time the San Diego Chargers took a 23-21 lead with 14:50 left in the fourth quarter, Romo and the offense ran seven plays.

Seven. That’s it. For the entire third quarter.

By the time the Cowboys ran their 15th play of the second half, the Chargers upped their lead to what turned out to be the final score, 30-21.

During that time span, Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers managed 37 plays for 310 yards on four drives that led to 20 points.

For those who will criticize the Cowboys' lack of a running game, they were never in a position to really run the ball because they did not have the ball much.

The Cowboys had 10 possessions and ran a season-low 56 plays. Last week against the St. Louis Rams they 10 possessions but their 59 plays ate up 33 minutes, 28 seconds.

They had the ball for only 25:57 against the Chargers, marking the first time they did not hold possession for at least half of the game this season.

“It’s one of those games that come down to a couple of plays,” said Romo, who completed 27 of 37 passes for 244 yards and two touchdowns. “Without as many possessions as you’d normally get in the football game you have to make them all count.”

The Cowboys had to be perfect on offense to match Rivers (35 of 42, 401 yards, three touchdowns) and they were not even close.

On the Cowboys’ first drive of the second half after a 10-play, 80-yard touchdown drive by San Diego, Dez Bryant was unable to hold on to a sideline throw from Romo on third down, worrying about tapping his feet inbounds. On their second drive of the second half after a 13-play, 84-yard drive by the Chargers, a Ronald Leary holding penalty wiped out a first-down pass to Cole Beasley at the San Diego 32. Two plays later Jason Witten was unable to come up with a Romo throw down the seam on third down.

“You’ve got to make those plays,” coach Jason Garrett said. “Those aren’t easy plays. Those aren’t easy throws and easy catches, but those guys are capable of making them. Again, I keep saying this, but in a game like this, it comes back down to those kind of plays when we’re not slowing them down and we have to match them and every one of those allows you to maintain a possession by converting a third down or putting you in a more favorable third down type situation.”

The Cowboys’ fourth drive of the second half ended at the Chargers 1 when rookie wide receiver Terrance Williams fumbled attempting to reach for the goal line with the Chargers leading by 9.

“At that point it’s a two-score game,” Garrett said. “We knock it in there we give ourselves a chance coming back.”

But they didn’t and there was no chance of a comeback.

“With minimal possessions it’s going to come down to a few things that you do right or wrong,” Romo said. “Offensively we needed to do a few more right.”

SAN DIEGO -- Observed in the locker room after the Dallas Cowboys' 30-21 loss to the San Diego Chargers.

Momentum lost: The Cowboys felt like they were ready to turn a corner after last week’s win against St. Louis, but they were unable to come up with back-to-back wins when they could have kept separation in an NFC East that is there for the taking.

“It’s frustrating,” linebacker Sean Lee said. “We want to be a consistent team that wins week in and week out, and we haven’t been for two years. And right now we’re not. We’re an average football team. Until we start winning consistently that’s what we’re going to be.”

Missing an option: Rookie Terrance Williams took over Miles Austin’s role as the No. 2 receiver and finished with seven catches for 71 yards, surpassing what had been his season totals in catches and yards, but he had a drop in the first quarter and a fumble at the goal line in the fourth quarter.

Austin did not play because of a hamstring injury, and it’s not known when he will be back, even though Jason Garrett said the injury was not as severe as some of the strains Austin has suffered in the past.

“Miles is a great football player,” quarterback Tony Romo said. “Whenever you don’t have him, it’s always going to be tougher. Saying that, it’s a part of the game. Miles knows that. Same thing when I got hurt. You’ve got to be able to find a way to win football games.”

Another injury for Ware: DeMarcus Ware has been bothered by stingers through the early part of the season, but that wasn’t an issue for him Sunday. A back strain was.

Ware said he pulled a muscle in his back in the first series of the game, and was in and out of the lineup for most of the game. He was held without a sack despite an inexperienced defensive line. He said he would not need an MRI for the injury.

“A little bit,” Ware said when asked how much it affected his play, “but if you get out there, you’ve got to play and do what you’ve got to do.”

SAN DIEGO -- A few thoughts on the Dallas Cowboys' 30-21 loss to the San Diego Chargers.

What it means for the Cowboys: Once again, the Cowboys let slip away a golden chance to show they were more of a team to watch in the NFC than just a team that can compete in a bad NFC East.

They had an 11-point lead with 1:19 left in the first half, but allowed 20 straight points to the Chargers, leaving with another loss to an AFC West foe. And it doesn’t get easier with another AFC West foe, the Denver Broncos, visiting AT&T Stadium next week.

They lost 17-16 in Week 2 at Kansas City in a game they could have won, but the offense was unable to sustain any momentum. On Sunday, the defense could not come up with any crucial stops after Sean Lee's interception return for a touchdown.

Stock watch: Falling -- Morris Claiborne. He is playing with a dislocated shoulder, but this had nothing to do with his ability to tackle. He was poor in coverage against Vincent Brown and rookie Keenan Allen. Philip Rivers continually went at Claiborne (as well as Bruce Carter, who could not stick with running back Danny Woodhead).

Can’t get off the field: After Lee’s second career pick-six and the third defensive touchdown of the season, the Cowboys’ defense had no answers for Rivers, who was playing behind a line filled with backups.

After the Cowboys took that 21-10 lead, the San Diego offense ripped off 20 straight points with 310 yards on 37 plays. The Chargers only got to third down five times on those 37 plays, and converted three times.

Rivers was hardly pressured, and he was able to toy with the secondary using receivers Allen, Brown, Eddie Royal, Woodhead (two touchdowns) and Antonio Gates (56-yard touchdown).

Can’t stay on the field: Offensively, the Cowboys ran just seven plays in the third quarter.

Their second possession of the second half lasted only seven plays because a Ronald Leary holding penalty negated a first-down catch by Cole Beasley at the San Diego 32. Two plays later, Jason Witten couldn’t hold onto a seam throw from Tony Romo and the Cowboys were forced to punt. The Chargers answered with Gates' backbreaking touchdown.

The Cowboys’ third possession of the second half ended at the Chargers’ goal line when rookie receiver Terrance Williams fumbled, ending any chances for a miracle comeback.

What’s next: Peyton Manning visits AT&T Stadium for the first time when the Denver Broncos come to town, and it is only the second time Manning will play in the area as a pro. Manning brought the 9-0 Indianapolis Colts to Texas Stadium on Nov. 19, 2006 and lost 21-14.

Getting into the head of Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo is apparently the key to the San Diego Chargers' game plan this week.

“We know that once he’s rattled and whatnot, it’s easy to take him out of the game,” Chargers defensive end Corey Liuget said, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

That’s a pretty bold statement from a member of a defense that ranks dead last in the NFL against the pass and has forced a grand total of one turnover in three games. San Diego is allowing an average of 340.7 passing yards per game, having failed to rattle Philadelphia’s Michael Vick or Tennessee’s Jake Locker the past two weeks.

Romo, whose turnovers have tended to come in bunches over the course of his career, has steered clear of catastrophic errors during the Cowboys’ 2-1 start. He has committed two turnovers -- a fumble after a sack, and an interception caused by rookie receiver Terrance Williams running the wrong route after an audible.

To hear Liuget tell it, Romo has benefited from a dumbed-down Dallas offense this season.

“It’s a simple offense,” Liuget said, according to the Union-Tribune. “They don’t do too many plays. The key is to definitely hit Romo early and try to take Romo out of the game and put the ball in [DeMarco Murray's] hands.”

Rest assured that putting the ball in Murray’s hands will be a big part of the Cowboys’ plan after he rushed for 175 yards on 26 carries in the Week 3 victory over St. Louis. After all, the Chargers also rank 28th among rushing defenses, allowing 130 yards per game and 5.1 per carry.

If Romo is rattled, it certainly won’t be by anything he studies in the film room this week.

A weekly analysis of the Cowboys’ quarterback play:

Rewind: Tony Romo had to throw just 24 passes, completing 17, in the Dallas Cowboys’ 31-7 win over the St. Louis Rams. When was the last time Romo threw so few passes in a game he started and finished? It was Oct. 23, 2011, against the Rams. The common denominator in those games was DeMarco Murray’s rushing. On that day in 2011, Murray ran for 253 yards. On Sunday, he had 175. The running game took the burden off Romo, but that does not mean he was simply along for the ride. Romo had three touchdown passes, and his 24-yard scores to Gavin Escobar and Dwayne Harris came on pinpoint throws. Romo was sacked only once and rarely pressured with the offensive line giving him time to get the ball down the field. Romo averaged 8.8 yards per attempt against the Rams, which was his highest in three games.

Fast-forward: San Diego has struggled to stop the pass, and you can’t expect the Cowboys to run the ball as well as they did last week. A week after Philadelphia’s Michael Vick threw for 428 yards, Tennessee’s Jake Locker had 299 yards against the Chargers' defense. No offense to the Titans, but they do not have the weapons to match the Cowboys, and the Chargers do not have a consistent enough pass rush to hurry Romo. Quarterbacks are completing 67.2 percent of their passes against San Diego, and Romo has shown improved accuracy this season.

Take care of the ball: Nothing hurts a road team more offensively than a turnover. It gets the crowd going. It gets the defense going. It causes doubt from within. In his past 17 road games, Romo has had turnovers (interceptions or fumbles) in 11 games. The Cowboys are 3-8 in those games, including 0-1 this season. In the six road games in which he has not turned it over, the Cowboys are 4-2. Romo has one interception on 115 pass attempts this season, and that came off a miscommunication with rookie receiver Terrance Williams. His fumble at Kansas City did not lead to any points for the Chiefs.

Prediction: Romo’s top two receiver targets are banged up. Miles Austin could miss the game with a hamstring or at least be limited. Dez Bryant is battling through back spasms. But Romo will have to make plays. And he will against a struggling pass defense. He has to stay away from mistakes. And he will. Look for Romo to have his first 300-yard game of the season even if Austin (hamstring) does not play or is limited and look for at least two touchdown passes.

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.

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.

The Dallas Cowboys and St. Louis Rams will meet for the second time in three seasons at AT&T Stadium. The Cowboys won convincingly, 34-7, in 2011, but this Rams team is different. ESPN Rams reporter Nick Wagoner and Cowboys reporter Todd Archer bring you their Double Coverage preview.

Archer: It's always about the quarterback here with the Cowboys and Tony Romo, but I'm curious about Sam Bradford. Where is he in his development and is there any doubt he is their answer at the game's most important spot?

Wagoner: The Rams have made every effort to turn this into Bradford's team, and, through two weeks, it's absolutely become that. Bradford has had two strong statistical weeks to start the season, led a comeback win against Arizona in the opener and nearly did it again last week in Atlanta. He's clearly more comfortable in his second season with the same offensive coordinator in Brian Schottenheimer and surrounded by better skill position players such as tight end Jared Cook and receiver Tavon Austin. Bradford is showing signs of having the breakthrough season many have long expected. For the Rams' part, there's no doubt he's the guy moving forward and the decision-makers have repeatedly and publicly said as much.

Speaking of quarterbacks and committing, the Cowboys made their move to lock up Romo already. How has he responded to that financial vote of confidence?

Archer: I think it goes beyond the financial commitment, although we’d all like to be guaranteed $55 million at some point in our lives. The bigger vote of confidence came from Jerry Jones wanting him in on the game planning with the coaches. Romo has more say now than he has ever had as the starting quarterback. It’s his offense in a lot of respects. The Cowboys are doing more no-huddle work than ever before, and that’s where Romo has complete control. Now there could be some drawbacks, too, because they’re not running the ball. The Cowboys talked about running the ball more and better in 2013 than they did in 2012, and they have 39 carries for 124 yards in two games. Romo has dropped back to pass nearly 100 times in two games. There is even more of a burden on him now, and he’s already had to do so many things here lately to win games.

One guy I can’t wait to see Sunday is Austin. Everybody had him pegged for greatness this summer, and he’s coming off his first two-touchdown game. How have the Rams tailored their offense for him?

Wagoner: Well, it's been a bit of a mixed bag for Austin so far. Yes, he had a couple of touchdowns last week, but he also had some issues with drops. The Rams have used him as a receiver, lined him up at running back and used him as the primary punt returner, and those will all be ways they'll continue to use him moving forward. Through two weeks, they haven't been able to get him out in space where he can operate at his best. That's why he has yet to hit any of the big plays many are expecting from him. On the flip side, he's been better in short areas moving the chains than expected. His first touchdown catch against Atlanta was particularly encouraging because he showed a knack for being able to make a tough grab in a congested area.

Not to keep piggybacking off your questions, but let's talk a little about Dallas' most exciting wideout, Dez Bryant. Clearly he's not too banged up given his performance last week, but what is his status? The Rams have really struggled against the pass the first two weeks and Bryant could have a monster game if he's up to full strength.

Archer: He should be fine, but this is something that has cropped up the past couple of seasons. He missed a handful of plays against the Chiefs because of back spasms, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as last year’s finale at Washington, where he could barely move. I think it’s a matter of keeping loose for him because they say it’s not a structural issue. He is just a nightmare matchup because he can overpower corners in man-to-man. The Chiefs' Brandon Flowers wasn’t in bad position on a couple of those plays, but Bryant just ripped the ball away from him. And the best pass Romo threw to Bryant all day was the one the receiver dropped on what would’ve been a big gain. Unfortunately for the Rams corners, I think he’ll be fine for this one.

The Cowboys haven’t been able to run the ball early in the season and the Rams look to be pretty good against the run (but maybe that’s because the pass defense has been shaky). How good is the front seven?

Wagoner: Yeah, it's hard to get a read on just how good the Rams' run defense is right now because they've played pretty anemic run teams in the first two weeks. I do think they'll be pretty good in that regard over the course of the season, but let's see how they do when they face the likes of San Francisco, Seattle and Houston. The front four is the strength of this team as a whole, and the linebackers are solid, too. The front four generates a pass rush on a consistent basis. Ends Chris Long and Robert Quinn have been as good as ever so far this season.

The Rams haven't given up a sack in the first two games and four in a row dating back to last season. How are the Cowboys adjusting to a new defensive scheme and what kind of challenges do they pose in regard to the pass rush? And how are they using DeMarcus Ware?

Archer: Last week against the Chiefs, the Cowboys used Ware on both sides in part so he could go against rookie tackle Eric Fisher. He had two sacks in the game and was a constant source of pressure on quarterback Alex Smith. I wonder if the Cowboys continue to do that this week with Rams tackle Rodger Saffold looking like he will miss the game with an injury. Ware has predominantly lined up against the left tackle for his career, but with George Selvie showing he can play both sides and Anthony Spencer rounding into shape after missing so much time with a knee injury, I think the smart thing is to move Ware around.

A weekly analysis of the Cowboys’ quarterback play:

Rewind: Tony Romo completed 30 of 42 passes for 298 yards in the Cowboys’ 17-16 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 2 with a 2-yard touchdown pass to Dez Bryant, who had 141 receiving yards for the game. The numbers speak to an accurate day for Romo, but after a fourth-quarter scramble in which he was hit by defensive tackle Dontari Poe, he completed 6 of 13 passes and was unable to deliver a game-winning drive. Romo said his bruised ribs were not an issue, but he did take a pain-killing injection before the game and could get one this week if needed. If Romo wasn’t getting the ball down the field to Bryant, he wasn’t getting the ball down the field at all, and Bryant made a couple of great catches on throws not on the money.

Fast-forward: The talk around the Cowboys the first two games has been the lack of a running game, but the Rams enter the game allowing 330 passing yards a game after allowing Arizona’s Carson Palmer and Atlanta’s Matt Ryan to throw for more than 300 yards in both games. The Rams' strength is their front four with Chris Long and Robert Quinn providing pressure, but the Cowboys’ protection has been solid considering how many times Romo has thrown it in two games.

Fast start a must: Romo has thrown a Cowboys-record 180 touchdown passes in his career, but he has only 27 of them in the first quarter. Slow starts have been an issue for the Cowboys in the past, but they have scored field goals on their opening drives in each of the first two games. With a fan base wondering whether this is the same old team, Romo has to establish a tone early. He has had success against the Rams. In two starts (both wins), he has completed 35 of 57 passes for 505 yards with five touchdowns and one interception.

Prediction: Last week I said Romo would finish with close to 300 yards against the Chiefs, and he did, but he finished a touchdown short of the prediction. He will be close to 300 yards again Sunday but this time he will have more big plays down the field to Bryant and Miles Austin.

IRVING, Texas -- The Dallas Cowboys talk about wanting to ease the burden on quarterback Tony Romo, but everything that has happened since he signed his $108 million contract extension in the offseason has seemed to only add to the burden.

He’s more involved in the game planning than ever before. He’s with the coaches going over the opposing defenses. On the field he has the ability to get the Cowboys into a hurry-up mode in which he is calling the plays.

Does Romo want the burden eased off of him?

“I guess the essence of that question goes back to balance and you just want to make sure that we’re more balanced so nobody feels that they’re under pressure,” coach Jason Garrett said Monday. “It’s the same thing if you ran the ball all the time. There’s a tremendous amount of pressure on your offensive linemen and your runner if nine guys are on the line of scrimmage and you face unfavorable boxes all the time, so the balance part of that eases the burden of your offensive or defensive unit and throughout your football team.”

Technically the Cowboys have run the ball 39 times in two games for 124 yards, but that includes two kneel-downs by Romo, two scrambles by the quarterback and a lateral to receiver Terrance Williams on what was supposed to be a screen pass in the third quarter of Sunday’s 17-16 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

So really, they’ve ran it 34 times in two games with minimal success.

“More than anything we need to run it a little better if we want to run it more,” Romo said after the Chiefs loss. “We need to get it going a little bit.”

With all of this say in the offense, do you think Romo might believe more in his ability to get the job done with his right arm when the running game struggles like it has? That only increases the burden.

When asked if he reminded offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Bill Callahan to run the ball Sunday, Garrett said, “We as coaches communicate those kinds of things all the time about what we want to do and how we want to attack them.”

Was the message passed on to Romo? Garrett mentioned “balance,” as often as he could during Monday’s news conference. Sometimes it came on back-to-back sentences.

“If you run the no-huddle you can still run the football,” Garrett said. “We have to make sure we do that. We’ll evaluate whether or not we think it’s a good idea each week when we play.”

IRVING, Texas -- Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo and wide receiver Dez Bryant said they were fine Monday after battling through rib and back injuries, respectively, in Sunday’s 17-16 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Romo took a pain-killing injection before Sunday’s kickoff for the bruised ribs he suffered in the season-opening win against the New York Giants. He completed 30-of-42 passes for 298 yards and a touchdown, but after a 4-yard scramble in the fourth quarter in which nose tackle Dontari Poe landed on him Romo completed only six of his final 13 passes, missing on three of his next four throws.

“He gives us no indication that they are bothering him," coach Jason Garrett said.

It depends on how Romo feels if he will have another shot before this week’s game against the St. Louis Rams, he said.

Bryant played in 56 of 64 offensive plays, needing a few breaks to deal with his back. He suffered back spasms in last year’s season finale against the Washington Redskins.

“It’s not a big issue, but he got hit and his back tightened up on him,” Garrett said. “He’s a tough individual and so he got himself right and continued to play in the ballgame. He was walking a little slowly today, but we expect him to be ready to go.”