Tony Romo took his first step in answering lingering questions about whether he is the quarterback of the future in Dallas by putting up 345 yards passing with 4 touchdowns and an interception and running for another touchdown.

Jason Witten led the team with 116 yards receiving and a touchdown while Owens, who was shutout in the first half, showed up in the second half with three catches for 87 yards and two touchdowns. Sam Hurd, filling in for Terry Glenn on three wide receiver sets, sealed the win with his only catch of the night, a slant that went for 51 yards and a touchdown.

The downside is that the Cowboys needed to score so many points after their defense picked up where they left off last year by being scorched for 319 yards in the air and 4 touchdown passes. Dallas was unable to get much pressure on the quarterback in the first half, but revved up the pressure in the second half. They ended the night with only one sack and another sack/strip on a two point conversion attempt, but the increased pressure was enough to rush some Eli Manning throws and eventually knock him out of the game with a shoulder bruise.

The Cowboys can only hope the game wasn’t an omen for the future. Playing without starting cornerback Terence Newman, the secondary looked lost trying to keep up with the Giants receivers. And, lets face it, the Giants won’t be the scariest receivers they face this year.

But still, it might be better waiting for Newman to get fully recovered even if it means a few more shootouts if it means a 100% healthy Newman down the stretch. Because, if tonight was any indication, they are going to need a healthy Newman if they are going to fix the problems with the defense.

While the running game took a backseat to the aerial attack, the Cowboys were able to 142 yards rushing with Julius Jones ending up with 66 yards on 16 attempts and Marion Barber ending up with 65 yards and a touchdown on 11 attempts. It is also worth noting that the carries were divvied up a little different than last year with Marion Barber coming into the game every third possession to be the main back.

The Cowboys will be facing Miami next week and will be hoping to shore up the problems in the secondary by game time. If Newman is still unable to go, they may have to adjust their coverages to protect the cornerbacks who haven’t been able to show they can stop the deep ball. And, until they do show they can shutdown long passes, expect them to get a heavy dose from opposing teams.