The Dallas Cowboys secured their place in the playoffs as they clinched the NFC East title with a commanding 42-7 victory over the Indianapolis Colts.
The Cowboys began the game in perfect fashion when they marched downfield, but were also aided by a taunting penalty on Jerrell Freeman to keep their drive alive, which ended when Tony Romo found Terrance Williams over the middle for a nine-yard score.
Indianapolis went three-and-out in their next drive, but tried a trick play off their punt as Pat McAfee threw downfield for Dewey McDonald, only for the defensive back to drop the ball. The Cowboys punished the Colts for their mistake as Romo fired a strike to Dez Bryant for a 19-yard score.
The Cowboys moved further ahead in the second quarter as Romo continued to pick apart the Colts' secondary, finding Cole Beasley over the middle before the receiver made an excellent move to dodge a tackle and sprint into the endzone for a touchdown.
Dallas continued their domination as Romo engineered another solid drive, which included some fine running by DeMarco Murray, and the running back ended the move with a score as he powered over on the goal line.
The Colts spurned the chance to get on the scoreboard late in the half as Andrew Luck was picked off in the endzone by JJ Wilcox to keep the Cowboys in command of the game.
In the second half, Luck committed his second interception of the game when he tried to throw over the middle and Anthony Hitchens was able to make the pick. Dallas were unable to add to the scoreline as Dan Bailey missed a field goal from 52 yards.
However, the Cowboys did power further ahead when Romo lofted a ball downfield for Jason Witten, who beat the coverage of D'Qwell Jackson to haul in the 25-yard touchdown.
With the score out of hand in the fourth quarter, both teams changed their quarterbacks as Matt Hasselbeck replaced Luck for the Colts, while Brandon Weeden came into the match for Romo.
Weeden fired his side into a 42-point lead as he lofted the ball down the right sideline for Williams to make the grab over his marker for the 43-yard touchdown.
The Colts got a consolation score after Hasselbeck's throw to the endzone for Hakeem Nicks was intercepted by Brandon Carr, only for pass interference on the play to move the visitors to the goal line. On the next play, Hasselbeck threw to Zurlon Tipton to get his team on the board.
The day belonged to the Cowboys, however, as they secured their first NFC East title since 2009 to move to 11-4 in their campaign.
Simon Sinclair
