by Tom Orsborn, STAFF , San Antonio Express-News

Tony Romo passed for 307 yards and one touchdown, a 49-yarder to Miles Austin with 8:04 left, and the defense made a key fourth-down stop to propel the Cowboys (6-2) into sole possession of the NFC East lead at the season's halfway mark with a 20-16 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles (5-3) on Sunday night.

The win was the Cowboys' fourth straight - their longest since winning seven in a row in 2007 - and it served notice to the rest of the league that they're determined to shake their reputation for falling apart in big games.

It was also a measure of revenge after the Eagles clobbered Dallas 44-6 in last season's winner-goes-to-the-playoffs regular-season finale in Philadelphia.

"The main thing going into this game was that we needed to gain respect around the league," Cowboys linebacker DeMarcus Ware said. "It's all about gaining respect from the fans and a lot of the other teams, and I think we gained that tonight."

Defended tightly most of the game by either Asante Samuel or Sheldon Brown, Austin's TD reception was his only catch of the game, and it gave Dallas a 20-13 lead.

"You knew he was probably going to get it at some point," Romo said. "He's a really good player. We've got some good weapons out there. Hopefully, we will get better ... I think we are on our way."

Austin beat Brown badly off the line of scrimmage to make the catch all alone at the 24. He then cut inside to race untouched into the end zone, where he celebrated by firing the ball into the net behind the goal post.

The four-play, 55-yard drive began after the Cowboys made their biggest defensive play of the season.

On fourth-and-one from the Dallas 45, Donovan McNabb tried to sneak it over right guard only to get stopped cold by Marcus Spears with 10:49 left. The Eagles challenged the spot, but the play was upheld, costing them their final timeout.

After Philadelphia pulled within 20-16 on a 52-yard field goal by David Akers, the Cowboys got the ball back with 4:20 left and the Eagles out of timeouts. Romo put the game away with a 5-yard pass to Jason Witten on third-and-three from the Dallas 46.

Romo completed 21 of 34 with one interception. He entered the game with a career-high three-game streak of games without throwing an interception, but Brown ended that streak at 144 attempts with a pick in the third quarter.

In winning the 100th meeting between the bitter rivals, the Cowboys turned two interceptions into 10 points.

Dallas got excellent play from its secondary, with Mike Jenkins and Gerald Sensabaugh recording interceptions. Terence Newman held DeSean Jackson to just two catches for 29 yards after the dynamic receiver entered the game with four TD receptions of 50-plus yards.

Facing pressure throughout the game, McNabb completed 16 of 30 for 227 yards with one TD and the two interceptions. McNabb got sacked four times, including twice by Pro Bowl nose tackle Jay Ratliff.

Since Wade Phillips replaced Bill Parcells as head coach, Dallas has had plenty of big-game meltdowns, starting with a playoff loss to the New York Giants in 2007. Last season in December, the Cowboys led for most of the game before losing at Pittsburgh. Later that month, Dallas closed out Texas Stadium with a loss to Baltimore.

Then came the thrashing in Philadelphia, the most regrettable performance of the Jerry Jones era.

But after beating Atlanta two weeks ago and now the Eagles, the Cowboys appear to be a team to be reckoned with.

"We executed," Romo said. "Coach put together a good plan. You've got to keep fighting and getting better. We felt like they were going to come after us all day, and they really did. But if you keep grinding and getting better and improving, you can do better than what you did before, I guess."

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