I have stood by my quasi-research proving that receivers make a sharp decline starting around the age of 34 or 35. That certainly didn’t hold up today, to say the least. A 36-year-old receiver named Isaac Bruce caught eight passes for 125 yards and a touchdown. Bruce’s performance was nothing, though, compared with the game that Terrell Owens had.

After Dallas had started slow and had fallen behind in the 1st quarter, Owens made the first play that gave Dallas the lead for good. Owens got behind Nate Clements and hauled in a 75-yard touchdown pass that gave the Cowboys a 7-6 lead.

If Owens wasn’t terribly impressive on shorter routes (he had two really bad drops), he made up for them on the deep routes.

With Dallas up 12-6 after a safety (see below) and field goal, Owens caught a 45-yarder that set up another Dallas field goal. Later, on the Cowboys’ first drive of the second half, Owens caught another pass for 52 yards. The play led to a touchdown that gave Dallas a 29-6 lead.

Owens finished with 213 receiving yards, which is tied for the fourth highest total in team history. It was the first time that a player had recorded 200 yards receiving since Kevin Williams in 1995 against Arizona.

Here is a list of the Cowboys’ players with 200 or more receiving yards in a game:

Date Player Yards Opp. Score
1966 Bob Hayes 246 Redskins W 31-30
1962 Frank Clarke 241 Redskins T 35-35
1967 Lance Rentzel 223 Redskins L 27-20
2008 Terrell Owens 213 49ers W 35-22
1979 Tony Hill 213 Eagles L 31-21
1992 Michael Irvin 210 Cardinals W 31-20
1989 James Dixon 203 Cardinals L 24-20
1995 Kevin Williams 203 Cardinals W 37-13

Tony Romo recorded his team-record 15th 300-yard game. His 341 yards was the second-highest total of his career, behind a 345-yard effort against the Giants in 2007.

And speaking of 2007, this game featured some of the ingredients that we saw in the 13-3 season last year: slow starts, big breaks, big plays, and then domination.

A big special teams play in the second quarter helped Dallas build more momentum after Owens scored his first touchdown. Carlos Polk blocked a punt attempt by Andy Lee. The ball went through the back of the end zone, giving Dallas a safety.

The last time Dallas blocked a punt was also at home against San Francisco. In 2002, Marcus Steele blocked a punt by Bill Lafleur.

The game wasn’t perfect by any means. The defense led San Francisco drive deep into Dallas territory twice in the first quarter, but the Cowboys turned the 49ers away both times (thanks partially to the referees not calling Anthony Henry for interference in the end zone). Henry and Terence Newman had trouble with Bruce, who had a great first half.