ARLINGTON, Texas -- Tony Romo and Terence Newman have no apologies to make this time.
Like the rest of the Dallas Cowboys, especially a maligned defense, their second try at team owner Jerry Jones' new $1.15 billion showcase stadium had much better results: the best being a 21-7 victory over the Carolina Panthers on Monday night.
"I get frustrated and disappointed when I don't play up to what I think my standard is. That's why I come back with a purpose to improve, to get better," Romo said. "That was my sole focus this week. ... Not make those mistakes again and improve as a quarterback."
Romo certainly succeeded.
Eight nights after throwing three interceptions that the New York Giants turned into touchdowns on the way to a last-second-victory that spoiled the grand opening of Cowboys Stadium, Romo was 22 of 33 for 255 yards. More importantly, he had no turnovers.
And Newman, who like Romo apologized for his own poor performance against the Giants, returned an interception 27 yards for a lead-stretching touchdown with 5 minutes left -- though that wasn't the last stellar defensive play for the Cowboys (2-1).
"It was a lucky play on my part," Newman said.
Steve Smith, the intended receiver of Jake Delhomme's pass, insisted that he was to blame because he changed the route he was supposed to run.
However it happened, Newman's touchdown finally let the crowd of 90,588 and Jones exhale with a huge sigh of relief. And begin celebrating the first victory at the new stadium, where they won't play again until Oct. 25 with consecutive road games and their bye week coming up.
"It certainly does feel good," Jones said. "The way it went so early, it just felt like maybe we ought to check this thing out for Grim Reapers living in the back someplace."
Rookie linebacker Victor Butler sacked Jake Delhomme twice on the ensuing series, forcing a fumble with a minute left.
The Cowboys defense that led the NFL with 59 sacks last season entered Week 3 as the only team without a sack or a takeaway. They had three of each against Carolina, which after going 12-4 and winning the NFC South title last season is headed into its bye week 0-3.
"It's hard to take time off now because we are winless," said Dante Rosario, whose 25-yard TD catch came just before halftime.
This is Carolina's worst start since 0-7 in 1998. Delhomme has seven interceptions, seven sacks and two fumbles.
"Call me naive, call me whatever you want. I feel good about the rest of the season," Delhomme said. "We fought, we are not going to quit."
Delhomme was 22 of 33 for 220 yards, but Carolina's six second-half drives ended with four punts, an interception and a fumble.
The effort showed what Cowboys coach-defensive coordinator Wade Phillips thought his unit was capable of doing. They showed they could stop the pass in the opener, then showed they could stop the run in the second game. This time, they put it all together, with Mike Jenkins coming up with a first-half interception and Jay Ratliff getting the season's first sack in the third quarter.
"Before the game we talked about how our defensive line and linebackers did their job last week and how we didn't do our job," Newman said. "So I told them 'Hey it's on us. We've got to shut these guys down.' We let this team down last week and we have to make up for it this week."
Dallas was without running back Marion Barber because of a bruised thigh but hardly missed him as fill-in starter Felix Jones broke off plays of 16, 18 and 20 yards on the first two drives.
Jones finished with 94 yards on only eight carries, and another 20 yards on a game-opening screen pass before leaving with a strained left knee in the third quarter. Tashard Choice had 82 yards on 18 carries, including a go-ahead 5-yard TD run in the third quarter, and caught four passes for 36 yards.
Romo didn't throw many deep balls, rarely threw into traffic and often looked for his security blanket, tight end Jason Witten (nine catches for 77 yards) as he regained his footing following the second-worst passer rating of his career.
"I would say this week will be better than last week in a lot of ways," Romo said. "That's a fair assessment."
