Cowboys bulldoze Colts to win division

ARLINGTON, TEXAS— Tony Romo helped dump a bucket on Jason Garrett and playfully shoved him the same way the Dallas coach often does to his players.

The Cowboys had long since known their four-year playoff drought was over Sunday when they finally got to celebrate in the final seconds of a dominating 42-7 win over Indianapolis that clinched the NFC East title.

A special moment made perfect sense for the quarterback with a history of crushing late-season failures and a coach who kept getting Dallas to meaningful finales but couldn’t shake questions about his future because he couldn’t break through with a post-season trip.

“In so many ways, this is such a long journey and to get to a point to achieve your first goal of winning the division title, a lot goes into that,” said Garrett, in his fourth full season as head coach. “I think the way you play in securing that matters, and I thought we played really, really well.”

Romo threw four touchdown passes and broke Troy Aikman’s franchise record for passing yards while the Cowboys (11-4) emphatically ended a three-game home losing streak, scoring touchdowns on their first four possessions.

Dallas had an opening for its first division title and post-season berth since 2009 because of Philadelphia’s 27-24 loss at Washington on Saturday. The Eagles were eliminated with the Cowboys’ win.

The Colts (10-5) didn’t have much to play for with the AFC South title secured, and it showed.

“Yeah, it was a dismal start,” said Andrew Luck, who threw for a season-low109 yards with two interceptions. “It was bad. A lot of bad.”