EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Once they stopped beating themselves with penalties, the Dallas Cowboys took command of the NFC East by riding their biggest stars: Tony Romo and Terrell Owens.

Romo hit Owens on two of his four touchdown passes and Dallas opened a big lead in the division by ending the Giants' six-game winning streak with a 31-20 victory yesterday.

"If you want to call it swagger, yes we have the confidence that we know we can go out and beat teams," said Owens, who broke the game open with second-half TD catches of 25 and 50 yards. Owens finished with six catches for 125 yards, his third straight 100-yard game.

"Obviously today, we had more penalties than we would like and we have to eliminate those," T.O. added. "That was everybody's emotions running high."

With the win, the Cowboys (8-1) opened a two-game lead over the Giants (6-3), a three-game edge on Washington (5-4) and a four-game margin on Philadelphia (4-5). Dallas also swept the season series with New York, so it has the tiebreaker should they finished tied.

"It's another step along the journey that we're trying to go through to get where we want to go," said Romo, who completed 20 of 28 for 247 yards. "A win like tonight just adds to your confidence. When you do something like this, you have a chance to do something special."

The last time the Cowboys started a season at 8-1 was 1995, the last time they won the Super Bowl.

With seven games left, the Cowboys also are tied with Green Bay for the best record in the conference. The two will play in Dallas on Nov. 29.

For the Giants, their best hope for a playoff berth seemingly is a wild-card spot.

"It does put us behind the 8-ball," defensive end Justin Tuck said.

Romo also threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Tony Curtis in the first quarter and a 20-yarder to Patrick Crayton just before halftime, starting a string of three straight touchdown drives.

Nick Folk added a 44-yard field goal.

Eli Manning threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Jeremy Shockey, who tied his career high with 12 catches for 129 yards. Reuben Droughns scored on a 1-yard run and Lawrence Tynes kicked field goals of 40 and 26 yards.

The second field goal came after New York saw Brandon Jacobs' potential tying touchdown run early in the fourth quarter nullified by a questionable holding penalty on guard Chris Snee against Roy Williams.

Until that point, the Cowboys were the ones hurting themselves with undisciplined errors. Four penalties in the first half gave New York 10 points and had Dallas heading to the locker room tied at 17.

The Cowboys were called for three penalties on the Giants' opening TD drive. The one everyone will remember was a taunting call against linebacker Kevin Burnett with the Cowboys ahead 17-14.

Jacobs had just been stuffed on a run from his 35 and Burnett yapped at him. The 15-yard walkoff moved the ball to the 50 with 12 seconds to go. Manning found Shockey for 29 yards to set up a 40-yard field goal by Tynes that tied the game.

The Cowboys' defense stopped the Giants on the opening possession of the half and then Romo and company took over.

RAMS 37, SAINTS 29

NEW ORLEANS — Marc Bulger finished with 302 yards and short touchdown passes to Isaac Bruce and Drew Bennett to lead St. Louis (1-8) over the Saints (4-5) for its first victory of the season. Steven Jackson, recovering from a back injury, rushed for a short touchdown and threw a 2-yard halfback pass to Randy McMichael for a score.

BILLS 13, DOLPHINS 10

MIAMI — The winless Dolphins (0-9) controlled the ball for nearly 37 minutes and led most of the game, but Rian Lindell kicked a 34-yard field goal with 46 seconds left and the Bills (5-4) earned their fourth consecutive victory.

PACKERS 34, VIKINGS 0

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Brett Favre joined Dan Marino as the only quarterbacks in NFL history to throw for 60,000 yards as the Packers (8-1) shut out the Vikings (3-6). Favre (with 60,256 yards) trails Marino's all-time passing yardage mark by 1,105 yards.

STEELERS 31, BROWNS 28

PITTSBURGH — Ben Roethlisberger scrambled 30 yards for a key touchdown in the second half, then set up his own go-ahead 2-yard TD pass to Heath Miller with an important third-down run as Pittsburgh (7-2) rallied to beat Cleveland (5-4).

JAGUARS 28, TITANS 13

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Quinn Gray threw for a touchdown and Maurice Jones-Drew and Fred Taylor ran for one each as Jacksonville (6-3) beat Tennessee (6-3). The Titans struggled with defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth and defensive end Travis LaBoy, a University of Hawai'i alum, sitting out with injuries.

EAGLES 33, REDSKINS 25

LANDOVER, Md. — Donovan McNabb completed 20 of 28 passes for 251 yards and four touchdowns and Brian Westbrook caught two touchdown passes and ran for another score, finishing with 20 carries for 100 yards and five receptions for 83 yards, as Philadelphia (4-5) beat Washington (5-4).

BRONCOS 27, CHIEFS 11

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Backup Selvin Young rushed for 109 yards and Denver (4-5) scored two touchdowns in a 9-second span (a 20-yard run by Young and a fumble return for a score) of the third quarter to beat Kansas City (4-5).

FALCONS 20, PANTHERS 13

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Just before he was drilled to the turf, Joey Harrington found Alge Crumpler over the middle for a 30-yard touchdown with 20 seconds left to lift Atlanta (3-6) over Carolina (4-5).

BEARS 17, RAIDERS 6

OAKLAND, Calif. — Rex Grossman replaced an injured Brian Griese and threw a 59-yard pass to Bernard Berrian for the go-ahead score with 3:11 remaining to lift Chicago (4-5) over Oakland (2-7).

CARDINALS 31, LIONS 21

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Karlos Dansby intercepted two passes and forced a fumble to help Arizona (4-5) and its defense defeat mistake-prone Detroit (6-3). Two of Dansby's plays led to Arizona touchdowns.

BENGALS 21, RAVENS 7

BALTIMORE — Shayne Graham kicked a team-record seven field goals as Cincinnati (3-6) knocked off Baltimore (4-5), which committed six turnovers.