Titans, Cowboys romp in NFL holiday thrashings

Chris Johnson and LenDale White rushed for two touchdowns each as the Tennessee Titans rebounded from their first defeat of the season by dominating lowly Detroit 47-10.

Tennessee (11-1) rolled up 292 yards on the ground en route to its highest-scoring output in over four years, while the Lions are in danger of becoming the first team in National Football League history to go 0-16.

"Detroit was 0-11. It's no knock on them, but we expected to win this game," White said. "There was no way we were going to come into this game and think we were going to lose. And it's not being cocky. We just knew we were the better team."

The AFC's leading rookie rusher, Johnson romped for 125 yards on just 16 attempts in the American Thanksgiving day encounter. White finished with 106 yards on 23 carries.

In the two other holiday contests, Dallas won its third game in a row by beating Seattle 34-9 and Philadelphia beat Arizona 48-20.

The Lions' annual Thanksgiving game came just four days after the Titans suffered their first loss of the season - a humiliating 34-13 defeat to the New York Jets.

But the Titans bounced back at the expense of the pitiful Lions, who are just four losses away from joining the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-14) as the only winless teams in NFL history.

With the win, Tennessee remained at least two games ahead of the Jets (8-3) and the Pittsburgh Steelers (8-3) for the best record in the AFC. New York hosts Denver while Pittsburgh visits New England on Sunday.

The Lions have lost their last five Thanksgiving games by a combined margin of 179-62.

"We got beat," Lions coach Rod Marinelli said. "We got handled in all areas - coaches, players, offence, defence, special teams. That's a very good football team."

Tony Romo remained undefeated since returning from a broken finger, throwing for 331 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Cowboys to a rout of the hapless Seahawks.

The Cowboys (8-4) hammered the Seahawks (2-10), sacking Matt Hasselbeck seven times as they jumped out in front early and never looked back.

After hitting Jason Witten for a 36-yard completion to set Dallas up in the red zone, Romo capped the five-play, 71-yard drive with a 16-yard scoring strike to Martellus Bennett.

Later in the quarter, the Cowboys took advantage of Julius Jones' fumble as Marion Barber extended the lead to 14-0 with a two-yard touchdown dive.

Romo also connected with Terrell Owens for a TD. After breaking through last week with a 213-yard performance against the 49ers, Owens followed that with five catches and 98 yards.

"I think we're improving," Owens said. "We're getting better week to week. It shows what we can do when we put our minds to it and play to our capabilities."

Witten - showing no ill effects from the broken ribs that have hobbled him in recent weeks - was Romo's favourite target, hauling in nine passes for 115 yards and a score.

Pro Bowl linebacker DeMarcus Ware took over as the league leader in sacks, bringing Hasselbeck down three times to set a career-high with 15 on the season. However, he hobbled off the field after suffering a sprained right knee late in the third quarter.

The three Thanksgiving day games leaves the NFL with 12 remaining games on Sunday, comprising San Francisco at Buffalo, Baltimore at Cincinnati, Indianapolis at Cleveland, Carolina at Green Bay, Miami at St. Louis, New Orleans at Tampa Bay, NY Giants at Washington, Atlanta at San Diego, Kansas City at Oakland, Pittsburgh at New England, Denver at NY Jets, Chicago at Minnesota.

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