Big play after big play on offense. Dominating defense throughout the game.

While good defense had been a constant for the Dallas Cowboys this season, the NFC East leaders finally saw a much-needed resurgence from Tony Romo and the offense, which had 10 plays of at least 20 yards and piled up a season-high 494 yards in a 24-7 victory over the Oakland Raiders on Thursday.

"A lot of people questioned our offense and where we were," tight end Jason Witten said. "It's huge for us, especially after the last two weeks. We always felt we were an explosive offense both running and passing. ... It had just gone away."

The Cowboys (8-3) had scored only one touchdown in each of their last two games, in the final minute at Green Bay just to avoid a shutout and in the closing minutes last week against Washington for a 7-6 victory.

They looked so much better against Oakland (3-8).

Witten, playing with a sprained left foot, and Miles Austin both had 100-yard receiving games while Romo threw for 309 yards despite a sore back. Running backs Felix Jones, Tashard Choice and Marion Barber all had runs of at least 32 yards, and each finished with more than 60.

Dallas, which has won six of seven games, can hope all the big individual performances against the Raiders are a good sign heading into the post-Thanksgiving stretch that has been so brutal in recent years.

"I think we have a lot to prove _ just for this season, though," Romo said. "I don't think any other season has any bearing whatsoever. For us, it's strictly about right now and this next game. We'll go from there."

Maybe Romo, who has won all four of his Thanksgiving starts for the Cowboys, just wants to forget what's happened after past holidays.

Including two playoff losses, Romo is 6-10 as a starter in games after Thanksgiving. There was the 1-3 stretch just last year that left the Cowboys one victory shy of the playoffs, a season after going 13-3 with two losses in December before getting beat in the playoffs.

Things certainly won't be easy from here on out for the Cowboys, who next play Dec. 6 at the New York Giants. Their other remaining games are against division leaders New Orleans and San Diego, plus NFC East rivals Washington and Philadelphia.

Except for a third-quarter drive, the Raiders never got close to repeating their victory last Sunday over division-leading Cincinnati.

Oakland didn't cross midfield in the first half. On the Raiders' only productive drive, new quarterback Bruce Gradkowski had a 21-yard scramble and completed all five of his passes _ including a 4-yarder to Darrius Heyward-Bey for the first-round pick's first career touchdown that made it 17-7.