Thursday, December 10, 1998

Sanders is limping, and so are Cowboys

By DENNE H. FREEMAN

AP Sports Writer

IRVING, Texas (AP) -- Deion Sanders has gone from "prime time" to "pine time." And now the Dallas Cowboys know what kind of a team they are without him -- not very good.

Sanders has an injured left toe that has him limping instead of dancing in the end zone.

The Cowboys have lost consecutive games without his talents on defense, special teams and occasional guest appearances on offense. His teammates feed off his fire and big-play production.

"We miss a guy like Deion," quarterback Troy Aikman said. "We can't lose a player of his ability and say we are as good."

Dallas, the best team in a bad NFC East, are sitting pretty for the playoffs with an 8-5 record. All the Cowboys need is a win at Kansas City on Sunday or an Arizona loss at Philadelphia to clinch their sixth division title in the last seven seasons.

However, Sunday's humiliating 22-3 loss to the New Orleans Saints has cast a pall over the team. The prospect of a December dash into the playoffs and then onto the Super Bowl is questionable after the Saints exposed the Cowboys as a struggling team.

Sanders could be the catalyst for a big bounce back. He was still wearing a heavy bandage on his left toe in the Dallas locker room on Wednesday and walking slowly.

However, coach Chan Gailey said, "Deion feels like he will be able to play."

If he does, Sanders puts these kind of defensive numbers into the lineup:

He has five interceptions, including one returned for a 71-yard yard touchdown, against the New York Giants.

He's the second-ranked NFL punt returner should he decide to play special teams. He has returned two punts for touchdowns.

On offense -- and he probably wouldn't play offense because of missed practices -- Sanders has caught seven passes for 100 yards.

"You can't lose a player of Deion's talent and not feel it on the field," Gailey said.

"Deion coming back would help get us going in a lot of areas," running back Emmitt Smith said. "He could get us jump-started."

Minnesota scorched the Dallas secondary for four touchdown passes without Sanders in a 46-36 loss and New Orleans hit an 89-yarder for a score last week.

Rich Gannon of the Chiefs will be the quarterback Sunday, and he doesn't seem too concerned about Sanders coming back.

"He's a great athlete and has great instincts the way he breaks on the ball," Gannon said. "But we're going to run our offense and do what we do best. We're not going in one direction or the other because of Deion. We're just going to dial up our offense."

In the past, a quarterback dialing up Deion has called a wrong number.