Monday, December 30, 1996

Cowboys turn intensity up for playoffs

By Rick Bonnell / Knight-Ridder Newspapers (Dec. 30, 1996)

VALLEY RANCH, Texas - (KRT) Bored?

Indeed, some Dallas Cowboys admit they were bored by the regular season. Does that represent insufferable arrogance or simply the candor that grows from winning three of the last four Super Bowls?

However you take it, one thing is clear - the team that stumbled through the last five games of the regular season bears little resemblance to the one that hammered Minnesota 40-15 in the first round of the playoffs. It's a safe bet the Cowboys who show up Sunday to play the Carolina Panthers will maintain that manic intensity.

"This is the time of year when this team works overtime. We realize it doesn't matter what we do in the regular season - we're judged on the postseason," said Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman. "I don't think it's right, but I do think we have players who get a little bored during the regular season.

"There are a lot of guys who say, 'Well, this is the time of year to pick it up.' And I question what they did those first 16 games. To say there's something left to give, I guess I wonder about their effort in the regular season. ...

"But I know the fans get a little more excited ... and maybe psychologically that affects the players."

It's no surprise Aikman would take offense in teammates ever cruising. He's known as a perfectionist who was leery of laid-back Barry Switzer replacing ultra-intense Jimmy Johnson as Dallas coach last season.

It's also no shock that the Cowboys consciously or sub-consciously pace themselves - to them, a divisional title is a "been there, done that" concept. Unlike the Panthers, they've been through all this and will consider it a failure if they're not playing late into January.

To reach the Super Bowl, the Cowboys must play 19 games and win the last three. Their 10-6 regular season - shaky by their exceptional standards - kept them from earning a bye. Aikman said it's strange thinking they must win three, rather than two playoff games, to reach Super Sunday.

Strange, but not disarming, says defensive back Deion Sanders.

"Certain games of the year those big guys you pay a lot of money to, they turn it on," Sanders said of the playoffs. "That's the reason they made a lot of money - because they know this is a single-elimination tournament. Lose and you go into the crib. Translation: You go home."

Dallas finished the regular season as if it were a team headed for an early exit. You can set aside the 37-10 loss at Washington as a meaningless game that several Cowboys stars sat out. But that doesn't explain away the previous four games, in which Dallas scored more than 12 points just once.

The victory over Minnesota wasn't just the Cowboys' most productive performance, it was the most productive by a huge margin. Only once in the regular season did the Cowboys score 30 or more points.

Switzer said Saturday was the first time all season his team has played with balance and domination. He says he can tolerate that as long as the Cowboys produce now, when it's perform or perish. Unlike Aikman, he doesn't fret over perfection.

"I think it's a long season. You get drained - the players and the coaches do," Switzer said. "Football is a game of repetition. It's doing the same things over and over and over and over, and the players do get bored."

When speaking of themselves collectively, the Cowboys admit as much. But individually, they hedge the point.

"I don't get bored," Sanders said. "But I look forward to this time of year because this is when the whole world is watching."

What else would you expect from a guy nicknamed "Prime Time."

(c) 1996, The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.).

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