Sunday, December 29, 1996

Are the Cowboys really back?

By LANCE FLEMING / Sports Writer (Dec. 29, 1996)

IRVING - There was some disagreement in the Dallas locker room about whether the Cowboys are really back.

Some Cowboys said that in light of their 40-15 playoff win over Minnesota on Saturday that they are the team to beat to win the Super Bowl.

Others said that it will take another week or so to determine whether or not the Cowboys are back to their old tricks.

But either way, there was a collective sigh of relief among the Cowboys.

"Everybody's been waiting for the playoffs," said Michael Irvin, who had eight catches for 106 yards. "We've had people tell us that you can't throw the switch when the playoffs start and just be ready to go. I don't think we can either. I believe you do it in practice during the week, and we've had great practices the last two weeks."

Still, it did seem as if the Cowboys were able to automatically raise their level of play for Saturday's wild-card playoff game. And, Irvin said, there's a simple explanation for it.

"To be honest, it's the time of the year," he said. "I told the offensive guys during the week that we had to match the intensity of our defense, and we did that."

And that offensive production was the key for the Cowboys.

Instead of taking turnovers and turning them into field goals or punts, the Cowboys were able to get some touchdowns off turnovers.

Plus Troy Aikman had a big day (178 yards passing while completing 66 percent of his throw), and Emmitt Smith rushed for 116 yards and two touchdowns.

However, at least one Cowboy offensive player cautioned everyone not to start thinking this is a trend.

"That's just one game," guard Nate Newton said. "We'll just have to see. We've got to play a great Carolina team next week, and I'm sure they're already devising some defensive things to stop us. The team to beat right now is Carolina."

However, you've got to like the Cowboys' chances to get to Super Bowl XXXI in New Orleans if they continue to play as they did Saturday.

They made big plays on defense (five turnovers created and one touchdown on an interception return by George Teague), Chris Boniol kicked four more field goals and the offense showed up with clock-eating, wear-you-down touchdown drives.

On four drives to points, the Cowboys averaged 13 plays, 73.8 yards and 6 minutes, 30 seconds of clock time. And they took advantage of the opportunities the defense presented them.

"The defense has been giving the offense those good opportunities all year," Irvin said. "Except that we'd end up punting or kicking field goals. Today we turned some of them into touchdowns."

But to Smith, that doesn't necessarily mean that the Cowboys are all the way back.

"I think we scored enough points to win," he said. "As far as us being back, there are still some areas we need to improve on. But we need to parlay this performance to next week."

Some might say this game was a "statement" game, telling the rest of the league that the Cowboys are back to their old selves. Irvin, however, said that's not the case.

"All that 'statement' stuff doesn't mean anything," he said. "There's no such thing as a statement game. The only time you make a statement is when you win a Super Bowl. Every team that plays us says they'll be the one to knock us off. Minnesota came here with that attitude. I'm sure they left with a little different thought."

And, Deion Sanders said, planting that thought around the league was a big part of today's game.

"We did send a message today to a lot of teams around the league that we are the team to beat," he said.

But perhaps the best gauge of where the Cowboys are right now came from Teague.

"If we play the rest of the way like we did today," he said, "it doesn't matter where we play, we'll win the ballgame."

And now everyone waits to see if the Cowboys can continue to play like they did Saturday.