Cowboys ahead of last year's pace -- sort of

By JAIME ARON /Associated Press

IRVING -- For the first six quarters this season, the Dallas Cowboys looked like champs. For the last six quarters, they've looked like chumps.

So, which is it?

"I think we're a good team that can contend, but I don't think we're a championship team right now," safety Darren Woodson said.

The Cowboys, who are off this weekend, are 2-1 and could just as easily be 1-2 -- or 3-0.

Dallas opened the year with an impressive all-around game in Pittsburgh, pounding the Steelers 37-7.

Troy Aikman had a field day throwing to Michael Irvin and Anthony Miller, while a surgically repaired Emmitt Smith seemed content to share the offensive burden. The defense was swarming.

Things carried over for the first half of the following Sunday's game in Arizona. The Cowboys led the Cardinals 22-7 early in the third quarter, then collapsed to lose 25-22 in overtime.

Heat and mental mistakes, mainly dumb penalties, were blamed for the meltdown. Less attention was paid to Dallas' inability to score from inside the 20 and the problems the offensive line had handling the blitz.

Philadelphia noticed those deficiencies and nearly capitalized last Monday night.

Bobby Taylor forced Aikman to fumble on two cornerback blitzes, leading to an Eagles field goal and a touchdown as they took a 17-3 lead in the second quarter.

The Cowboys kept getting close to the end zone, but not in it. They settled for five field goals until a late fourth-quarter drive featuring miraculous catches by Eric Bjornson and Anthony Miller put the Cowboys up 21-20 with a minute to play.

Then Ty Detmer drove the Eagles 80 yards in 47 seconds to set up a 22-yard field-goal try for former Cowboy Chris Boniol with four seconds left.

The snap was good, the ball was down ... then it wasn't. Holder Tom Hutton had trouble teeing it up, so he tried running. That didn't work, either, and Dallas escaped with the victory.

"This early in the season, a loss wouldn't have been the end of the world," veteran Bill Bates said. "But it is a lot nicer to be 2-1 at this point than 1-2."

Actually, being 2-1 is very important to Dallas coach Barry Switzer.

Switzer has made a point of telling his players they must do better than the 2-3 start they had last year while Irvin was suspended.

Even though the Cowboys won eight of their last 11 once Irvin returned, the slow start cost them the chance to host a second-round playoff game, not to mention home-field advantage throughout the postseason.

Dallas did get to host wild-card Minnesota, but then had to go to Carolina to play the Panthers. The Cowboys lost, ending their season short of the NFC championship game for the first time since 1991.

The next year began the revival of the Dallas dynasty, with three Super Bowl victories in four years.

Aikman, Irvin and Smith are still around, but their supporting cast has changed drastically. Free agency has lured away many key contributors and the salary cap has prevented Jerry Jones from finding suitable replacements.

"It's not like things were five years ago," Smith said. "Everybody has to accept that. Everybody else is as good as we are."

It would probably be easier to accept if the Cowboys hadn't played so well in Pittsburgh. Although it now looks like a mirage, that performance teased Dallas players and fans into believing this could be another special season.

"That's what everybody is asking: from Pittsburgh to Arizona, what happened?" Smith said. "We're trying to figure it out, too."

Dallas will try again next Sunday against the Chicago Bears in Texas Stadium. The Cowboys go to the Meadowlands the following Sunday to face the New York Giants.

That will make five games. Whether they are 2-3, 3-2 or 4-1 could tell a lot about what kind of season Dallas will have.

"We've got to play better than we have played," Aikman said. "The name of the game is winning, but we realize for us to get where we want to be, we've got to get better."