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Monday, December 8, 1997

Cowboys still in playoff race

By Jean-Jacques Taylor

The Dallas Morning News

(KRT)

IRVING, Texas - The Cowboys have more two-game losing streaks than winning streaks this season. They have lost six of their past nine games and currently reside in fourth place in the NFC East with three games left in the regular season.

Somehow, though, the Cowboys remain in the hunt for the division championship, although their chances were harmed when the Giants and Redskins won Sunday.

The Cowboys' improbable quest for their sixth consecutive divisional champ continues Monday night at 8 p.m. Central time at Texas Stadium against Carolina (6-7).

For the Cowboys (6-7) to become the first NFC East team since the AFL and NFL merged in 1970 to win a division championship with less than 10 wins, they must win their final three games.

The Cowboys also need help in two key remaining games: Washington must beat the Giants on Saturday in New York, and Philadelphia must beat the Redskins in Washington in the final week. That is the only scenario that would leave the Cowboys on top.

"If they don't want us to be out of it, then I guess we'll get back in it," guard Nate Newton said. "We've been trying to give this thing away to the Redskins and the Giants, but the NFC East is getting to be like the old NFC Central. You don't know who is going to be standing at the end."

The Cowboys probably have to win the division to make the playoffs because the Cowboys' poor conference record (4-6) makes it unlikely they will win any tie-breakers.

The players admit this is an unusual position for a team that has won three of the past five Super Bowls and has made the playoffs each of the last six seasons.

Receiver Michael Irvin said he spent last Sunday in the Cowboys' weight room watching games and making notations on a sheet of paper because he wasn't sure which team he needed to root for.

"I was praying Washington and New York would have won last week, so I could be put out of my misery," Irvin said. "We didn't start out in July wanting to play the 'what-if' game in December."

The Cowboys have struggled this season because their offense has scored two touchdowns or fewer in nine games. The offense, ranked 20th in the NFL, has put pressure on the defense because it has eliminated any margin for error.

And they will enter Monday's game with Emmitt Smith hampered by a bruised left shoulder, which has limited him in practice much of this week.

If Smith can't play the entire game, Sherman Williams, who has fumbled three times in the past two games, will replace him.

With the offense unable to sustain drives or score enough points to force opponents to abandon their game plans, the Cowboys' defense has worn down.

Six consecutive opponents have rushed for more than 100 yards, which hasn't happened to the Cowboys since 1989. And in the past two weeks, they have allowed second-half drives of 8:44 to Green Bay and 13:17 to Tennessee.

Defensive tackle Leon Lett returns from a one-year suspension for violating the NFL's substance-abuse policy against Carolina, which should help the Cowboys' 22nd-ranked run defense.

But the Cowboys will start rookie free agent Kevin Mathis at right cornerback because Deion Sanders has a broken rib.

Carolina, however, has the NFL's 26th-ranked offense.

Kerry Collins has thrown eight touchdown passes and 18 interceptions, but rookie free agent Fred Lane has given the Panthers a strong inside running game with 474 yards in six starts.

To a man, though, the Cowboys know this is probably their last chance to make a run at the playoffs.

"Somebody still wants us to have a shot at the playoffs, because we keep getting chance after chance," rookie linebacker Dexter Coakley said. "But it's definitely do or die."

(c) 1997, The Dallas Morning News.

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