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Desperate Cowboys know their playoff life is on the line

By John Smallwood

Knight-Ridder Newspapers

(KRT)

PHILADELPHIA - As hard as this might be to believe, the Eagles won't necessarily be the most desperate team to take the field Sunday afternoon at Veterans Stadium.

Certainly at 3-4, the Birds know their playoff life is on the line, but Dallas (4-3) might have an even stronger incentive to win.

The 'Boys have a winning record, but a loss to the Eagles would not only make them a .500 team, but it also would drop them to 1-4 against NFC East competition.

And in a year when it looks like tie-breakers will be in full effect for playoff invitations, that's a situation Dallas does not want to find itself in.

Back in September when the Eagles went to Dallas and both teams were 1-1, Cowboys coach Barry Switzer called it a must-win game.

Switzer's logic was that if Dallas wanted to capture home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, it couldn't afford to lose too many games in September.

Well, on Sunday the Cowboys start a five-game stretch that will most likely determine their playoff fortunes.

With the San Francisco 49ers, Arizona Cardinals, Washington Redskins and Green Bay Packers next on the agenda, a loss to the Eagles would not be the way for the Cowboys to start their most crucial and difficult part of the schedule.

"We're not as dominating a team as we once were," Dallas quarterback Troy Aikman said. "Each game for us is going to be a struggle.

"That's something the media is not used to, but the players know how hard it is to win."

The Cowboys have lost their mystique.

From the start of the 1992 season through the start of this season, Dallas went 30-10 against NFC East competition, won five straight division titles, three Super Bowls and became the team everybody else had to catch.

But free-agent losses, age and the cumulative wear and tear of playing so many playoff games have brought the Cowboys back to the middle of the pack.

The offensive line is over the hill.

Emmitt Smith can't find the end zone.

Michael "The Playmaker" Irvin isn't making a lot of plays.

Not only does each of the next five opponents think they can beat Dallas, four of the five expect it. And the only one that looks like a patsy - Arizona - has already beaten the 'Boys.

If the right Eagles show up - the ones who beat Green Bay, should have won in Dallas and dominated Washington - they'll beat the Cowboys on Sunday, no questions asked.

"This team understands there will be close games, there will be struggles," Switzer said. "We've been losing them, but it's been by not making enough plays and making some dumb mistakes.

"I don't think we'll blow anyone out unless they contribute to it. If no one gives you a turnover, and they don't make mistakes, then you're not going to blow anyone out, not with our schedule."

Not with our schedule?

When was the last time the swaggering, posturing Cowboys worried about their schedule?

That's why nobody in Philadelphia cares about Sunday's game.

These Cowboys are a pale imitation of the franchise Eagles fans love to hate.

Sure some of the names are the same - Aikman, Irvin, Smith and Sanders - but the star these 'Boys are sporting needs some serious polishing.

Passion is down about this game because both the Eagles and Cowboys are mediocre. And that doesn't leave much to get excited about.

Philadelphia sports fans are creatures of extreme.

They either want to be all the way up or all the way down.

Nothing is worse for them than being in the middle.

If the Eagles were good and Dallas was bad, Bird backers could look forward to kicking the 'Boys when they were down.

If the Cowboys were great and the Eagles bad, then fans could rally in support of a momentual upset.

Of course, the best scenario is when Eagles fans believe both the Birds and the 'Boys are good.

That's when the passion is at its best.

That's why punter Tommy Hutton was nearly hung in effigy after he muffed the snap from center, preventing Chris Boniol from attempting a chippy field goal that would have beaten the Cowboys in Dallas on Monday night in Week 3.

At that time, everyone thought the Eagles and Cowboys were the class of the division.

Dallas had destroyed Pittsburgh, 37-7, in the season opener and suffered a fluke loss in Arizona.

The Eagles were flat in the season-opening loss to New York, but had righted the ship by beating the Super Bowl champion Packers.

The last six weeks have revealed the truth about both teams.

The Eagles aren't all that good, and the Cowboys aren't, either.

Still, it would be wrong to think this game doesn't have the significance of past Philadelphia-Dallas encounters.

In fact, this is much bigger than the Monday night game that generated so much emotion in Philadelphia a month ago.

Neither of these teams has established itself as an elite team, but both are right in the hunt for the NFC East title.

To make noise in the playoffs, a team has to get there first.

Sunday's winner will take a big step toward righting its ship.

The loser will likely sink to the bottom.

(John Smallwood is a sports columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News. Write to him at: Philadelphia Daily News, 400 North Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 19130.)

(c) 1997, Philadelphia Daily News.

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