Tuesday, October 29, 1996

NFL Warning: Here Come the Cowboys

By DAVE GOLDBERG / AP Football Writer (Oct. 29, 1996)

A scary thought for fans who love to hate America's Team: At midseason, the Dallas Cowboys are healthier and playing better than any NFL team, certainly well enough to win their fourth Super Bowl in five seasons.

The only good news for Cowboy-haters: first they have to win the NFC East, where they trail Washington and Philadelphia.

A look at the NFL at midseason:

NFC

Basically, it's eight teams vying for six playoffs spots with three - Minnesota, Detroit and Carolina - shaky at best.

East: Three playoff teams here - Redskins (7-1), Eagles (6-2) and Cowboys (5-3). Washington is looking better and better - the Redskins' 31-16 win over Indianapolis demonstrated they can beat winning teams and the offense is turning into one of the NFL's best behind the "New Hogs" up front.

Philadelphia may have found its quarterback inadvertently - Ty Detmer threw for 342 yards against Carolina. The defense is solid and Ray Rhodes won't let his teams lose.

But Dallas is still the big boy.

"We played back to the way we can," Emmitt Smith said after the 29-10 win over Miami in the JJ-JJ mano a mano, a game in which Michael Irvin was truly back with 12 catches for 186 yards.

But it won't be easy.

There are still two games left with Washington, which beat the Cowboys twice last season. And the next three games are Philadelphia at home, at San Francisco and Green Bay at home. If the Cowboys win all three, watch out.

Central: Green Bay (7-1) will probably win the division despite the loss now of its two top receivers - Robert Brooks and Antonio Freeman, who broke his arm Sunday in the ugly 13-7 win over Tampa Bay. But the Packers want home field for the playoffs and they still have a tough road trip that includes back-to-back games in Kansas City and Dallas.

They'll probably go to two tight ends (and they have them in Keith Jackson and Mark Chmura). They also have to hope that Don Beebe, Desmond Howard and rookie Derrick Mayes can respond, that Terry Mickens gets healthy quickly and Anthony Morgan finally re-signs.

But whatever happens, Brett Favre isn't likely to be at his best simply because he doesn't have the rapport with the new guys (except possibly Beebe) that he had with Brooks and was getting with Freeman.

Minnesota (5-2 going into Monday night's game) can probably make the playoffs, but Warren Moon is showing signs of age. The other contender is Detroit (4-4), which looked more like a contender for the No. 1 draft choice Sunday, losing 35-7 to the Giants at the Silverdome.

West: San Francisco (6-2) is the class here because its defense may be the NFL's best, a strange thing to say about a team in which the offensive guys have always had the glamour.

The 49ers also know how to win. How else to explain a 10-9 victory against a tough Houston team with Jeff Brohm at quarterback and the offensive line hurt?

Carolina (5-3) could make the playoffs, a remarkable feat for a second-year expansion team. But the Panthers have to learn to win on the road to make any real noise - they're 4-0 at home, 1-3 away.

AFC

Denver is beginning to look like the class of the conference, although Pittsburgh remains solid.

East: New England is playing better than the other two 5-3 teams - the Colts and the Bills.

"I'm not sure about this team," says Patriots coach Bill Parcells. When he said that in New York, it meant he was about to win a Super Bowl.

That Pats aren't likely to do that, but Drew Bledsoe seems back on course, Terry Glenn (to whom Parcells referred to as "she" in training camp) may be the best rookie wide receiver in the league and the defense is showing signs of playing the way wants it to.

Buffalo's defense is good, but not good enough to carry a struggling Jim Kelly past a round or two of the playoffs. And Indianapolis finally seems worn down by injuries, particularly on defense.

Miami?

Jimmy Johnson suggested this is a building year. He's 4-4 and starting six rookies, meaning even the playoffs are looking dim.

Central: Pittsburgh (6-2) and Houston (5-3) are playoff teams and the Steelers have a schedule so easy they could be home for the AFC title game - they might not meet a team with a winning record again until they are home against the 49ers on Dec. 15.

Houston's no fluke. For once, Bud Adams made a shrewd move by announcing they'll stay in Texas another year. Maybe they'll have a home field now.

West: It wasn't a surprise that Denver (7-1) beat Kansas City at Mile High Stadium on Sunday. It was a surprise that the score was 34-7 and that the Broncos were one yard short of 500 yards against the Chiefs' defense.

Kansas City (5-3) will rebound - Marty Schottenheimer teams always do. They also always seem to lose in the playoffs, which is what's likely to happen again this season.

The Raiders (4-4) and Chargers (4-4) are playoff contenders. The Raiders are coming on but have to keep Jeff Hostetler healthy. The Chargers are falling without Stan Humphries and Junior Seau.