Cowboys Finally Get Even With Falcons : NFC: Pay-back victory sends Atlanta to New Orleans as a wild-card team in the first round of the playoffs.

Knocked out of the playoffs by Atlanta in their final game last season, the Dallas Cowboys damaged the Falcons’ division title chances with a 31-27 victory Sunday.

New Orleans, playing a late game at Phoenix, finished the job with a 27-3 victory to clinch the NFC Western division title. That means the Falcons will travel to New Orleans as a wild card next week in the first round of the playoffs.

The victory gave the Cowboys an 11-5 record, their best mark since the 1983 team went 12-4. The Cowboys will play at Detroit if Chicago beats San Francisco tonight. It the Bears lose, Dallas will go to Chicago.

“We don’t care where we go,” Dallas Coach Jimmy Johnson said. “All I know is that a couple of years ago, everybody was laughing at us. To reach this point after where we started (1-15) a couple of years ago is remarkable.”

Emmitt Smith, who gained 160 yards in 32 carries to edge the Lions’ Barry Sanders for the NFL rushing title, 1,563 yards to 1,548, scored the Cowboys’ go-ahead touchdown on a six-yard run with 14:10 to play. But his fumble with 1:54 left also gave Atlanta (10-6) one final chance.

Scott Case recovered Smith’s fumble at the Atlanta 18 and Chris Miller took the Falcons to the Dallas 16, where he threw four consecutive incompletions. Cornerback Larry Brown made two key plays to stifle the Atlanta comeback.

“I’m disappointed we didn’t get the win at the end,” Atlanta Coach Jerry Glanville said. “There might have been some interference down there. That’s the way I saw it. We can’t let this loss wreck a great season.”

Dallas defensive tackle Tony Casillas, traded to Dallas after a much-publicized feud with Glanville, said, “We didn’t want them bringing out the champagne and popping corks in Texas Stadium.”

On the final play of the game, Brown tipped away a pass intended for Deion Sanders, a defensive back who had been inserted into the offense. Two plays earlier, Brown rode Sanders out of bounds and Glanville thought it should have drawn a penalty.

“I just had good position both times,” Brown said. “I did think they were going to call interference on me when I bumped Sanders out of bounds, but they didn’t.”

Glanville shouted at the officials as they went down the tunnel after the game.

Miller, who passed for 316 yards and three touchdowns, gave the Falcons the lead for the first time at 27-24 with 6:20 to play in the third quarter on a 43-yard pass to Michael Haynes.

The Cowboys led, 21-14, after the first quarter. Alexander Wright’s 102-yard kickoff return broke the Cowboy record of 101 yards by Amos Marsh and Ike Harris.

Dallas scored first on a 58-yard Steve Beuerlein-to-Michael Irvin pass play, but Atlanta came back on a 67-yard pass play from Miller to Haynes.

Irvin caught 10 passes for 169 yards to win the NFL receiving yardage title with 1,523 yards.

Dallas drove 92 yards to go ahead again on Smith’s four-yard touchdown run. Miller’s 28-yard pass to Andre Rison tied the score again.

On the ensuing kickoff, Wright fielded the ball in the end zone, broke free up the middle and sprinted ahead of the Falcons in the open field.