PRO FOOTBALL : The Cowboys Boost Their Stock in Trade

In the days when George Allen was trading for over-the-hill veterans to turn around first the Rams and then the Washington Redskins, the question was: Why did the other teams get rid of their good older players?

Nobody had a very good answer. And today, nobody has a satisfactory explanation for the trades that have been made in the last two years to enrich the Dallas Cowboys.

The Cowboy owner, Jerry Jones, and his coach, Jimmy Johnson, are best known for their drafts, but had even more success as traders.

They have brought in a starting defensive lineman from Atlanta, Tony Casillas; a Pro Bowl pass rusher from San Francisco, Charles Haley, and a former Raider quarterback, Steve Beuerlein, who won six in a row for Dallas last year when Troy Aikman was hurt.

“When we started to improve things in (1989), we thought we’d have to do it with draft choices,” Jones said before Monday’s game. “We frankly didn’t foresee this kind of talent in (trades.)”

One-two punch: Finding a successful starting quarterback is difficult enough. Finding a backup who also can win has proved impossible in most places.

But not in Dallas.

“When you consider what quarterbacking means to a football team, I’d have to say that Aikman and Beuerlein are the strength of our club,” Jones said.

In the Jones-Johnson era, the Cowboys have so far had four drafts. And although the jury is still out on their two most recent top picks, defensive lineman Russell Maryland and cornerback Kevin Smith, there was nothing wrong with the first two.

They were Aikman and running back Emmitt Smith.

An NFC world: Except for the Raiders, the AFC has been outplayed since the early 1980s by NFC teams, which have won most of the recent Super Bowls. And the NFC’s edge over the AFC in interconference games last season was 33-19.

“Success is the father of success,” said Charley Casserly, general manager of the Washington Redskins. “When you’re in the conference that has the Super Bowl champion, you try like the dickens to catch up.

“Competition brings out the best in football teams. And we’ve had very tough Super Bowl champs to compete against in the NFC for eight or 10 years. If you don’t fight like the dickens every week, some team is going to pull away from you.

“I don’t know that the AFC has had that kind of competition, not in all of their divisions.”

Watters’ day: The NFL’s most significant statistic in Week 1 was the 100-yard rushing job against the New York Giants by the San Francisco 49ers’ new halfback, Ricky Watters, a second-year pro from Notre Dame.

“The kid from Notre Dame is a legitimate threat back there,” Giant linebacker Carl Banks said after the 49ers won, 31-14.

A second-round draft choice, Watters spent his rookie season on injured reserve. That gives him another shot at rookie of the year this year.

The 49ers have been unable to run effectively since Roger Craig’s 1989 injury. Their new ground threat will be tested during Sunday’s game of the week, Buffalo at San Francisco.

The motivators: Five of the league’s nine new coaches won Sunday. In each instance, the five had their players playing over their heads by comparison with past performance.

In Indianapolis, against the favored Cleveland Browns, new coach Ted Marchibroda roused the Colt defense into an 11-sack upset, 14-3.

“I’ve never seen our defense come after a guy like that,” injured Indianapolis quarterback Jeff George said.

A suddenly inspired Tampa Bay Buccaneer team, under new Coach Sam Wyche, made the visiting Phoenix Cardinals turn the ball over three times and knocked out their quarterback, Timm Rosenbach, during a 23-7 victory.

The Cincinnati Bengal defense played with similar fervor under new Coach Dave Shula, scoring two of their three touchdowns on fumble returns for a 21-3 victory at Seattle.

The Bengal performance couldn’t have comforted Raider Coach Art Shell, who will be in Cincinnati for a game Sunday.

Sports family: Of the new coaches, the most improbable winner Sunday was Bill Cowher of the Pittsburgh Steelers, whom most NFL fans had never heard of, even in Houston, where his team upset the AFC title-favored Oilers, 29-24.

“Let me introduce myself,” Cowher, 35, said when reporters began asking him questions afterward.

He was a linebacker not long ago, he said, at North Carolina State, where his wife, Kaye, was on the basketball team.

When Bill was with the Cleveland Browns, Kaye and her twin sister, Faye, played with the New York Stars of the Women’s Professional Basketball League.

After the women’s league folded, Cowher became, at 32, an NFL defensive coordinator in 1989. His Kansas City defense led the AFC that season.

Quote Department: Emmitt Smith, Dallas halfback: “I think in order to be a good running back at this level, you have to be capable of beating one person.” (Translation: breaking the tackle of, or running away from, the first challenger.)

Shawn Moore, rookie Denver quarterback, on his most memorable experience last month in Berlin, where he was late for practice one morning: “They fined me 288 deutsche marks.”

Bobby Hebert, New Orleans quarterback, on ball control: “A lot of people don’t realize that we were No. 1 in the NFL in time of possession last year. That helps our defense. When you give them a rest, they love that.” (Update: The Eagles led Sunday, 37:45 to 27:49.)

David Williams, Houston tackle, on the night he was wired for sound last month in an NFL noise experiment at the Astrodome: “I could hear (the quarterback) easily. Where normally I’m looking in (to) watch the ball, this way I can watch my opponent.”