For Cowboys, One Is Better Than Two : Interconference: Broncos use tag-team at quarterback, but Aikman and Dallas prevail, 31-27.

The Denver Broncos threw tag-team quarterbacks plus a passing wide receiver at the Dallas Cowboys Sunday.

Troy Aikman outdid them by himself.

Aikman got lots of help from Jay Novacek and Emmitt Smith, whose three-yard run with 2:47 to play gave the Cowboys a 31-27 victory.

The Cowboys (11-2) clinched at least a wild-card playoff berth and--fittingly for this bizarre game--tied a Dallas record for touchdowns set 26 years ago by Bronco Coach Dan Reeves.

The loss left Denver, 7-6 after three consecutive losses, in serious danger of missing the playoffs.

The Broncos also lost at home for the first time in nine games, including the first six home games this season.

The Broncos played with Tommy Maddox and Shawn Moore alternating at quarterback for injured John Elway. Each passed for 104 yards--Maddox on 10 of 16, Moore on seven of 13--and Denver rolled up 354 yards against a team Bthat had allowed only 239 a game coming in.

Maddox did most of the damage for both sides with three touchdown passes, four interceptions and a fumble. One interception ended the final Denver drive and two of the interceptions and the fumble led to touchdowns on short passes from Aikman to Michael Irvin (twice) and Novacek.

But even that wasn’t enough after a third passer, receiver Arthur Marshall, shocked the Cowboys with an 81-yard pass play to Cedric Tillman that put the Broncos ahead, 27-24, with 9:05 left.

So Aikman, who was 25 for 35 for 281 yards, calmly led the Cowboys on a 77-yard drive, completing three passes to Novacek for 50 yards and finally handing off to Smith for the touchdown.

Smith was held to 62 yards in 26 carries.

Maddox threw an interception on the first play of the game and another on his second pass, leading to touchdown passes of six and four yards from Aikman to Irvin. Then Maddox fumbled the snap on the first play of the second half to set up Aikman’s Maddox one-yard touchdown pass to Novacek that gave the Cowboys a 24-13 lead.

Denver came right back, first with a 70-yard drive highlighted by two third-down passes by Moore and capped by Maddox’s 23-yard touchdown pass play to Reggie Rivers. Maddox avoided an all-out blitz and flipped it just over the line of scrimmage, where Rivers was all alone.

The quarterback tag team got off to a disastrous start, with Kevin Smith and James Washington intercepting Maddox’s first two passes. With just seven minutes played, it looked like the rout was on.

But Maddox and Moore engineered an 80-yard drive that cut it to 14-7 on Maddox’ 18-yard touchdown pass to Mark Jackson. Moore contributed with a nine-yard scramble during the drive.

Maddox got another touchdown pass on the next drive, a 12-yarder to Vance Johnson 45 seconds into the second quarter. But he fumbled the snap on the extra point, leaving the Broncos trailing 14-13.