PRO FOOTBALL / DAILY REPORT : NFC : After Loss, Eagles’ Future Looks Bleak

While the Dallas Cowboys celebrated their rise, the Philadelphia Eagles began wondering if Sunday’s 34-10 loss might signal the end of their run.

With star defensive end Reggie White a free agent and not hiding his desire to play elsewhere, with a 1-4 playoff record since 1988 and with several other players thinking about leaving after the 1993 season, the Eagles openly talked about breaking up the nucleus.

“We’ve got to keep our big guys,” said quarterback Randall Cunningham, the Eagles’ only star signed beyond next season. “We can’t lose them. If we don’t keep them, maybe we might as well break up the team and start all over from scratch.”

Defensive end Clyde Simmons, who led the league in sacks, and linebacker Seth Joyner dedicated this season to defensive tackle Jerome Brown, who was killed in a car accident days before their camp opened last summer.

Simmons and Joyner can become free agents on Feb. 1, 1994, and both have suffered through all four Eagle playoff disappointments.

Tight end Derek Tennell, signed 11 days before the game Sunday, emerged in the spotlight, scoring the game’s first touchdown on a one-yard pass from Troy Aikman.

Tennell, a UCLA product who left the school before Aikman was the starter there, said he was simply glad to produce in such an important game.

“I was excited,” Tennell said. “I’m just glad they had the confidence in me to call that play for me after I’ve just been here for 11 days.

“When it came to me, I thought, ‘If I don’t catch this, I’m the goat.’ But I caught it. Those are the hardest passes to catch, I’ll tell you. They’re too easy.”

Cowboy running back Emmitt Smith continued his battle of words with Eagle strong safety Andre Waters, who was activated off of the injured-list this week in time to play situation duty Sunday.

Earlier in the season, Smith accused Waters of cheap shots at his knees, then said he wasn’t exactly sorry when Waters suffered a broken leg soon afterward.

Waters, in turn, called Smith “a coward” and this week said Smith should look out for him on the field.

“Andre had a lot to say today,” Smith said. “He was running around, hollering, ‘Hold him up, I want a shot at him. . . . Emmitt, I’m going to break your leg.’

“But after a while, he just shut up, and I didn’t hear anything from him after that.”