Smith Pulls Hamstring in Cowboy Victory : Pro football: Running back says injury isn’t serious, but Dallas doesn’t want to take chances. Saints eliminated, 24-16.

In a game that meant virtually nothing, the Dallas Cowboys nearly lost everything Monday night when Emmitt Smith was injured.

Smith, the league’s leading scorer and the key to the Super Bowl champions’ running game, went down in the third quarter of a 24-16 victory over the New Orleans Saints because of a pulled left hamstring. He was helped to the sideline, unable to put weight on the leg, then was taken off on a cart.

After the game, Smith made it clear the injury wasn’t too serious.

“I’m just worried about staying healthy and getting ready for the playoffs,” said Smith, the league’s leading rusher the last three years and the 1993 most valuable player of the regular season and Super Bowl. “I’m preparing myself mentally to play in the game Saturday.”

Coach Barry Switzer sounded like that won’t happen.

“Emmitt thinks he’ll be back this week, but obviously we’re not going to even consider that,” Switzer said of the season finale at the New York Giants. “The doctors don’t think it’s severe, but time will tell us.”

The Cowboys don’t need to use Smith on Saturday, then they will get a first-round bye in the playoffs.

The injury overshadowed a methodical victory for Dallas (12-3), which already has clinched the NFC East title and the second spot in the conference playoffs behind San Francisco.

The game was nothing more than a nationally televised workout for the Cowboys that almost turned disastrous.

The loss erased what little chance the Saints (6-9) had of making the playoffs. They were victimized by two passes that Dallas returned for touchdowns.

New Orleans had a chance to tie, however, when Dallas’ running game disappeared without Smith. Derek Brown scored on a four-yard run with 5:37 remaining and the Saints got the ball back moments later. But linebacker Darrin Smith got his second interception of the game.

“The two interceptions for touchdowns obviously were big plays,” Saint Coach Jim Mora said. “I thought we moved the ball pretty well against these guys, we only punted one time, but we had a tough time in the red zone. We couldn’t get touchdowns in the red zone and that hurt.”

After a sloppy first half, the Cowboys got serious with a masterful 8 1/2-minute drive to open the third quarter. Smith scored from the one, completing a 74-yard, 16-play march with his 22nd touchdown of the season.

Midway through the fourth quarter, Darrin Smith caught a ball tipped by Brown at the New Orleans 13 and ran it in, his first career interception and first pro touchdown. That matched the earlier 54-yard effort by end Tony Tolbert on a poorly thrown pass by Jim Everett.

“I saw the ball coming, I just cut,” Darrin Smith said. “I didn’t even have time to think about it. It felt great.”

The Saints moved smartly on the opening series to the Cowboys’ 41. Then Tolbert, sensing a screen pass, dropped into coverage and Everett threw directly to him. Tolbert lumbered down the left sideline, got a block at the 10 and eased into the end zone for his first career touchdown.

Mario Bates’ 40-yard run on New Orleans’ next possession was the Saints’ longest this season, as well as the longest against Dallas. It was wasted, however, when Morten Andersen missed a 40-yard field goal.

Then it was New Orleans’ turn for a big interception return. Wayne Martin tipped Troy Aikman’s pass at the Saints’ 32 and Darion Conner grabbed it. The linebacker sped down the same sideline Darrin Smith and Tolbert traversed. But he was run down by, of all people, 330-pound rookie tackle Larry Allen at the 15.

“I guess I must have been a little winded and he just kept running,” Conner said.

That saved Dallas four points when the Saints couldn’t get into the end zone, instead settling for Andersen’s 21-yard field goal.

“I think we made too many mistakes to beat these guys,” Mora said. “You can’t give them things. You can’t help them.”