PRO FOOTBALL DAILY REPORT : NFC PLAYOFFS : Cowboys’ Smith Says He’ll Play Sunday

Emmitt Smith, nursing a tender hamstring, insists he’ll play in Sunday’s NFC championship game against the San Francisco 49ers.

“I’ll be there,” he said Tuesday.

The Dallas Cowboys’ star running back said his hamstring is still sore and he might not work out until the team arrives in San Francisco on Friday.

Smith, whose left hamstring has bothered him since he first pulled it Nov. 19, received treatment Tuesday.

Should Smith not play, the Cowboys will go with Blair Thomas, who is expected to get most of the work with the first string during practice.

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With heavy rain pelting Northern California, the 49ers headed to Phoenix for a couple of days of practice on dry fields.

There are mixed omens in the decision to leave town and work out today and Thursday at the Arizona Cardinals’ practice facility.

An optimist can point to 1981, when the 49ers moved their practices to Anaheim Stadium because of heavy rains the week before the NFC championship game. That title game marks the only time San Francisco has beaten Dallas in five meetings for the conference title.

But a pessimist would focus on the Phoenix site--Philadelphia practiced there in 1988 before a playoff game, and the New York Giants worked out at the Cardinals’ facility before a 1989 regular-season game. Both teams lost their following game.