Cowboy Neon Lacks Deion : Pro football: Sanders is the only thing missing as Dallas taunts its way past the Giants, 35-0.

It was said this summer that the Dallas Cowboys, under a firmer hand from their leader, had finally become Barry Switzer’s team.

Sure enough, they have.

They are now the University of Oklahoma, circa 1980.

They strut. They preen. They fight.

And they whup anything resembling Iowa State, which was how the New York Giants looked in the Cowboys’ 35-0 victory before 78,018 on opening night at the Meadowlands.

The highlights were Emmitt Smith’s four touchdowns, and an offense that gained 459 total yards, more than doubling the Giants’ output.

But the memories will be finger-pointing, fists and a sideline festival by Cowboy owner Jerry Jones, who actually introduced guests to his befuddled players during the middle of the game.

These Cowboys have become more Switzer than Switzer.

“I don’t know if this sends a message to the rest of the league . . . but I don’t care,” said Michael Irvin, who caught a first-half touchdown pass that involved a dance into the tunnel and spike by two players.

“Don’t say we’re hot-dogging just because we’re winning. We’re having fun.”

That fun included a fight between Irvin and Giant cornerback Phillippi Sparks during an injury timeout, a dancing taunt by Smith at the end of a 60-yard touchdown run, and a two-syllable curse word that was chanted at Jones by the crowd.

In the end, this was not a football game, but a celebrity wrestling match.

All that was missing was Deion Sanders.

But expect Sanders, a celebrated free-agent cornerback, to sign with the Cowboys by the end of the week, especially since cornerback Kevin Smith suffered an Achilles’ tendon injury late in the first half that will probably sideline him for the season.

“I’m going up to Jerry and say, ‘Go get Deion, we have to have Deion,’ ” Switzer said. “This ain’t showtime anymore. This is serious business.”

Switzer confirmed that he will let Sanders play wide receiver, which is expected to clinch the deal.

“We can find some routes for him, send him on some fly patterns, he’ll be just fine,” Switzer said.

Jones said he expects to give Sanders an offer by the end of the week, and expects that the bidding between the Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers will end then.

And he said he knows where Sanders belongs.

Jones was still beaming after his mid-game announcement Monday that the Cowboys had entered into a promotional agreement with Nike Inc., another move that will undoubtedly upset the league’s revenue-sharing police but make the Cowboys even more visible.

“With Deion’s ability and charisma, he needs to be on center stage,” Jones said. “And center stage is the Cowboys.”

In handing the Giants their worst opening-game loss in the team’s 71-year history, the Cowboys have already proven to be very good, probably the best team of the first weekend.

But they have been very good before.

This year, they are also cocky.

There was the formerly dignified Smith, running 60 yards up the middle on his first carry of the season, through a hole created by Erik Williams, the giant tackle who was sidelined most of last season after injuring his knee in an automobile accident.

But what will be remembered is the final 10 yards, when Smith turned and pointed to gasping defender Sparks, needling him while dancing into the end zone.

Then Smith walked back to the 10-yard line, ripped off his helmet, and posed and screamed at his teammates.

“I want to publicly apologize for taunting Sparks, that is not me,” Smith said. “But before the game, we talked about going out and having fun. And that was all we were doing.”

The party continued throughout a game, highlighted later by three one-yard touchdown runs by Smith and a sideline party by Jones that included Nike Inc. Chairman Philip Knight and tennis star Monica Seles.

“Was that a distraction? What do you think? What was the score?” Irvin said.

He laughed like a man who expects many more nights like this.

“You want to know if Jerry bothers me, right?,” he said. “Not as long as the man’s check don’t bounce, he don’t.”

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DAILY REPORT

Tests confirmed that cornerback Rod Woodson of the Pittsburgh Steelers has a torn ligament in his right knee and likely will be sidelined for the rest of the season. C8

THE NFL

The good, the bad and the ugly after Week 1. C8