Cowboys Don’t Look So Super : NFC:Dallas overcomes mistakes to beat the Vikings in overtime.

The Dallas Cowboys weren’t super Sunday night, merely good enough to win again. But that isn’t good enough anymore.

After Emmitt Smith’s 31-yard touchdown run in overtime gave them a 23-17 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday night, the Cowboys blasted themselves for an effort that often was bumbling and in the end was barely enough to remain unbeaten.

“That performance out there was completely unacceptable,” quarterback Troy Aikman said. “We’re too talented a football team not to go out and perform better than we did.

“We know we’re probably going to be favored in the rest of our games, and we probably should win each game. . . . But if we start playing up and down like we did last year, we’re going to run into a lot of problems.”

After rolling in their first two games, that’s exactly what happened to the Cowboys (3-0).

The Cowboys are considered the favorites to go to the Super Bowl, especially after signing Deion Sanders to join them later in the season. But they missed easy kicks. They made critical turnovers. They committed untimely penalties. They gave up the tying touchdown, an eight-yard pass from Warren Moon to Cris Carter, with 30 seconds left in regulation.

And they still won.

“It was like ‘Friday the 13th’ or ‘Halloween,’ ” said Smith, who gained 150 yards on 20 carries. “We did all the things we could to lose, but we have the poise to overcome it.”

Although Smith scored two touchdowns, he fumbled for the first time in 34 games, setting up Minnesota (1-2) for its first touchdown. That score, a three-yard pass from Moon to Jake Reed for a 10-6 lead early in the second quarter, looked for much of the night like it would stand up.

Roy Barker and John Randle sacked Aikman once each after Dallas came into the game as the only team in the league not to have allowed a sack in the first two weeks.

Aikman finished 24 of 38 for 246 yards; Moon was 22 of 38 for 185 yards. Neither was intercepted.

Chris Boniol missed the extra point after Dallas opened the scoring on Aikman’s 19-yard pass to Michael Irvin in the first quarter, and Boniol was wide right on a 20-yard field goal try following a 45-yard run by Smith in the third quarter.

After he was held to 27 yards in the first half, Smith came on after halftime to top 100 yards for the third game in a row, only the second time he has done that during the regular season.

His two-yard dive and Aikman’s conversion pass to Jay Novacek--Dallas’ first two-point conversion since the rule was instated last year--put Dallas up, 17-10, with 9:57 left in the fourth quarter.

But Dallas kept the miscues coming.

Aikman fumbled a snap with 7:05 left in regulation, but consecutive sacks by Charles Haley--he had two for the second game in a row--and Leon Lett forced Minnesota to punt. The Vikings got the ball back, though, and this time the Dallas defense couldn’t preserve the lead.

Moon threw passes of 21 and 24 yards to Reed to set up his touchdown pass to a diving Carter with 30 seconds to play to send the game to overtime.

But the Cowboys won the toss and needed only five plays to win the game.