49ers Knock Cowboys Off High Horse : Pro football: After a week of talking up mismatch, Dallas falls apart in first quarter. San Francisco takes out Aikman, wins, 38-20.

The eyes of Texas blinked in disbelief Sunday when the pedestal beneath the powerful Dallas Cowboys was crushed by one of football’s natural phenomenons.

Perhaps you remember the San Francisco 49ers.

No starting quarterback. No starting fullback. No starting guard or tackle.

No chance? No way.

In three hours of wild swinging at Texas Stadium, the 49ers rediscovered an important badge of honor and returned it to its rightful place with a stunning 38-20 victory over the NFC-best Cowboys.

That’s defending world champion 49ers, even with a 6-4 record. And don’t you forget it.

The 8-2 Cowboys did, and were bloodied.

“To stand there and throw dirt on us before we were dead and buried was not right,” 49er linebacker Gary Plummer said. “Everybody has spent all week basking in the glory of the demise of the 49ers. The statement we made today was, there is no demise.”

Or if there is, it is the demise of Cowboy Coach Barry Switzer, whose team once again appeared unprepared and undisciplined in an important game.

The Cowboys lost Troy Aikman to a knee injury midway through the first quarter, but by then they already trailed, 17-0, thanks to two turnovers and an incredibly blown defensive coverage.

In a carbon copy of the Cowboys’ 38-28 defeat to the 49ers in last year’s NFC championship game, Switzer’s team was finished in the first 20 minutes. The remaining 40 minutes was spent embarrassing the organization and themselves.

Once, Switzer forgot the rules. Several other times, his defense forgot its formations. Two early Cowboy penalties--silly things like running into the 49er backfield before the snap--gave the 49ers momentum.

The 49ers knew it was over when Cowboy owner Jerry Jones left the press box and hurried down to the bench, where he talked to the players as if coaching them.

This was in the second quarter.

“I’m gonna go have another drink,” Switzer said as he left the postgame press conference.

“Barry,” shouted Jones, opening the door to a side room as Switzer walked past. “In here!”

Jones didn’t fire him. But perhaps he mentioned that Jimmy Johnson won his last three games against the 49ers, including twice for an NFC championship.

Switzer is 0-3 against them in his two-year career, with the Cowboys being outscored, 97-62.

Yes, it was all enough even to silence Deion Sanders.

“The Cowboys were the ones doing all the talking, saying they wanted revenge, saying we didn’t respect them,” said 49er tight end Brent Jones. “The Cowboys were the ones saying they would rock our world.”

Jones smiled. “Well, we’re the ones who have rocked them three straight times. They are the ones who better learn respect. Because we have their number.”

The Cowboys trudged around the locker room afterward as if they had seen a ghost.

With 49er quarterback Steve Young sidelined because of a sore shoulder, and fullback William Floyd out for the season after knee surgery, and a makeshift offensive line charged with protecting quarterback Elvis Grbac . . . the Cowboys were certain this would be a blowout.

Weren’t these the same 49ers who had lost to the expansion Carolina Panthers last week? And the New Orleans Saints the week before?

Switzer was so relaxed he even left the team on Saturday to watch his son play college football in Arkansas.

“Honestly, I didn’t think they would be that good,” said Cowboy safety Darren Woodson. “I thought we would beat them. Bad.”

Somebody was beaten bad, all right.

“I told George Seifert [49er coach] that they didn’t need Steve Young,” Switzer said. “I told my team I could not understand how something like this happened.”

Fittingly for a team prone to hyperbole and exaggeration, the Cowboys were knocked out not after three strikes, but four.

Strike One: On the game’s second play, 49er receiver Jerry Rice lined up in the slot near the left tackle and cut across the middle of the field.

Eight yards past the line of scrimmage, he caught a pass from Grbac and run untouched for 73 more yards for a touchdown.

Beaten on the play? Would you believe linebacker Darrin Smith?

Deion Sanders, the cornerback who was paid $35 million to stop Jerry Rice, was inexplicably covering John Taylor on the outside.

Rice would have four big catches in the first half and finish with 161 yard on five catches. But not one catch was against Sanders, who did not cover him when he lined up inside.

“It’s just way we’ve always done things,” said Woodson, who openly yelled at the coaching staff from the field during the first half. “That’s just what we do . . . and today, we couldn’t stop them.”

Strike Two: On the Cowboys’ first offensive play, Aikman was knocked down hard on his left knee by blitzing Marquez Pope while throwing a screen pass that fell short of Emmitt Smith. Remember this hit.

On the next play Michael Irvin began his route by taking a swing at Pope. A second later he caught a pass and headed upfield.

Then Pope returned the uppercut, landing a fist on the ball, knocking it loose and into the hands of Merton Hanks, who ran 38 yards for a touchdown. An extra point made it 14-0.

It was Irvin’s first fumble this year.

Actually, it was his first fumble since he dropped a ball that led to the 49ers’ victory in last year’s NFC championship game.

In that loss, the Cowboys committed three turnovers and fell behind, 21-0, in the first eight minutes.

Strike Three: Three plays after Hanks’ touchdown, Aikman threw a sideline pass to Irvin, which looked perfect until Rickey Jackson appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

Aikman didn’t see him either.

Jackson intercepted the pass and six plays later, the 49ers’ Jeff Wilkins had kicked a 26-yard field goal to give the 49ers a 17-0 lead.

Strike Four: With 6:39 remaining, Aikman was slammed to the turf by Dana Stubblefield. Aikman limped off the field and into the locker room suffering from a bruised knee. Leigh Steinberg, his agent, said he expects Aikman to return next week for the showdown in Oakland against the Raiders, but further tests will be conducted today.