Expectations Dog Steelers, Not Cowboys

Thirteen days until the Super Bowl, and only on the Dallas Cowboys would the head coach be jumped by a German Shepard.

As he walked into his office.

“Down, Oskie, down!” Barry Switzer said to his daughter’s dog, named after Switzer’s word for interception.

The newly vindicated coach dropped into his chair Monday afternoon, turned on his TV and began watching videotape again of the Cowboys’ 38-27 victory over the Green Bay Packers in the NFC championship a day earlier.

“Look at this,” Switzer shouted, pointing to a high pass by Brett Favre that barely missed the hands of Deion Sanders. “That pass is lower, and he’s taking that oskie all the way back.”

Thirteen days until the Super Bowl, and the Pittsburgh Steelers were using a language more easily understood.

The cries of the ignored.

“This team won’t be intimidated by anybody,” Coach Bill Cowher said after hearing the Cowboys’ bold postgame comments Sunday, during which they all but guaranteed a victory over the Steelers in Super Bowl XXX.

“The Cowboys are [confident], and they have every reason to be.” Cowher said. “They’ve backed up their talk in recent years. But at the same time, we’ve played good football for the last three months, and we want to finish it off right.”

If nothing else, the Cowboys are certainly finishing their season appropriately.

Circus in, circus out.

Kathy Switzer was still furiously filling out Super Bowl ticket and room requests at her father’s desk, but already:

--Quarterback Troy Aikman was hinting that he would consider retiring in two weeks, at age 29, if the Cowboys won.

“I’ve had a lot of things cross my mind,” he said, smiling.

Aikman, bothered this year by injuries and constant team controversy, added, “I don’t know how long I’d want to play. But I know that if the organization was ever not making a commitment to winning, I’d walk away.”

Aikman already has a lucrative long-term deal, so he was probably talking about owner Jerry Jones keeping others, like running back Emmitt Smith, happy. Jones has promised that he will renegotiate Smith’s contract this spring.

It is also clear that Aikman is not fond of Switzer, but he’s a member of a shrinking locker room minority in that regard. He may be hinting that Switzer get tougher.

Aikman, an extremely private sort who complains that he even had trouble finding girlfriends because of his popularity, has also said that this season hasn’t been much fun.

“I could understand saying that you were burned out and could not play anymore,” Aikman said.

Agent and friend Leigh Steinberg said all seemed well with Aikman as they celebrated in the back room of a country and western club Sunday night.

“Occasionally he gets worn down by the constant sideshow, and in those moments, he contemplated all sorts of options,” Steinberg said. “But those moments pass. He loves the playoffs. He is really having fun now.”

Jones, while offering support for Switzer, refused to back down from his drunken cry two years ago that “500 coaches could win with this team.”

“I think I’ve written a book on putting your foot in your mouth,” Jones said. “But I think what’s happened in the last two years proves that more than one person can coach this team.”

Are you listening, Jimmy Johnson?

“I think there are a number of coaches who can do well with this group,” Jones said. “But none of them would do as well as Barry Switzer, so put it that way.”

--Ray Donaldson, the Cowboys’ injured center who is a vital member of their game planning, scoffed at the notion that the Steelers’ 3-4 defensive scheme--which the Cowboys have not seen in more than a year--could give the Steelers their best chance.

Donaldson intimated that the Cowboys’ 300-pound linemen would love to block against that scheme, which sends smaller linebackers after the quarterback.

“It’s a lot easier against a 3-4,” Donaldson said. “It keeps things simple for the offensive line. You get linebackers on guards. It’s great. We’ll like it.”

Meanwhile, in Pittsburgh, the talk of the Steelers’ camp was two numbers--500 and 12.

In their stadium lobby was a 500-pound cake that a bakery brought in as an AFC championship present.

In their minds was the early line that listed the Cowboys as 12-point favorites.

“Twelve points? Already?” running back Erric Pegram said.

Before stepping forward into the Super Bowl madness, the Steelers must step beyond their most recent game against the Cowboys, on the opening weekend of the 1994 season.

The Cowboys won, 26-9. They outgained the Steelers, 442-126. They sacked Neil O’Donnell nine times. They held the Steeler defense to no sacks.

The Cowboys still remember Cowher running up and down the sidelines that day, shouting at a seemingly frightened O’Donnell to, “Throw the . . . ball!”

And since then, the Cowboys have only gotten better by adding Deion Sanders.

Even defensive end Charles Haley, who has been out several weeks after undergoing back surgery, told coaches Monday that he will be ready for the Super Bowl.

In that game last season in Pittsburgh, Haley had four sacks.

Of course, the Steelers will tell you that they are also a different team, with a more confident O’Donnell, and a more balanced offense, and a quicker defense even without Rod Woodson.

“We haven’t played our best game yet,” Cowher said.

“If we ever put our best game together, it will be a show.”

It already is.