This Week’s ‘Dallas’ Has No Suspense

Two bits of information culled from the Dallas Cowboys’ 40-15 NFC wild-card demolition of the Minnesota Vikings on Saturday:

--Minnesota might want to keep Dennis Green to coach during the regular season but hire Lou Holtz to take over in the playoffs, the pro version of the college bowl games.

--Dallas remains a postseason monster.

The Cowboys, 12-2 in the playoffs in the ‘90s with 11 victories by more than 10 points, tagged Green with his fourth postseason defeat--tying former New Orleans Coach Jim Mora with most playoff losses without a victory--and now move on to Carolina to deliver a reality check to the Panthers.

“We sent a message out there to everybody,” Cowboy cornerback Deion Sanders said. “Dallas is still the team to beat.”

The Vikings, who ignited the Cowboys’ resurgence by trading them seven draft picks and four players for Herschel Walker, played the role of patsies once again for Dallas in falling behind, 30-0, by halftime.

Are you sure Holtz wasn’t already calling the plays?

“All I know is, I just wanted to get the thing over with,” Dallas Coach Barry Switzer said. “I had to go to the bathroom.”

Switzer, of course, could have left, and who would have noticed? The Cowboys were so dominant and the Vikings so pathetic, that with 7:14 remaining in the second quarter, running back Emmitt Smith was advised to rest for the remainder of the half. By then Smith had 87 yards in 10 carries behind a revitalized offensive line, including a 37-yard burst up the middle for a touchdown.

“What their offensive line did to us was just an awesome display of power,” Minnesota linebacker Jeff Brady said.

Smith asked--or maybe told--Switzer he wanted back into the game in the second half, which goes to show you Smith knows his NFL history. Smith, while scoring again for his 20th postseason touchdown, finished with 116 yards in 17 carries for his seventh 100-yard game in the playoffs, an NFL record.

“Obviously, we played the best we have played all season--it’s time to do it,” Switzer said after the Cowboys scored more points against the Vikings than in their previous three regular-season games combined (32).

Dallas, which opened the season 1-3, has been hit by three drug suspensions, the loss of significant players such as tight end Jay Novacek and defensive end Charles Haley and has had to rely on the NFL’s No. 3 defense to win the NFC East and make the playoffs.

But with Hall of Fame votes, Super Bowl rings and sports immortality at stake, Dallas unleashed its superstar triumvirate of Smith, quarterback Troy Aikman and wide receiver Michael Irvin.

“At certain times of the year, those guys who are being paid a lot of money turn it on,” said Sanders, who had an interception. “I’m just so excited the way we performed. It gives you so much confidence going into the next game.”

Surprisingly, confidence was a commodity a playoff-tested Aikman had been lacking after throwing eight interceptions and only two touchdown passes in his previous seven games. Aikman continued to struggle against the Vikings, overthrowing an open Irvin twice in the end zone, and he watched in frustration as tight end Eric Bjornson dropped a potential touchdown pass tossed directly into his hands.

But perfection can wait a week. Aikman began to recharge the sputtering Dallas offense with a two-yard touchdown run for the game’s first score, and in the third quarter he directed a 16-play, 80-yard drive in 9:07 capped by Smith’s one-yard touchdown run to take any lingering starch out of the Vikings.

“We realize it doesn’t matter what we do in the regular season,” said Aikman, who completed 19 of 29 passes for 178 yards with an interception. “We’re judged on what takes place in the postseason.”

If that were the case with George Teague, they could begin fashioning a bust of him in Canton, Ohio. The guy isn’t much during the regular season--traded by Green Bay to Atlanta for almost nothing and then cut by the lowly Falcons before this season--but he has the NFL postseason record for the longest interception return--101 yards--while playing for the Packers. And against the Vikings, he had an interception return for a touchdown and forced two fumbles--one negating a Minnesota touchdown.

“You can feel the difference in this locker room--the pressure to win at this time of year,” said Teague, who had to become a starter for the Cowboys after a season-ending shoulder injury to Brock Marion.

And what would he tell the people who used to watch him play at Lambeau Field? “If we play like we did today, it doesn’t matter where we play, we’re going to win it.”

Teague single-handedly swiped the game from the Vikings early. After the Cowboys took a 7-0 lead, running back Amp Lee caught a short pass over the middle and was running free to the end zone to tie the game.

“It was a panic situation,” Teague said. “I said, ‘What do I do?’ I thought I’d just try to get a hand on the ball.”

He did, and Lee fumbled at the two-yard line, tried to fall on the ball in the end zone, but then it squirted from beneath his belly out of bounds and the ball went to Dallas on the touchback.

“You can’t put a play like that out of your mind,” Lee said. “It was a big turning point, and I accept responsibility for what happened.”

Teague also forced a Leroy Hoard fumble in the second quarter, and then intercepted a Brad Johnson pass and returned it 29 yards for a touchdown.

“Teague was unbelievable; he made so many plays, I was jealous,” Sanders said. “This is just a great time of the year because this is when the whole world is watching. This is when it counts. This is truly prime time.”