They Know Little About Carolina

What do the Cowboys know about the Carolina Panthers?

“I know they blitz the hell out of people,” Dallas cornerback Deion Sanders said.

“They have to be a great team to get a bye in the first round in a conference that has us and the 49ers. They’re not here for no reason.”

While pondering that, here’s Coach Barry Switzer’s assessment of the Panthers: “Haven’t even looked at them,” he said. “And they’ve had two weeks to study us; I don’t think they were preparing to play Minnesota.”

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Most teams don’t throw the ball in Sanders’ direction, which guides them to Kevin Smith, who also happens to be one of the game’s top cornerbacks. The Sanders-Smith tandem limited the Vikings’ Cris Carter and Jake Reed to four catches for 46 yards, with Carter breaking tackles to go 30 yards for a touchdown.

“They have some great receivers and we played them tight and made the hit at the line of scrimmage,” Smith said. “We just never let them get past us.”