EAST / Cowboys Prove They’re the Best of the Worst

They aren’t very good, but the Cowboys will have to fall flat not to represent the East Division in the playoffs. Dallas’ three victories have all been against division opponents--a key tiebreaker advantage at season’s end--and in the next three games the Cowboys will play opponents with a combined record of 1-13.

Falcon Coach Dan Reeves returns to New York for the first time since he was fired with a 31-33 record after the 1996 season as coach of the Giants.

Then-general manager George Young--he has since retired--didn’t get along with Reeves and hired Jim Fassel to replace him. Fassel immediately took the Giants to the playoffs.

“They got in the playoffs the very next year, so you start saying, ‘I had to be totally wrong. They got there a heck of a lot quicker than I thought they would,’ ” joked Reeves. “It’s like a marriage. When a marriage doesn’t work, it’s not the wife’s fault or the husband’s fault, it’s both people’s fault. I said all along I was probably just as much at fault.”

The Giants are 2-3, Reeves’ Falcons’ 3-1.

WEST / Collins Has Thrown Out Any Remaining Respect

Kerry Collins looked like one of the game’s future superstars after leading the Panthers to the NFC championship game his second season, but then fame gobbled him up. A book about Carolina’s rise to power described Collins’ antics off the field, painting a picture of an immature party-goer, who then enraged his teammates with a racial slur. Collins’ play on the field then plummeted.

Carolina tried to trade Collins to Indianapolis in a package to acquire Peyton Manning before the draft, but the Colts displayed uncommon good sense.

The NFL trading deadline is Tuesday, but the Panthers may have to cut Collins to keep the rest of the team from packing his bags and kicking him out the door.

“He may be able to come in and play,” said teammate Frank Garcia, one of Collins’ “friends.”

“But will people respect him as a leader?” Garcia said. “No.”

How come Danny Wuerffel hasn’t quit? Wuerffel is on pace to get sacked 85 times. Amazingly, he is still standing. In his NFL career, Wuerffel has attempted 199 passes and been sacked 35 times.

The 49ers, knocked flat last year because they lacked good cornerbacks, look vulnerable again. Antonio Langham, hired to improve the secondary, leads the team with seven penalties for 100 yards and has surrendered three touchdown passes. There was thought of taking him out of the lineup, but there’s really no one to replace him.

CENTRAL / Enis Gives Bennett the Heebie-Jeebies

Chicago quarterback Erik Kramer has asked Coach Dave Wannstedt to play running back Edgar Bennett more, at the expense of rookie Curtis Enis. Enis’ running totals have dwindled in the last four games--94, 48, 43 and 18 yards. Enis is bothered because of a sore back, but Kramer maintains that Bennett provides more skills to the West Coast offense. Enis missed training camp because of contract negotiations, and if he misses a block, Kramer gets hammered.

The Lions blew a 17-point fourth-quarter lead to the Bears, and Coach Bobby Ross went on a tirade. “I don’t want to hear about long practices,” he said. “I shortened them [last] week and took ‘em out of pads. That may be the last time, too, I’ll tell you that. If they don’t like it, they can lump it.”

How good are the Vikings? “I don’t see anyone else beating them,” Packer safety LeRoy Butler said. “We were the only people capable of beating them. If they’re playing this good without Brad [Johnson, the injured starting quarterback], when Brad gets back, oh, my God.”

The next time the Packers play the Vikings is Nov. 22--in the Metrodome, where Coach Mike Holmgren’s team has won only once in six tries.