Cowboys Missing Much

With Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin all sitting out the same game for the first time since they became teammates in 1990, the Dallas Cowboys play the Green Bay Packers on Sunday with the very real prospect of a losing season staring them in the face.

They’ve already lost four of their last five games, blowing leads of 17, 14 and 10 points.

“Nobody wants to hear about injuries,” center Mark Stepnoski said. “But when you look around the huddle--Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, Mike Irvin, Daryl Johnston aren’t there. That’s a lot of weapons and with those guys out, we are kind of shooting blanks.”

The Washington Redskins are not looking forward to Sunday’s game at Philadelphia, where they have won only twice in nine games in the ‘90s. Philadelphia, they say, ranks slightly ahead of Oakland as the worst place to play for a visiting team because of unruly fans and an unforgiving playing surface.

“I don’t have respect for people beating up others who are voicing their opinions and cheering for their team. That’s stupid,” Redskin running back Brian Mitchell said. “They take it over the limit. You love your team, but when you get personal and put your hands on somebody, that’s a problem.”

And, Mitchell added, the artificial turf field is the league’s worst.

“Eventually,” he said, “the NFL is going to realize they’re putting us in a dangerous situation.

CENTRAL / Vikings Lower Boom

After Jeff George of the Minnesota Vikings released a fourth-quarter touchdown pass in Monday night’s 27-17 victory over the Cowboys but before Cris Carter caught it, cannons exploded in the Metrodome.

Fireworks and cannon blasts accompany all Viking touchdowns in the stadium, but as anyone watching the game noticed, this time the blasts were premature.

According to Terri Huml, the Vikings’ sales and marketing director, the mistake was made by Chuck Mageske, who now answers to the nickname “Boomer.”

Uprooted from his usual field-level camera well by an NFL Films crew, Mageske was stationed atop a Metrodome tunnel in the north stands Monday night, near where Carter eventually scored. Believing Carter had caught the ball, Mageske activated a hand-held mechanism called a “pickle,” setting off the fireworks and the boom just before Carter caught the ball.

“Thankfully he’s not in the military,” Huml told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. “Like one of those guys who’s got his finger on a nuclear warhead.”

Mageske, meanwhile, apologized.

WEST / Beuerlein Gets a Break

Steve Beuerlein finally got a chance to rest Sunday, sitting out the fourth quarter of the Carolina Panthers’ 33-7 rout of the Philadelphia Eagles and ending his streak of 1,185 consecutive plays.

While completing 61% of his passes for 4,777 yards and 30 touchdowns in the Panthers’ last 20 games, Beuerlein has been sacked 72 times.

“I call him Rocky because it’s like he’s just taking a beating every time he goes against Apollo Creed,” linebacker Mike Barrow said. “I’m always telling him, ‘Look, move your feet. Run. Get out of bounds. Throw the ball away.’ ”

Said Beuerlein: “I feel like a 34-year-old in a 50-year-old’s body. I don’t know what it’s like to be a 50-year-old, but I can imagine the aches and pains and everything else. But I’m used to it. That’s part of being me.”

The local chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving plans a march and a vigil Sunday at the Trans World Dome in St. Louis, where the Rams will play the Panthers, to protest the NFL’s reinstatement this week of Ram linebacker Leonard Little.

Last October, the utility truck Little was driving struck a vehicle driven by a St. Louis County woman and killed her. Little, who was legally drunk while driving, pleaded guilty last June to involuntary manslaughter. He was sentenced to 90 nights in jail--he was free during the day--as well as 1,000 hours of community service. He got four years’ probation. A civil suit against him is pending.

Little, who will not play Sunday, said of the protest: “I totally support that 100%. That’s what the group is there for--for situations like this. I have nothing negative to say to MADD because this is the situation: I admitted my guilt.”