Cowboys Gobble Up the Dolphins

Their quarterback was coming back from a serious head injury. Their star running back was playing with a serious hand injury. Their star receiver was on the sidelines. Their next best receiver was knocked out of action for half the game on the very first series. Their star defensive back had hamstring injuries and two of their cornerbacks didn’t even suit up because of injuries.

And with all that, the Dallas Cowboys had to drag what was left of their 5-5 team into Texas Stadium on Thursday afternoon to face an 8-2 team with a coach who desperately wanted to come home in triumph and a quarterback who was determined to regain his Hall of Fame form.

On this Thanksgiving, the Dallas Cowboys would be thankful if they weren’t embarrassed in front of a national TV audience.

Embarrassed?

Hardly.

The Cowboys feasted on Dolphin, as in Miami Dolphin, knocking the stuffing out of Coach Jimmy Johnson’s team, 20-0, in front of a surprised and delighted crowd of 64,328.

All Johnson and his team could do was bite their lips after being overwhelmed by a Cowboy defense that picked off five of Miami quarterback Dan Marino’s passes, Dallas linebacker Dexter Coakley returning one of those 46 yards for the third-quarter touchdown that ended a scoreless tie.

“Unless you really know, it’s hard to appreciate what we had to overcome,” said Cowboy owner Jerry Jones, who was beaming after beating Johnson, his former coach turned adversary. “That was a war out there.”

Marino has been in a few of those. And he has survived long enough to establish records in all the significant passing categories. But from those highs, Marino tied his all-time low Thursday with the five interceptions. What must be factored in is the fact that he was returning after missing five games because of a pinched nerve in his neck.

“Before the game, I felt pretty good. Right now, I don’t feel well at all,” said Marino after the game. “I’m going to try to learn from this. It’s the only way I know how to do it.”

And Johnson?

Reporters set an over-and-under figure of 30 seconds for his postgame press conference, figuring that was how long it would be before he exploded after losing to the team he once led to two Super Bowl victories.

But Johnson fooled them all. He was calm, he was complimentary and he was considerate enough to stay around as long as required.

“This win is to [the Cowboys’] credit,” Johnson said. “They played great defense and protected the ball well.”

Maybe he was in shock.

The score certainly doesn’t indicate how close the game was for much of the afternoon. With Dallas quarterback Troy Aikman coming back after missing two games because of a concussion, Emmitt Smith playing with a broken right hand, receiver Michael Irvin still out because of a spinal injury and receiver Raghib “Rocket” Ismail receiving a concussion on the first series, Cowboy Coach Chan Gailey couldn’t be sure what he was going to get out of his own offense.

Not much in the first half when the strategy largely consisted of handing the ball to Smith as often as possible and then, when the downs ran out, hoping the defense could get that ball back.

Then, with just over seven minutes to play in the third quarter, Marino, attempting to pass to fullback Rob Konrad just beyond the line of scrimmage, inadvertently connected with Coakley, who had an unimpeded path to the end zone.

“I don’t think Dan saw me buzzing out there,” Coakley said. “He threw it to me and I just took it to the aisles. But the guy is a future Hall of Famer. He kept his poise out there.”

It wasn’t easy. Although they were missing injured cornerbacks Kevin Smith and Kevin Mathis, the Cowboys were able to compensate with Coakley picking off two passes, Deion Sanders, who has been bothered by groin and hamstring injuries, getting two more and rookie cornerback Duane Hawthorne getting the fifth.

Did Marino’s throws seem to be erratic?

“The two he threw to me came pretty good,” said Sanders, who had never picked off a Marino pass.

The Cowboy passing game was adversely affected until Ismail returned in the third quarter.

After Richie Cunningham had culminated the opening drive of the fourth quarter with a 36-yard field goal, Aikman and Ismail teamed up on the passing play that broke the game open.

It began, naturally, with a Marino interception. Then, on the second play from scrimmage, Aikman hooked up with Ismail (five catches for 125 yards) on a 65-yard touchdown play to boost the score to 17-0.

With Smith (31 carries for 103 yards) controlling the ball for large chunks of time, the Dolphins watched helplessly as Cunningham closed out the scoring with a 23-yard field goal.

Anxious to end his postgame press conference, Sanders chided reporters, saying, “Let’s go. The turkey’s getting cold.”

It was likely to get real cold on the Dolphins’ flight home, where appetites figured to be the final thing lost of a long day.

TROUBLE

Carolina’s Rae Carruth charged with taking part in girlfriend’s shooting.

Page 11

DETROIT 21

CHICAGO 17

Gus Frerotte threw two touchdown passes as the Lions held on for the win. Page 11