Victory Not Without Headaches

It was a bad day for big investments: Troy Aikman’s career might have come to an end after he suffered yet another concussion, and the Washington Redskins’ playoff hopes are even slimmer after they suffered yet another loss.

The Dallas Cowboys rallied after Aikman’s early exit Sunday, with Emmitt Smith rushing for 150 yards and a touchdown and two receivers scoring on reverse plays in a 32-13 victory over the supposedly revived Redskins.

Washington, with the most expensive roster in NFL history, took to the field with Terry Robiskie as interim coach, taking over for the fired Norv Turner.

Instead, the Redskins (7-7) had one of their worst games, giving up a season-high 242 yards rushing while gaining a season-low 270 yards. They even had a horrible day covering punts despite also changing special teams coaches.

But what really did in Washington was not being able to match the emotion and aggressiveness of Dallas (5-9), which had lost three in a row and five of six.

Dallas, however, might have lost Aikman for the season--and possibly to retirement.

The quarterback suffered his 10th career concussion-- and second this seasonmidway through the first quarter after a flying tackle by Washington rookie linebacker LaVar Arrington.

“We really will be very measured. It just isn’t necessary to incur any risk at all,” said the Cowboy owner, Jerry Jones, who must decide by March 8 whether to pay Aikman a $7-million bonus or release him before then and pay nothing. “Those are going to be issues we really dwell on and contemplate with the benefit of a lot of talk with Troy after the season.”

The Cowboys got touchdowns from receivers Wane McGarity and Jason Tucker on reverse plays in their most motivated performance of the season.

“For this team to play with the emotion and heart we played with today is a sign,” said Smith, who went over 1,000 rushing yards for a record-tying 10th consecutive season and became the third player in NFL history with 15,000 career yards. “It shows what our capabilities are.”

Dallas beat Washington for the seventh consecutive time, the most by either team in their 83-game series.

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He Is Third

Dallas’ Emmitt Smith gained 150 yards against Washington on Sunday to become the third man in NFL history to run for 15,000 yards:

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Yrs. Att. Yds. Avg. TDs Walter Payton 13 3,838 16,726 4.4 110 Barry Sanders 10 3,062 15,269 5.0 99 Emmitt Smith 11 3,501 15,100 4.2 144 Eric Dickerson 11 2,996 13,259 4.4 90 Tony Dorsett 12 2,936 12,739 4.3 77

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