Cowboys Make Lasting Impression

For the first time in 12 seasons, the Dallas Cowboys will finish in the NFC East basement.

The Cowboys clinched their fate with a 17-10 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. At the very best, Dallas can finish tied for last in a division they used to dominate.

The Cowboys had a 21-11 advantage in first downs and had 134 more total yards than Arizona (343-209), but Emmitt Smith’s 80th 100-yard rushing game couldn’t overcome their mistakes.

Smith, who said this week he wants more carries, got his wish with 128 yards in 26 attempts. The No. 2 NFL career rusher behind Walter Payton, Smith is 16 yards short of 16,000, and he needs 182 in the last two games to reach 1,000 for the 11th straight year.

“I’m not thinking about it in terms of that,” Smith said. “I just want to win. We have lost enough games the last two years to last a whole career.”

Dallas (4-10) will finish last in the division for the first time since going 1-15 in 1989, a year before Smith came to the team.

“We did some good things today and we did a lot of bad things, the same thing we’ve been saying all year long,” Smith said. “The thing that killed us again was turnovers. That’s been our story most of the year.”

Ronald McKinnon returned one interception 24 yards for a touchdown, and Kwamie Lassiter’s ninth interception of the season set up a field goal for Arizona (6-8).

Michael Pittman ran one yard for the other Arizona touchdown in the last meeting of the teams as division rivals. The Cardinals move to the NFC West next season.

“They made the mistakes, and we didn’t,” Arizona quarterback Jake Plummer said. “We didn’t have a turnover all game, which is huge. We haven’t had that happen that often.”