Sunday, November 8, 1998

Defending NFC East champion Giants fight for survival

By DENNE H. FREEMAN

AP Sports Writer

IRVING, Texas (AP) -- Here it is just early November and the defending NFC East champion New York Giants have a game they can't afford to lose.

The Giants (3-5) trail Chan Gailey's upstart Dallas Cowboys (5-3) by two games and have a suicide schedule against teams like Green Bay, San Francisco, Denver and Kansas City after the game in Texas Stadium on Sunday.

Jim Fassel, just a year removed from being The Associated Press Coach of the Year, is blunt about the meeting with the Cowboys, who battered the Giants 31-7 in the second game of the season.

"We do have the season on the line," Fassel said. "If we lose, we'd be too far behind to keep any dreams. Dallas is a good team and they will just keep on going. Our backs are as far against the wall as we can get them."

What happened to the Giants?

"We're just not playing with the same sense of urgency this year," Fassel said. "I've never questioned our desire or work ethic. I'm frustrated. My job is to get the team to play right. I take it personally. I wanted to make progress this year."

The Cowboys are aware they can all but knock the Giants out of the division race. They also suspect that the Giants they meet Sunday could be the most dangerous team they'll play this year.

"It's tough to beat any opponent twice in one year," said quarterback Troy Aikman. "It's just difficult to do in this emotional game. They are coming in here off a loss. They are disappointed and embarrassed from what happened on Monday night earlier in the year.

"They want to revenge that. I think history shows that every time we have beaten the Giants early in the year we always have a tight game with them the next time around."

Aikman, who took the Cowboys to a 34-0 victory over Philadelphia last week in his first appearance since missing five games with a broken collarbone, said his team is still learning Gailey's new system.

And, he said, one-point losses to Oakland and Chicago proved what can happen if every gear in the system isn't working.

"We're sitting in a good position in the division with a one-game lead over Arizona but we're not a good enough team to expect to win if we don't play well. We've already proved that twice this year."

Dallas is 4-0 this year against division rivals.

"It's just happened that we have played well against our division rivals," Gailey said. "Each division game is pivotal and of added importance.

"I don't have to tell our players that. I don't have to wear a 'Beat the New York Giants T-shirt.' We have a chance to be a very good team and we have to take care of business again on Sunday."

In an interesting sidelight, Dallas running back Emmitt Smith can break Hall of Famer Tony Dorsett's record as the Cowboys' career rusher with 95 more yards. Smith, a former first-round pick out of Florida, ranks eighth on the NFL's all-time career rushing list with 11,942 career yards.