Thursday, December 31, 1998

Thursday, December 31, 1998

Cowboys' Aikman is at his best in playoffs

By Tim Cowlishaw

The Dallas Morning News

(KRT)

DALLAS -- In 1992, Troy Aikman finished the regular season on the best roll of his career. But the post-season challenges came at him on a weekly basis.

"You've never won a playoff game."

Then he threw two touchdowns to beat the Eagles, 34-10.

"You've never won a playoff game on the road."

Then he threw two more touchdowns to beat the 49ers, 30-20.

"You've never won a Super Bowl."

Then he threw four touchdown passes and won Super Bowl MVP honors as the Cowboys beat Buffalo, 52-17.

"Now what are they asking?" Aikman pondered Tuesday.

Frankly, I think the Cowboys are asking him to win Saturday's playoff game against Arizona for them. And this is what they should ask of him. This is what he does.

Aikman doesn't buy into the strapping-the-team-on-his-back theory.

"The last thing you want to do is think you have to carry the football team, pick up more than your share of the load," he said.

Okay, he doesn't have to think about it, just do it. Aikman no longer quarterbacks a dominant team. That's why he has to outplay Jake "The Snake" Plummer despite the fact Aikman lacks Plummer's scrambling skills, comeback reputation and catchy nickname.

To some, Aikman's three Super Bowl rings mean he doesn't have to prove himself to anybody. But that's true only if you're arguing about his place in the Hall of Fame, which is already assured.

When you're talking about the Cowboys surviving Saturday's game and moving on to Atlanta, then, yes, Aikman has to prove that Plummer's time as King of NFC East Quarterbacks is not at hand.

Aikman is a winner, not a numbers guy. He threw 12 touchdown passes this season, a figure Atlanta's Chris Chandler doubled and San Francisco's Steve Young tripled.

That gives Aikman 141 touchdown passes for his career, meaning he still hasn't caught Danny White.

Those aren't the totals that define Aikman. His path to Canton, Ohio, has been paved by an 11-2 record in the playoffs.

There isn't an active quarterback with a higher post-season passer rating than Aikman's 96.0. On the all-time list, he trails only Bart Starr.

"I like the playoffs, I like the finality of the playoffs," Aikman said. "As for why my numbers, statistically, might be better in the post-season, I don't know that I can give you a real good answer. I think our team is what gives me a chance to have success."

Aikman's 11-2 against Plummer's 0-0 post-season record seems to be the thing that almost compels you to pick the Cowboys to win Saturday.

Almost.

Otherwise, it's a 10-6 Cowboys team that looked pretty shaky most of the final month against a 9-7 Cardinals team that looked pretty shaky most of the season. But Aikman isn't just being diplomatic when he downplays the experience edge he holds over Plummer.

"I think there's something to be said for having some experience in the playoffs, but to be honest, that alone is very overrated," he said. "Arizona the last couple of games has felt they had to win to keep their playoffs hopes alive. That, in essence, is a playoff game.

"Someone made the comment to me when we were in Tempe for our third Super Bowl that we had to be favored over Pittsburgh because of our experience in the Super Bowl. But that's only two games. I don't think you play enough playoff games to gain that much experience from it. Arizona will be happy to read all of that."

Plummer was rattled early in Sunday's make-or-break-it game against San Diego. He can be expected to come out Saturday throwing high, too cranked up in trying to validate that $15 million signing bonus he received last week.

Aikman figures to be Aikman. That means on target ... as long as those targets are at least semi-open and as long as the Cowboys are picking up the Cardinals' blitzes. If he becomes frustrated, as he did in his last playoff appearance at Carolina when Michael Irvin was injured early, then the Cowboys are in trouble.

Aikman has the track record, and yet it's his experience that suggests that maybe experience is irrelevant. He has never performed more skillfully in the playoffs than in 1992 when he made his first post-season start.

In its own strange way, Aikman's history is the thing that makes a passing of the NFC East torch from Aikman to Plummer quite possible.

(Tim Cowlishaw is a sports columnist for the Dallas Morning News. Write to him at: Dallas Morning News, Communications Center, Dallas, Texas 75265.)

(c) 1998, The Dallas Morning News.

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