Monday, October 5, 1998

Cowboys atop NFC East after romp of Redskins

By David Moore

The Dallas Morning News

(KRT)

RALJON, Md. - Two irrefutable truths emerged from the Cowboys 31-10 victory Sunday afternoon at Jack Kent Cooke Stadium.

Dallas has established itself as the resident bully in the NFC East and reports of Washington's demise have not been greatly exaggerated.

The Cowboys stand alone at the top of the division after five weeks because none of their NFC East brethren have been able to stand up to them. Dallas has beaten Arizona, New York and Washington by the combined score of 100-27. The victories against the Giants and Redskins came on the road without injured starter Troy Aikman.

Owner Jerry Jones circled those two games on the schedule when Aikman went down with a fractured collarbone. Winning both allows the Cowboys to stake an early claim to division supremacy.

"A win like this gives you such a psychological lift," Jones said. "It gives you a good feeling about how we're progressing as a team.

"We have a ways to go, but..."

But not as far as Washington.

The Redskins sunk deeper into winless (0-5) despair because they were unable to slow a diverse Dallas offense and quarterback Trent Green was shaken by the Cowboys' defensive scheme. Any hope the Redskins had of hanging with the Cowboys ended at the start of the third quarter when Dallas methodically went on its seven-play, 71-yard way for a 24-10 lead.

Two of the Cowboys' next three opponents have failed to win a game. In fact, Carolina and Philadelphia suffered even greater humiliation than the Redskins. Chicago - the other team on the Dallas schedule in this span - picked up its first win Sunday.

What all this means is that despite last week's stutter-step against Oakland, the Cowboys are in position to make a run.

"We took care of business today," Cowboys linebacker Randall Godfrey said. "That's all. We've got to look ahead."

Garrett completed 14-of-17 passes for 169 yards and a touchdown. Other than a fumbled snap on the Cowboys' first possession, he was nearly flawless in his execution.

Seven different receivers were responsible for Garrett's first seven completions. He had a 43-yard touchdown pass to Ernie Mills sandwiched between a 29-yarder to Mills and a 36-yard completion to Billy Davis. This forced Washington to abandon the eight-man defensive front that has plagued the Cowboys running game in recent weeks.

Cowboys coach Chan Gailey complemented Garrett on how smart he played this dreary afternoon. Redskins coach Norv Turner said, "Garrett obviously played as well as anyone could play."

He certainly played better than last week, when the characteristically composed backup threw two interceptions in the final 18 minutes of the Cowboys loss.

"I think you have something to prove every day out here, whether it's in a game or in practice," Garrett said. "That's just the nature of it.

"That's the way football is and the way it's been for a long, long time. You take on the challenges that come along each and every day."

A faltering running game also stepped up to the challenge. Garrett's efficiency gave the Cowboys room to run, something it hasn't had the last two weeks in totaling just 148 yards on the ground.

But this afternoon, Emmitt Smith picked up 120 yards and a touchdown. Chris Warren had 104 yards and two touchdowns. The Cowboys bludgeoned the Redskins defense for 224 yards on the ground and put two backs over the 100-yard mark in the same game for the first time in 20 years.

Dallas accomplished this despite losing right guard Everett McIver in the first quarter with a sprained right medial collateral ligament in his right knee. He's expected to miss the next three to five weeks.

"We need that kind of consistency week in and week out," Smith said. "We can't have a bad week next week. We need to come out and play the same kind of way."

Other than early September when the Mile High Sky fell in on them, the Cowboys defense has played well week in and week out. Sunday marked the fourth time in five games that Dallas has held the opponent to only one touchdown.

Dallas accomplished its primary goal by holding the Redskins to less than 100 yards rushing and they kept Green off balance by putting Deion Sanders on Michael Westbrook (4-42 yards) and rotating double-coverage to Leslie Shepherd. That plan took the wideouts out of Washington's game plan and forced Green to either sail his passes long to avoid interceptions or dump it to his backs and tight ends underneath.

"You can't say enough about the defense," Gailey said. "They really played well.

"Our defense would bend, but they never broke, and we put them in some tough situations in second half once we began to play more conservative on offense."

Consistency. That is what Gailey has preached since day one. Next week's game against Carolina at home will tell him if the team took a step toward that goal Sunday.

"I thought we grew some today," Gailey said. "We didn't play perfect, but we were pretty good in clutch situations."

(c) 1998, The Dallas Morning News.

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