Sunday, September 27, 1998

Fast forward: Cowboys stay on course but take peek ahead

By David Moore

The Dallas Morning News

(KRT)

DALLAS -- It's not proper etiquette for the Cowboys to look beyond Sunday's game against Oakland. That sort of arrogance may have been appropriate during the team's championship days, but not now.

Reading too much into the 2-1 record the Cowboys carry into Texas Stadium for its 12:01 kickoff with the Raiders could be fatal. After all, the season is only three weeks old, and Dallas already has been blown out once.

Still, it's impossible not to notice the long line of losing teams that await. The next few weeks could provide the Cowboys with the opportunity to separate themselves from the NFC East pack.

"I'm looking at it that way," Cowboys' safety Darren Woodson said. "Not that our next opponents aren't all that great. But I think we've got a realistic chance of winning those games, especially if we get healthy.

"It's real. We can win those games."

The next seven opponents on the Cowboys' schedule have a combined record of 3-17. Oakland is the only team the Cowboys face in the next four weeks that has won a game.

Dallas must look all the way to November before it faces a team with a winning record. Then, the Cowboys get two in five days: Seattle on Nov. 22 and Minnesota on Thanksgiving Day.

Of course, those records will change before the games are played. That's one reason Cowboys' Coach Chan Gailey believes it's a little silly to look that far down the road.

"A lot of people are talking about that," Gailey said. "Not us. We have won one game people thought we wouldn't.

"That doesn't mean we can go and put a crown on our heads."

Monday night's 31-7 victory over New York, without quarterback Troy Aikman and with less than two quarters of a healthy Emmitt Smith, did help alter the perception of Dallas. Still, all this must be put in the proper context.

When Denver drilled Dallas, 42-23, in Week Two, there wasn't much of a buzz about the Cowboys and their chance to dominate the division.

"We were 3-1 (early) last year, so I don't think anyone in the organization, whether it be players, coaches or management, have any kind of feeling that we've got it made," executive vice president Stephen Jones said. "Not the least little bit, especially after what we went through last year."

The Cowboys' fall from playoff grace was dramatic. Dallas went 6-10, losing its final five games.

Oakland has fallen even farther. The Raiders are coming off a 4-12 season and haven't made the playoffs since 1993.

The Raiders obviously aren't as good as the Broncos. But they do have explosive offensive players in the skill positions.

Quarterback Jeff George makes mistakes, but he can sting a defense with the deep pass. Gailey said running back Napoleon Kaufman "is like lightning in the backfield." Receiver James Jett is pure speed, Rickey Dudley is one of the best pass-catching tight ends around, and Tim Brown is one of the sport's finest receivers.

"He's been a great player here for years," Raiders' Coach Jon Gruden said. "You can speed dial his number in crunch time and expect him to make the play.

"He's a vital cog in our attack."

Oakland, however, isn't as vital of a franchise as it was in the early '80s.

"I don't know what Raiders' mystique is, other than what you see on old NFL films," Cowboys' running back Chris Warren said. "That was back in the days when I still played little league football."

Of course, Cowboys' mystique isn't what it used to be, either. Dallas has won only one playoff game since capturing the Super Bowl in '95.

The Cowboys have something to prove as well. This schedule gives them a chance, but it doesn't give any guarantees.

"The one thing I think we've got to make sure we realize is we have not arrived, not by any stretch of the imagination," Gailey said. "We are still working to earn something and to get something back that we had here for a few years.

"We don't take anything for granted. We're still fighting our rears off to try to win this week if we can."

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(c) 1998, The Dallas Morning News.

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