Friday, November 27, 1998

Cowboys' offense could not match Vikings' offense

By Evan Grant

The Dallas Morning News

(KRT)

DALLAS - The Dallas Cowboys held Minnesota's explosive offense to just 11 plays and five minutes of possession time in the first quarter Thursday.

Only two problems: The Vikings averaged 21 yards per play and a touchdown every 92 seconds.

In other words, it was time enough to send Dallas into early shock in Minnesota's 46-36 win.

Minnesota scored three touchdowns, each from more than 50 yards out, and took a 21-6 lead because the Cowboys' offense matched Minnesota's first two touchdowns with field goals. Try as they might to recover - and the Cowboys did outscore Minnesota, 30-25, in the final 45 minutes - it was never quite enough.

"It would have been nice to put up two touchdowns there and keep the pressure on them," Cowboys' Coach Chan Gailey said. "We had to play catch-up most of the game. The longer you have to do that, the more it changes your approach. Pretty soon, we were throwing it almost exclusively. And that's not good."

Said Emmitt Smith: "Our objective was to control the clock, stop them, then make another drive. But they got off to a hot start and, unfortunately, we weren't able to match them."

What the Cowboys ended up with was a game full of statistical accomplishments, but one they never really came close to controlling.

Quarterback Troy Aikman eventually threw for a career-high 455 yards, shattering his previous best of 379. Michael Irvin caught 10 passes, his most since October 1996. And Smith rushed for three touchdowns, tying Marcus Allen for the NFL record of 123.

But the effects of the early shock stood out much more than any individual performances. The Cowboys played like a team trying to hurry through its work without attention to detail.

It was evidenced by eight dropped passes, including several by Irvin, and a season-high 152 penalty yards on 13 flags. Because of it, they spent all of the last 20 minutes of the game at least 10 points behind.

"It is frustrating for everyone on this ballclub," Aikman said. "They were getting touchdowns, and we'd get down there on the goal line and we would shoot ourselves in the foot with penalties or mistakes."

(c) 1998, The Dallas Morning News.

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