Tuesday, September 22, 1998

Cowboys defeat Giants

By Stephen A. Smith

Knight Ridder Newspapers

(KRT)

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Playing without their star quar- terback, fighting for a spot atop the NFC East, and still shaken by the previous week's lopsided loss to the Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos, the Dallas Cow- boys were desperate for someone to step up on Monday night.

Deion Sanders obliged.

He returned a punt 59 yards for a touchdown, then later returned an interception 71 yards for a touchdown to give the Cowboys a dominating 31-7 victory over the New York Giants in front of 78,039 at Giants Stadium.

The win lifted the Cowboys to 2-1 and put them in first place in the woeful division. The loss of quarterback Troy Aikman, out with a broken collarbone, was offset by a solid performance from backup Jason Garrett.

Garrett finished 22-of-36 for 190 yards, connecting with Billy Davis on an 80-yard TD recep- tion in the second quarter and a 55-yard bomb to Sanders to open the third quarter. Still, his pro- ductivity was a sideshow on Monday night.

Sanders saw to that just 2:29 into the second quarter when he went left, then turned right and evaded three tacklers before coasting 59 yards for the first score of the game.

With Dallas up 17-7, he made matters worse for the Giants by playing offense for the first time this season, connecting with Gar- rett for the 55-yard pass that led to an 18-yard TD run by Sherman Williams on the opening drive of the second half. That put the 'Boys up 24-7.

To finish off matters, Sanders peeked at quarterback Danny Kanell throwing to his right, stepped in front of the pass, then cruised 71 yards for the intercep- tion return - doing his dance step about five yards into the end zone.

By the time he was done, Gar- rett's performance didn't matter much; Sanders had produced 14 points by himself, which was more than the Cowboys needed.

On a night when Aikman's ab- sence was expected to be pivotal, it was insignificant. The Cow- boys had another playmaker.

One the Giants couldn't sack.

For its part, Dallas' defense re- sembled the dominant Doomsday units of the '70s.

The Giants (1-2) couldn't run, couldn't pass with regularity, and couldn't prevent Garrett from making plays.

The result for the Giants was just a one-game lead on the woeful Eagles.

Garrett played at Princeton, not UCLA. If that wasn't enough, he had just two starts in his six- year professional career. Clearly, he had not led his team to three Super Bowl championships in the '90s.

But looking at the Giants on Monday night, you wouldn't have guessed they knew the dif- ference between Garrett and Aikman.

Sanders had his spectacular 59- yard punt return for the Cow- boys' first touchdown, but Gar- rett's 80-yard touchdown connec- tion to Davis late in the first half was no less exciting. And by the time the Cowboys walked into halftime up by 17-7, it almost seemed as if the Giants were asking themselves: "What broken collarbone?"

The Giants didn't have a problem beating the Cowboys, with Aikman, the last three times they met. New York's de- fense was dominant. Quarter- back Danny Kanell's conserva- tive play proved productive. And a Dallas squad filled with play- makers appeared to have one conspicuous problem: actually making plays.

No one noticed Monday night, though.

Cowboys receiver Michael Irvin said before the game, "We can win without Troy." Aikman is expected to be out for four to eight weeks after last week's in- jury against the Denver Broncos.

"We'd rather we didn't have to," Irvin said of playing without Aikman, "but believe me, we can get it done."

By halftime, Garrett had proved as much.

He broke a 7-7 tie with 2 min- utes, 45 seconds left in the half when he spotted Davis on a 15- yard slant pattern. With the pass, and with Giants corner- back Tito Wooten running into his own man, Davis turned the simple play into an 80-yard TD, bloating Garrett's stats - and confidence.

The way things were going, it looked as if matters would get worse. The Giants defense had allowed Garrett to gain mo- mentum. Even with Aikman out, it seemed as if the Giants were willing to wait until their next meeting, on Nov. 8, to take it back.

(c) 1998, The Philadelphia In- quirer.

Visit Philadelphia Online, the Inquirer's World Wide Web site, at http://www.phillynews.com/

Distributed by Knight Rid- der/Tribune Information Ser- vices.