Tuesday, November 24, 1998

Cowboys fans need to come to grips that Randy Moss slipped away

By Jim Reeves

Knight Ridder Newspapers

(KRT)

IRVING, Texas - I'm sick of hearing about Randy Moss and he hasn't even crossed the city limits yet.

The no-ethics mouthpieces who were clamoring during the draft last spring for the Cowboys to take a flier on every scumbucket, pot smoker and woman-beater who could run with or catch a football are rattling their cages again.

Their poster boy is coming to town and he has certainly given them something to scream about. It's going to be the theme of the week, of course, and it threatens to ruin what should otherwise be a pretty interesting matchup.

So let's dispense with The Question first and get it out of the way.

Why didn't the Cowboys take Moss, the man with the fleet feet and the golden hands, with the eighth pick of the draft instead of old what's his name?

Because they'd painted themselves into an ethical and moral corner and simply couldn't take the risk.

It's a case in which their bad-boy past probably prevented them from making the smartest football decision they might have made at the time, but that's how it is and it's time to live with it and move on.

Eighteen other teams made the same decision the Cowboys did (the Bengals passed twice) and, as someone pointed out last week, the team that finally took Moss with the 21st pick was the one that didn't have an owner in place to veto the idea.

Cowboys fans, quit pining and drooling over Moss and pray that the Cowboys can figure out a way to cover him when he and his Vikings teammates show up at Texas Stadium for Thanksgiving dinner. It would have been fun to see Moss one-on-one with Deion Sanders, but that probably won't happen, now that Deion's listed as doubtful for Thursday's game with his sprained big toe.

Even worse news for the Cowboys are the losses of guard Everett McIver (knee) and wide receiver Ernie Mills (abdominal injury). McIver is out for the rest of the season. Mills underwent surgery Monday after taking a blow to the abdomen in the Cowboys' 30-22 victory over Seattle. Mills might be back for the playoffs.

Whatever chances the Cowboys might have had against the 10-1 Vikings have diminished as the injury news turns worse and worse, but quarterback Troy Aikman refuses to bow to the inevitability of a Minnesota victory.

Aikman took a stand at his locker Monday, basically demanding to know who'd died and annointed the Vikings three-time Super Bowl champions in the '90s.

His message was simple. If the Vikings plan on beating the Cowboys Thursday, they'd better bring a lunch and plan on staying a while.

Good for him.

"They're coming into "our" backyard, they're coming into "our" stadium," center Mike Kiselak said. "We've got the attitude that we want to win every game. I've got to play a game and they've got to play me. We don't back down to anyone."

The Vikings, meanwhile, completed the changing of the guard in the NFC Central with Sunday's 28-14 victory over Green Bay at the Metrodome. It completed a season sweep of the Packers for the Vikes and stamped them as favorites to win the NFC and advance to the Super Bowl against Denver.

This is a complete team the Cowboys will face Thursday and by far their biggest test since the second game of the season against the Broncos. If things go right, it could also be the first of two meetings between the two teams, with a lot more riding on the second one, perhaps in the NFC championship team.

Moss has been at the heart of the Vikings' success, including an eight-catch, 153-yard, 1-touchdown performance Sunday against the Packers in which the talented rookie told reporters he actually keeps one eye on the Jumbotrons at each end of the Metrodome field as he runs his routes so he'll know when the ball's on the way from quarterback Randall Cunningham.

"If I see Randall's arm slinging back," Moss said, "I know it's coming."

Kidding or not, Moss sealed the Vikings' win with a 49-yard fourth-quarter touchdown catch, his ninth reception of the season of 40 yards or more. He and Cunningham have made the game look easy. Randall throws it as far as he can, and Moss either runs under it, comes back for it, or wins a jump-ball with shorter, less athletic cornerbacks.

That, Packers' GM Ron Wolf said, is why the Vikings have beaten the Packers twice this season.

"We haven't been able to find anything to stop that pitch-and-catch thing with Moss," Wolf said.

Sure, it would have been nice to see that happening with Aikman at one end and Moss at the other. But it in this case, both parties - the Cowboys and Moss - were dragging too much baggage to make it work. The Cowboys could not afford one more potential jailbird, at least not one with a rap sheet like Moss'.

Besides, the Cowboys used that eighth pick in the draft to select old what's his name. He's a good guy.

Maybe he'll make a tackle Thursday.

(c) 1998, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

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