COLUMN: Cowboys will dominate 49ers

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by Neel Desai

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Others may have been really glad that the article was missing. I've had some political problems with the Thresher staff, but I played hardball, and we reached a compromise. I'd like to thank the 700 people who made this possible.

Down to business. This Sunday the only regular season game that matters will take place.

The down-and-out San Francisco 49ers will limp into Texas Stadium to face the Dallas Cowboys. The 49ers are 5-4, and they are one game out of first place in the NFC West.

So how can this game still be the only important regular season game?

I'll tell you how. To any objective football fan, the Cowboys are the best team. Emmitt Smith is the league's Most Valuable Player hands down. The only other person that is close is Troy Aikman.

Through nine weeks, Smith leads the league in rushing by over 200 yards. Aikman has the highest quarterback efficiency rating and Michael Irvin leads in receptions.

You can't stop offensive firepower like that, and I haven't even mentioned how well the offensive line, Jay Novacek and Daryl "MOOOOSE" Johnston are playing.

Can you believe that I have not mentioned anything about Deion yet? Speaking of Deion, last year's Defensive Player of the Year has started to adjust to the Cowboys, and they have started to adjust to him.

I think Irvin has forgiven Deion for the blatant pass interference that was not called in last year's NFC Championship game.

In Deion's two games, he has given up only one complete pass (coincidentally to former Rice quarterback Bert Emanuel).

He basically takes away half of the field, but let's not forget about what he does on the other side of the ball.

Dallas really rubs it in by giving Deion the ball on offense. It's almost as if it were a big joke to insult the opposing team. When he dropped that pass in the Atlanta game, Coach Barry Switzer, Aikman and Irvin all joked around about it.

In the Monday night game against the Philadelphia Eagles, they pitched him a ball on a punt return while the coaches just chuckled.

The other advantage to having Deion is that the 49ers don't have him. I've said all season, we basically need him for one game, the NFC Championship, which seems to be a lock to be played in Texas Stadium (even God will want to see this one through the hole in the roof).

The 49ers are really not even close to being the same team with Elvis Grbac at quarterback. There's a good reason why Steve Young was named MVP of the league last year.

The 49ers rely heavily on the passing game, but it's just not going to work that well, even if you do have the greatest receiver ever, Jerry Rice.

Young will definitely play Sunday, so automatically the 49ers will make it a game, and with Young, the 49ers again become the second-best team in the NFL.

The Chicago Bears actually have the second-best record in the NFC, but there's more talk about the Cubs winning the World Series than a Super Bowl trip for da Bears.

As usual, there's a team or two playing pretty decent football in the AFC, but we see this every year. The NFC still wins the Super Bowl by 40.

The 49ers should be healthy and playing good football by playoff time. Even if they have to enter the playoffs as wild cards (which is a huge "if"), the bottom line is that a healthy Cowboys or 49ers team will beat anyone in the NFL.

That's why this game is still the only regular-season game that matters. You should have had this game marked on your calendar, and it should be a helluva ballgame.

In case you want to see the game in person, the last I heard was that 50-yard line tickets were running about $300.

You heard it here first: Dallas 31, San Francisco 24.

This item appeared in the Sports section of the November 10, 1995 issue.

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