Emmitt Smith

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The Team of the '90s is now a team in limbo.And after the New York Giants defeated the Dallas Cowboys, 15-10, yesterday at Giants Stadium, even some members of the two-time defending champions are concerned about which team will show up in postseason play.Cowboys coach Barry Switzer seemed pretty relaxed. His star running back was healing, his starting quarterback was healthy and his team has two weeks to prepare for its next opponent.But only a few feet away, Cowboys defensive end Jim Jeffcoat was shaking his head in disgust.

NEW ORLEANS -- With 1 minute, 11 seconds left to play in the third quarter last night, the Dallas Cowboys' Emmitt Smith lurched to the turf, thereby prompting The Groan Heard 'Round the Earth.The mother of all groans, as it were. Or America's Groan, if you buy into that Cowboys-as-national-icon bit.When Emmitt Smith aches, Cowboys worshipers everywhere wince. When he flinches, they flinch.And when Smith's left hamstring stops him dead in his tracks, as it did last night during a 24-16 victory over the New Orleans Saints, they groan.

NEW ORLEANS -- The Dallas Cowboys got a win they didn't need but lost a player they need as much as any last night at the Superdome.Dallas beat New Orleans, 24-16, to end the Saints' marginal playoff hopes, but Emmitt Smith's departure late in the third quarter was the exit that worried the Cowboys.Smith suffered a pulled left hamstring and won't play Saturday in the regular-season finale against the New York Giants but is expected to be ready for the divisional playoffs."His attitude is, he thinks he'll be back this week, and obviously we won't consider that," coach Barry Switzer said.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- David Meggett was refreshed and ready to go back to work. It was early evening, barely an hour after the busiest day of his career."

ATLANTA -- Don't tell Emmitt Smith that he's done everything there is to do on a football field.He's won a pair of Super Bowl rings and a Super Bowl MVP trophy, but he still says he has a lot of mountains to climb.Less than a dozen hours after leading the Dallas Cowboys to a 30-13 victory over the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVIII Sunday night, Smith talked about those goals after he was presented with the Super Bowl MVP trophy yesterday."I think winning two Super Bowls was fine. Being MVP is great.

IRVING, Texas -- Troy Aikman wasn't as sharp yesterday as he was Tuesday when he was tossing passes into the back windows of New York taxicabs on "The Late Show with David Letterman."Although he completed 28 of 37 passes for three touchdowns, Aikman was intercepted twice -- breaking his playoff string of 111 throws without an interception -- and sacked four times in the Dallas Cowboys' 27-17 victory over the Green Bay Packers. He also fumbled a snap and tripped over a lineman."We had more turnovers than what we're accustomed to having in the ballgame.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- All season long, they were the contender that wasn't going to win in the end. The contender that was benefiting from an easy schedule. The contender that was soft on the inside.All season long, the New York Giants were regarded by the cognoscenti as just the latest miracle of parity. They weren't backed by serious football tender. Give them the Rams, the Bucs, the backsliding Redskins -- no problem. But the Cowboys? The mutha-load Cowboys? Forget it.So, how were they supposed to react yesterday when they proved everything and nothing?

NEW ORLEANS -- In the long and glorious history of the Southeastern Conference, only Herschel Walker and Bo Jackson ran for more yards than Errict Rhett.Emmitt Smith could become only the fourth man to lead the NFL in rushing in three straight seasons, but he lost another distinction last month, when Rhett supplanted him as Florida's all-time leading rusher.Rhett is the only player in NCAA Division I-A history to run for more than 4,100 yards and catch 140 passes in a career, and he is a prominent reason why Florida is a 6 1/2 -point favorite over West Virginia in the USF&G Sugar Bowl, New Year's Day at the Superdome.

It took five years, but Jimmy Johnson finally found out what NFL life is like on Thanksgiving Day.For the first four years, the Dallas Cowboys coach had a Midas touch. Everything he touched turned to victory. He went from 1-15 to Super Bowl champion in four seasons. Each season was better than the previous.Johnson acted as if he thought he were the king of the mountain and would stay there.Nobody ever savored being on top more than Johnson did. Earlier this year, he talked as if the Dallas way was the perfect way to do things.

PHILADELPHIA -- Forget the Dallas Cowboys' 0-2 start. Normalcy, and Emmitt Smith, have revisited the NFC East race.Smith, who joined the season in progress, made up for lost time yesterday when he glided over the worst carpet in the NFL for a club-record 237 rushing yards.On a day when the Troy Aikman passing game couldn't get off the ground, Smith's performance spirited the Cowboys to a 23-10 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles at rain-soaked Veterans Stadium."I didn't expect this to happen today," Smith said, "and I don't think the Eagles expected it, either."