Home Field On Cowboys’ Fingertips The Way Things Are Going, Dallas May Need Help To Grasp Playoff Edge

The Dallas Cowboys have spent the season talking about how important it is to be at home in the playoffs rather than in San Francisco. But now, with three weeks left, the Cowboys find themselves in a must-win situation.

Washington, winners of just four games, beat the Cowboys 24-17 on Sunday, the first time since 1987 the Redskins have swept Dallas. The result leaves the Cowboys with three losses, one less than San Francisco.

But if the 49ers win their final three and Dallas loses one (possible in Philadelphia Sunday), then San Francisco suddenly has the home field, courtesy of its 38-20 win at Texas Stadium on Nov. 12.

How did the Redskins beat the Cowboys?

“Norv knows something,” the Cowboys’ Mark Tuinei said. “He knows how to play us. He taught Michael Irvin how to run routes, showed Emmitt Smith where to run, and taught Troy (Aikman) how to throw. They play us differently than anybody.”

The scenario:

San Francisco’s schedule is a bit tougher - at Carolina, Minnesota at home, and at Atlanta. But the way the 49ers are playing, they should win them. Dallas’ last three games are at Philadelphia, at home to the Giants and at Arizona.

If they don’t win the last two, they don’t deserve to be in the playoffs, let alone have home field.

But the Eagles will be angry after a loss in Seattle that may have happened because they were looking ahead to Dallas. Both Ray Rhodes (San Francisco’s former defensive coordinator) and offensive coordinator Jon Gruden (ex-Green Bay) know the Cowboys well and quarterback Rodney Peete was Dallas’ backup last year.

That’s the formula for an upset.

All this might have been different if Cowboys owner Jerry Jones had either kept Jimmy Johnson or divorced him immediately after the 1993 season. That might have allowed him to make Norv Turner his coach, although in truth Turner had committed to Washington during the playoffs.

So he settled for Barry Switzer, a college coach out of a job and pliable enough to allow Jones to play “Coach Jones.” In each of the three losses this year, Switzer has been one step behind - to Turner twice and to Marc Trestman, San Francisco’s offensive coordinator.

How serious can that get?

Well, San Francisco has the tie-breaker. It also has a three-way tie-breaker if it ties Green Bay and Dallas at 12-4, although the Cowboys would still get a bye because they beat the Packers.

And if the Cowboys have a psychological block about the 49ers, playing them on the road won’t be any easier. It might even be impossible.

“Why wouldn’t we be focused?” a befuddled Switzer asked Sunday.

Maybe he should ask Jones.

Coaching desperation

“We just had to find a way - any way - to stop the bleeding,” Keith Byars, the Dolphins’ fullback, said after Miami’s 21-20 win over Atlanta.

Yes, there was an air of desperation to a game the Dolphins pulled out on a vintage Dan Marino touchdown drive that covered 72 yards in 1 minute, 37 seconds.

Three times - twice in the first half - Don (“this was the toughest week I ever had”) Shula went for a first down on fourth down. He made it all three times. Twice Shula went for 2-point conversions and missed. He probably started that too early - when the Dolphins pulled to 14-9 in the second quarter.

But the Dolphins finally got a break because coach June Jones made an ill-conceived decision.

With fourth down a half-yard to go at the Miami 27 and less than 2 minutes left, Jones went for a first down instead of having Morten Andersen kick a 45-yard field goal that would have put the Falcons up by eight.

“You can either try to turn out the lights or you play it safe,” said Jones, who earlier went for his own ill-conceived 2-pointer. “We tried to turn the lights out.”

Added Jeff George: “If you can’t get a half-yard you don’t deserve to win.”

But as Jones also admitted: “Sometimes you have to overcome the coaching.”

So he gave Marino the ball, not a good idea, even in these days when Irving Fryar drops potential touchdown passes and Eric Green allows a ball to bounce off his hands in the end zone to Atlanta’s Kevin Ross.

So the Dolphins and Shula live.

Right now, they’re 7-6, a game behind Buffalo in the AFC East and a playoff team if the season ended today.

But it doesn’t, and the schedule’s no creampuff.

Next week, the Dolphins get Kansas City at home, a game that may be easier because the Chiefs already have clinched the West. Miami finishes at Buffalo and St. Louis.

So the good news is that they could win the East by winning all three, with an emphasis on Buffalo.

“Hopefully,” Shula says, “we can use this as a springboard.”