Cowboys, 49ers No Longer Safe Bets In Nfc Playoffs

Amid the noise and smell of the circus already forming on the perimeter of the NFC playoffs, one word keeps popping up.

No, it is not inanimate, although that would describe the San Francisco 49er defense Sunday each time Terance Mathis touched the ball.

No, it is not dunder-headed, however appropriately that would apply to virtually every decision the Dallas Cowboys have made since September.

It is not aquamarine, though that would describe Jerry Rice’s language if his lesser-energized teammates walk through their title defense.

And it is not blowntosmithereens, even with that happening to Barry Switzer’s job and Jerry Jones’ reputation if the Cowboys go kaput.

The word, as anyone in Detroit or Green Bay or even Philadelphia can tell you, is vulnerability.

Suddenly, what was previously a stain on the shirts of the Packers and Lions can be found in the hearts of the Cowboys and 49ers.

Vulnerability in the NFC, once only a poor man’s disease, has become like your neighborhood flu.

Suddenly, everybody has it.

And doesn’t everybody know it.

“The last couple of years, I think a lot of us would look at the Cowboys and 49ers during the regular season and think, ‘Man, can anybody take them?’ ” said Leroy Butler, Packer safety. “This year, it’s different. This year, people are looking at them like, ‘This could be our chance.”’

The 49ers agreed, mighty big of them considering they blew the home-field advantage last week with a loss to an Atlanta Falcon team that they had beaten by 31 points earlier in the season.

“All the teams are very, very capable,” said George Seifert, 49er coach. “Anybody could bust out of this thing and eventually get to the Super Bowl. It’s as tough a field as I’ve seen.”

Jesse Sapolu, the veteran 49er lineman who should go directly from the field to the Hall of Fame, agreed.

“We had a chance to be the No. 1 seed yet the No. 6 seed beat us,” Sapolu said. “That right there shows you the quality of the field.”

There are seven other reasons it could be them:

The Mike Holmgren factor

Holmgren, the coach of the Green Bay Packers, helped refine the 49er offensive system when he was an offensive coach there during the late 1980’s. He knows it as well as his own, because it is his own.

He has not had an opportunity to use this knowledge against them since he bolted the 49ers after the 1991 season. If the Packers defeat the Falcons, he will finally get his chance. Don’t bet against him.

Once past San Francisco, Holmgren would probably then take his team to Dallas, where he has lost five times in the last three years. He admits that this is the opponent, and the place, and that have cost him more sleepless nights than any others.

If the Packers ever won a game for their beloved coach, this would be it. Don’t bet against them.

The Jeff George factor

George, the Atlanta Falcons’ brilliant but truly weird quarterback, will be the top free agent this spring. If he leads them through a round or two, he will surely bolt the team to become an insanely rich passer somewhere else.

His teammates know this. Could it inspire them to play beyond their average capabilities and achieve a triumph of heroic proportions, thereby getting rid of the sniveling whiner?

Just a thought.

You cover him! No, you!

Neither the Cowboys or the 49ers have the sort of pass defense that can stop the Detroit Lions’ Herman Moore, Brett Perriman and Johnny Morton.

The Cowboys Deion Sanders can stop Moore. But Larry Brown cannot dream of covering Perriman, who caught only 15 fewer balls than NFL-leader Moore (123-108) for just 198 fewer yards (1686-1488)?

And what do the Cowboys do with Morton, a smart slot receiver who is developing a knack, as he did at USC, for making the big play?

Of course, knowing the coaches here, Switzer will probably have Sanders covering a tight end while Fontes will refuse to throw to Moore.

The 49ers have equally large matchup problems. Eric Davis is not tall enough, and Marquez Pope is not quick enough, to cover Moore.

The 49er safeties can help knock him and Perriman on their rears but, well, who will watch Barry Sanders? With the safeties playing run support earlier in the year, Moore and Perriman combined to catch 15 passes for 188 yards?

Barry’s night out

Switzer’s son Doug, to the dismay of most in the organization, is not a two-sport athlete at the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff. He only plays football.

Which means, there is no reason for his father to leave the team hotel on the nights before game to watch him compete. Which means, Switzer will attend every strategy meeting from now until the end of the season.

Which surely means something bad, we just aren’t sure what.

Blackened revenge

Brett Favre, the Packers’ MVP quarterback, wants to whip the Falcons in the opener Sunday because, several years ago, they gave up on him.

He wants to whip the 49ers the next week because he had a better year than Steve Young and yet will receive half the endorsements.

He wants to whip the Cowboys in the championship game because, well, there is something about those people always referring to his Mississippi homeland as a sort of redneck Riviera.

Revenge of the nerd

Barry Sanders has been quiet all season as Emmitt Smith and Jerry Rice have set records and made noise.

Sanders finished second to Smith in the NFL rushing race with 1,500 yards, but you never heard a peep. He finished second to Smith in total yards from scrimmage with 1,898 yards - 14 more than Rice - and … silence.

Smith may take off his helmet and strut after touchdowns, and Rice may curse the media after controversy, but Sanders has something else that will make him stand out.

He has a running style that gives their defenses difficulty. The 49ers ranked first in the NFL in rushing defense, and held Sanders to 24 yards on 17 carries earlier this year, but that was before Scott Mitchell found his nerve.

As for the Cowboys and their injury-depleted defensive line, well, Rodney Hampton gained 187 yards them against two weeks ago when half the league thought he had already retired.

Big Daddy

Randall Cunningham, who mostly behaves himself as Rodney Peete’s backup in Philadelphia, admitted this week that he may miss the playoff opener Saturday against the Detroit Lions for family reasons.

Cunningham said Wednesday that he will fly to Las Vegas if his pregnant wife, Felicity, goes into labor before her scheduled delivery date, which is Sunday.

“My wife is more important than football,” Cunningham said. “If you have a wife, I think you understand. If something happens wrong, you’d never be able to live that down. You’ve got to get your priorities right.”

If Cunningham is not there, then third-stringer Jay Fiedler, who has yet to take a big-league snap, would be the man.

This means that Ricky Watters and Charlie Garner would get about 25 carries each, and the Lions’ 18th-ranked run defense would shatter.