ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, January 6, 1997 TAG: 9701060137
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE, N.C.
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
Sorry, cheeseheads.
The sleet-pelted Lambeau Field fans screamed ``We Want Dallas!'' in the waning moments of Saturday's NFC playoff victory over San Francisco.
They won't see the hated Cowboys on the frozen tundra for Sunday's NFC championship game. In the NFL, it's the year of the cat, although you could hardly label these 2-year-old title contenders as kitties.
``I know it's cold there,'' said Carolina safety Pat Terrell said of Green Bay. ``Hey, if the game were in Alaska I'd gladly jump on a plane.''
Just like he jumped on a Troy Aikman pass for a clinching interception in the Panthers' 26-17 upset of Dallas on Sunday evening, right?
Just like Terrell jumped into the Ericsson Stadium stands after his pickoff, making like the happy Packers with their ``Lambeau Leaps'' after touchdowns, right?
``Let me correct you on that,'' Terrell said. ``I attempted to jump into the stands. I just didn't make it. I got about halfway. The legs were gone.''
The Panthers, 9-0 at home this season, followed Jacksonville's stunning triumph at Denver on Saturday to put both second-year teams in the Super Bowl semifinals.
The Panthers and Jaguars going this far might seem like having two Colonial Athletic Association teams reach basketball's Final Four, but it's not. These are exceptional expansionists, especially the Panthers.
Jacksonville may be a true wild card going to New England for the AFC title game, but Carolina (13-4) won the NFC West Division. About half of the Panthers' 53-man roster had playoff experience. Twelve have played in a Super Bowl.
Nine Carolina defensive starters previously had been in the postseason. The exceptions were Terrell and second-year cornerback Tyrone Poole, and those are the two against whom Aikman was trying to rally the hobbled Cowboys.
On consecutive third-and-10 plays trying to drive Dallas from its own 2-yard line, Aikman picked on Poole and got pass-interference and holding penalties, respectively. When he tried it again, lofting a first-down pass toward Poole and Kevin Williams, Terrell did his best imitation of a center fielder.
``It seemed like it was up there forever,'' Terrell said of his fourth interception of the season. ``They were desperate for a big play, and it looked like they were going to throw it back on Poole's side again.
``Aikman had to allow some time for the receiver to get downfield, and I just anticipated that was where he was going.''
The Dallas quarterback wasn't left with many options. Michael Irvin suffered a broken right collarbone on Dallas' second offensive play. Deion Sanders was knocked silly on a reverse. The Panthers had plugged the rushing of Emmitt Smith.
The Cowboys weren't going to beat Carolina - not here - with the kind of offensive inconsistency they displayed during the regular season, before last weekend's pasting of Minnesota in the first round of the playoffs.
Dallas managed only one touchdown against one of the league's best defenses. In nine games at Ericsson this season, the Panthers gave up 19 second-half points, and only two field goals in the fourth quarter.
Coach Dom Capers' club also controlled the line of scrimmage and - appropriately at home - went with a Jesse Helms offense, a nothing-spectacular attack that Dallas coach Barry Switzer called ``vanilla'' in the days before kickoff.
Carolina held a six-point lead at halftime, then tried only five second-half passes. Panthers quarterback Kerry Collins was steady, and goes to Green Bay with only four interceptions in his past 38 quarters.
Anthony Johnson ran through the Cowboys for 104 yards, the sixth 100-yard game in 12 starts for the unheralded former Notre Dame fullback.
``I don't know if that's conservative or not,'' Johnson said. ``They couldn't stop it. Like they say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.''
It was the 51st playoff game in Dallas' history and the first for Carolina, but free agency and liberalized construction guidelines for the 1995 expansion teams narrowed the gap between infancy and defending Super Bowl champions.
So, for the first time since Washington's 1991 victory over Detroit at RFK Stadium, neither the Cowboys nor the 49ers will play in the NFC championship game.
``I've been in the league seven years [with the Rams, Jets and Panthers] and it's mostly been a long road,'' Terrell said. ``I'm surely not going to take for granted where this team is.
``I don't know about Jacksonville, but on our team, we all believed we could be where we are right now. That's not arrogance. It's just hard work, belief in each other.
``Everyone else may be surprised, but people in this locker room aren't surprised.''
LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines KEYWORDS: FOOTBALLby CNB