THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 6, 1997 TAG: 9701060149
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Bob Molinaro
LENGTH: 68 lines
You can say the Dallas Cowboys were beaten Sunday by the Carolina Panthers, and you'd be right.
But, to me, it looked like they were put out of their misery.
Technically speaking, these were the ``Defending Champion Cowboys'' who fell in Charlotte, though you might get an argument about that.
Anyone who saw Michael Irvin dressed in street clothes, Deion Sanders carted off in a daze, and Emmitt Smith running on egg shells could not have mistaken these Cowboys for genuine contenders.
Also, it was only a matter of time (the playoffs) and place (on the road) before the Cowboys' inability to score when in the shadow of the opponent's goal line caught up with them.
Finally, in the dying light of the Dallas season, an embattled and frustrated Troy Aikman was heaving passes to somebody named Billy Davis, and trying to hook up with a retread receiver named Kelvin Martin.
Now pro football must go the remainder of the season without its most loathed and loved team - in other words, its most bankable product.
Presumably, America will cope, as the talk show conversations turn from courts and torts to blocks and tackles.
According to former Secretary of Education William Bennett, the Cowboys' off-field misconduct, both proven and alleged, is ``hurting this country's morale.''
Well, now. No surviving playoff participant possesses this sort of power, a good thing most likely. Instead, the NFL Final Four offers an odd, but beguiling mix of old and new.
The presence of the Green Bay Packers creates a wistfulness for '60s folklore, even as the Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars give a new twist to the phrase ``Terrible Twos.''
Nobody can seem to mention Brett Favre and the Packers without recalling the Lombardi Era. Even the constant references over the weekend to Lambeau Field's ``frozen tundra'' reveal a nation in Packer time warp.
Holy Fuzzy Thurston! Since installing heating coils under their home turf, the Packers have defrosted the tundra. As cold as it was in Green Bay Saturday, the 49ers and Pack slogged through muck the consistency of a thawed-out Slurpee.
Whatever the playing conditions, Green Bay is now the heavy favorite to win it all, and a solid sentimental choice for Baby Boomers who remember the Pack from way back.
Meanwhile, the Panthers have captured America's undying gratitude for eliminating the Cowboys and instantly improving the country's morale.
The nation's Cowboys fixation aside, though, the Carolina franchise has now won a single playoff game. One game. And on its home field, at that. After a bye week. Against a depleted team.
As good as they looked against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the New England Patriots also have won but a single home playoff game this season.
Which brings us to the Jaguars, the big story of these playoffs.
The Jags have gone on the road the last two weekends to beat the Buffalo Bills and John Elway's Denver Broncos. In the NFL this season, nothing outside Michael Irvin's private life has been more astonishing than Jacksonville's postseason run.
People tuning in Saturday expecting to see a lefthanded quarterback wearing No. 8 and driving defenses crazy with his passing and running were not disappointed. Only instead of Steve Young, it was relatively unknown Mark Brunell who riveted our attention.
Brunell's ways and Natrone Means have created exciting possibilities, not just for Jacksonville, but for the NFL's TV Nation.
Jaguars in the Super Bowl?
The thought of that - so preposterous just a week ago - is enough to boost most any fan's morale.