Down, But Dangerous

At one point in the 80° heat at Sun Devil Stadium on Sunday, the Cowboys fielded a defense that included safeties Roger Harper and Charlie Williams, cornerback Wendell Davis, linebacker Randall Godfrey and tackle Hurvin McCormack—hardly household names. The stars were elsewhere: end Charles Haley in a Dallas suburb recuperating from back surgery that will probably sideline him for the rest of this season; tackle Leon Lett lying low after being slapped last week with a one-year drug suspension; corner Deion Sanders in the locker room getting treatment for back spasms that hit him during pregame warmups.

The Cowboys beat the Cardinals 10-6, surviving despite an offense that most of the time looked more like that of the 1996 Saints than the one that drove Dallas to the Super Bowl three of the past four seasons. But with all the chinks in the Cowboys' personal and professional armor, one thing is clear: Opponents still have reason to fear Dallas. On Sunday wideout Michael Irvin ran up 198 yards on eight receptions, most of them against Aeneas Williams, one of the league's best cornerbacks. "You take a poll of all the playoff contenders," Dallas guard Nate Newton said after the Cowboys, at 9-5, had moved into sole possession of the NFC East lead for the first time this season. "Ask 'em: 'What team don't you want to play?' We've been beaten down by the salary cap and the will of God, but I guarantee you, we'll make Green Bay grab their privates if we play them again."

God didn't direct Lett to abuse drugs, but that's another matter. After losing Lett, one of the league's premier defensive players, Dallas was written off by many around the NFL. So the Cowboys spent the days leading up to the game against the Cardinals developing an us-against-the-world mentality. "Circle the wagons," defensive coordinator Dave Campo told his players, "because nobody's on our side but us."

Dallas still has the league's top-ranked defense, which limited Arizona to a pair of field goals, and a respectable defensive tackle rotation led by Chad Hennings and the reinvigorated Tony Casillas. But Packers quarterback Brett Favre, whose attack was shut down 21-6 by the Cowboys on Nov. 18, is all too familiar with the way Lett can disrupt an offense. "When we played Dallas our philosophy was: Leon Lett will not beat us," says Favre. "Leon on artificial turf is unstoppable, and we had to plan every play with him in mind. We double-teamed him on every play. Now if we play Dallas, we'll be able to block the tackles with one guy each and maybe double one of their ends, depending on the situation."

Then he chuckled. "One thing you have to admire about Dallas is that every time you say, 'They can't do it,' what do they do? They always do it. You can't kill 'em."

Junior Achievement

NFL scouts have some advice for a couple of college juniors who are contemplating whether to enter the draft: Ohio State tackle Orlando Pace should declare for the April proceedings, but Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning should stay in school.

"Pace is the best offensive lineman I've ever seen in college football," says one personnel director. "There's nothing he can't do. He can pancake one guy, and he has the attitude and ability to keep going and pancake another one. I think Pace is a physical freak. Lawrence Taylor was a physical freak, a player who is bigger and stronger and faster than everybody else at his position. Players like that are so rare, you drool when one comes along."

Scouts love Manning's potential, but they point to his mediocre 1996 season and, with the exception of the Patriots' Drew Bledsoe, the struggling careers of quarterbacks who have left college early for the draft. "It's crucial that young quarterbacks play as many games as they can play," says one personnel director. "Manning should look at the Heath Shulers to see what happens many times when young quarterbacks come out early."

Curtain Calls