If the first week of the season is any indicator, make the Dallas Cowboys the favorites to win a third Super Bowl in four years.
Unlike the San Francisco 49ers, who struggled to beat New Orleans on Sunday, the Cowboys came out in midseason form on Monday night and humiliated the New York Giants 35-0 in a game even more lopsided than the score.Emmitt Smith scored on a 60-yard run on his first carry of the season and added three 1-yard runs while gaining 163 yards on 21 carries.
Troy Aikman threw for 228 yards, hitting Michael Irvin and Jay Novacek a combined 12 times for 200 yards and a touchdown, while Dallas' defense didn't allow New York closer than its 15.
"It was total domination in all areas, special teams, offense, defense," Cowboys coach Barry Switzer said. "When the Dallas Cowboys can run the football like we ran it tonight, it is very difficult to beat us. It's going to be really fun to look at the film and the offensive line and see how they gashed up."
The segment of film Switzer won't like seeing is late in the second quarter when cornerback Kevin Smith went down with what appeared to be a season-ending Achilles injury.
"I want to tell Jerry, `Hey, it's serious now,' " Switzer said in a serious tone. "Get Deion (Sanders). We need Deion now."
While the Cowboys look to fill a cornerback slot, the Giants are definitely heading back to the drawing board after their worst regular-season loss since a 44-7 setback to San Diego in 1980. It was their first shutout at home since 1976 and their first shutout in an opener since 1934.
"If you use this as a measuring stick, we have a long way to go," said Giants coach Dan Reeves, who had hoped his team would challenge the three-time defending NFC East champion Cowboys this season.
It took the Cowboys only one series to show their superiority, going 75 yards in three plays. The last 60 came on a burst by Smith off the right side of the line that caught the Giants in a blitz. One step beyond the line and he was gone.
And so were the Giants, for that matter.
"I think the first touchdown kind of hurt us, but you just say, `OK, it's 7-0. Let's throw it out the window and let's go play football,' " Giants veteran safety Vencie Glenn said. "But we never got back on track. I can't never say we were on track, but we just never bounced back and they dictated the whole game, no ifs, ands or buts. They dictated every phase of the game."
Dallas pushed its lead to 21-0 with scoring drives of 65 and 59 yards in the second quarter. Aikman, who was 15-of-20, hit Irvin (7 catches for 109 yards) on a 7-yard scoring pass and Smith scored the first of the three short TDs.
Smith has 75 for his career, breaking the team mark of 72 set by Tony Dorsett.
New York's best scoring chance came late in the quarter, but a 42-yard field goal attempt by Brad Daluiso was partially blocked by Tony Tolbert.
After Phil Simms No. 11 jersey was retired at halftime by the Giants, Dallas came back on the field and finished off New York with a seven play, 80-yard drive.
"The shutout was great," Cowboys middle linebacker Robert Jones said. "I think that sends out a message to the rest of the teams that the Cowboys are not joking around this year. We had it taken away from us last year and we're going to fight for it this year."
Dallas held a 459-211 edge in yardage, averaging 8.2 yards per play to 3.8 for New York. The Cowboys also limited New York's usually good running game to 65 yards, but it should be noted the Giants' offensive line was banged up most of the preseason.
"They just came out and executed and didn't make any mistakes," Giants linebacker Michael Brooks said. "We made a lot of mistakes and everybody is to blame."