Veteran Cowboys face youthful Cardinal club

Texas Stadium, Irving, Texas,
Saturday, Jan. 2

AT A GLANCE: The playoff-savvy Cowboys get to meet a familiar foe in the first round of the playoffs. Their opponent, division-rival Arizona is making its first postseason appearance in a non-strike season since 1975.

While the Cowboys and Cardinals are familiar with each other, having to face off twice per season, there are very few similarities between these teams.

The Cowboys are a veteran club that knows the pressures of playoff football. They are making their seventh postseason appearance in the last eight seasons, with their only absence coming in 1997. The Cardinals are one of the NFL’s youngest teams, with only 12 players on the roster with any postseason experience. The last time this franchise was in the playoffs was during the 1982 strike-shortened season. The last time the Cardinals won a playoff game was in 1947, when the team was still based in Chicago.

Dallas finished the regular season by defeating the Redskins, which pushed the Cowboys’ division record to a perfect 8-0, including two wins earlier in the season over the Cardinals. After hitting a late-season slide that included a three-game losing streak, the Cowboys looked sharp in Week 17.

Arizona hasn’t beaten a team with a winning record this season and made a habit out of taking games down the wire. Their last six victories were decided by a total of 15 points.

Dallas holds the edge in this series, 49-23-1 straight-up. The Cardinals haven’t won at Texas Stadium since 1989, and Dallas has won 16 of the last 17 meetings straight-up.

WHEN THE CARDINALS HAVE THE BALL:

The Cardinals have become very adept at pulling out close games this season. In fact, six of Arizona’s wins in 1998 came on field goals scored in the final four minutes of the game. QB Jake Plummer is developing into the one the league’s better come-from-behind quarterbacks, having led the Cardinals to nine victories in his two NFL seasons when the team trailed or was tied in the final quarter. However, the Cardinals want to avoid placing their young quarterback in that position against such an experienced playoff team.

Plummer is at his best when he’s improvising. He was playing a little more restrained early in the season, before cutting loose a little more late in the year, usually with positive results. He has two great receiving targets in WR’s Frank Sanders and Rob Moore. Sanders led the NFC in receptions this season with 89. Look for those two to be especially involved if Cowboy CB Deion Sanders (toe) misses his sixth consecutive start, which is very likely.

Another key for the Cardinals will be the production of RB Adrian Murrell, who is coming off a miserable 25-yard outing last week. Murrell is a free-lance runner who needs to have his blockers keep his cutback lanes open. He could be in for a rough day vs. a Cowboy defense that shut down the Cardinals’ running attack in both meetings this year (77 total yards in two games).

The Cardinal offensive line must be on its toes this week, as the Cowboys appear to be blitzing more of late.