I may have been a little hasty judging the Vikings (“Hasty? You, Darrell?” :D); they played like the team everyone was expecting at the start of the season. They have a number of very winnable games coming up, so there might be a little steam in that bandwagon yet. Of course, it all goes out the window if they get whomped by the Packers on Nov. 17…
Well, the Cowboys, unfortunately, couldn’t get it done. (Geez, just one more stop to give your kicker a chance to ice it.) Thankfully, I haven’t heard any “record’s meaningless because they couldn’t win where it counted” BS; if anything, the rationalizations have gone the other way. (Of course, these are the Seahawks we’re talking about here.) I suppose it’s because the real issue is whether Emmitt Smith is the greatest running back of all time, and you can bet that we won’t hear the end of THAT one for a while. My take: Who the frag knows. He benefitted from a great coach, a fine quarterback and offensive line, and an owner who always played to win. None of this, however, should detract from Smith’s tremenous heart and, don’t forget, smart running (say, avoiding unnecessary hits, the kind which destroyed Terrell Davis’ career). In light of this, I have to agree with the comparisons to Michael Jordan, also a great athlete who nevertheless benefitted from a fantastic team. (The difference, of course, is that every argument over Smith’s greatness is sure to bring up Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin, Jimmy Johnson, Jerry Jones, and that monster offensive line, while no one even remembers Scottie Pippen, Horace Grant, or Phil Jackson anymore, but that’s another issue.)
Missed NFL Primetime both times it was on, and too much of it was devoted to the record, so…nothing more to say, really. Later.