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| | | | | | | | Tuesday, September 12, 2000
Cowboys off to a rocky 0-2 start
Associated Press
TEMPE -- Jake Plummer brought happy memories back to Arizona.
|  | | Jake Plummer certainly has a flair for the dramatic. |
The slender quarterback, criticized as a one-year wonder after taking the
Cardinals to the playoffs in 1998 and then flopping last year when he had a hand
injury, passed the Cardinals to a 32-31 victory over the Dallas Cowboys on
Sunday night.
Plummer passed to David Boston
for 63 yards on the Cardinals' last
possession -- a play that ended at
the Dallas 22. Two running plays
later, Plummer passed 17 yards to
Frank Sanders for the touchdown
that produced the final score with
1:54 left.
"I love throwing to Frank,
especially when I'm on the run,"
Plummer said. "Last year I didn't
get him enough touchdowns, so I'm
glad to get him two today."
Coach Dave Campo, the Cowboys defensive coordinator until this year, said the
scheme called for double coverage on Plummer's go-to receiver.
"If you can't cover him with two guys, I don't know what to do," Campo said.
The Cardinals (1-1) went for two points, but Thomas Jones was stopped on a
running play. Needing just a field goal to win, backup quarterback Randall
Cunningham guided the Cowboys past midfield, but misfired on his last four
attempts.
It was the 12th fourth-quarter comeback victory Plummer has directed in his
40-game career, and it might have saved the career of coach Vince Tobin. ESPN,
which carried the game, reported at the start that Tobin's job hung in the balance.
"This is my fifth year here, and we've had a lot of great comebacks," Tobin said.
"This has to go down as one of the most cherished. This may be the best one."
The victory also denied Campo his first victory in two games.
Michael Pittman scored on a 1-yard run, Cary Blanchard kicked four field goals
and Plummer threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Sanders for the Cardinals.
"Watching Jake in the huddle, it was a blessing," Sanders said. "He was so poised.
He was in total control."
But Cunningham overshadowed Plummer most of the game. Both players threw
for 243 yards.
Cunningham had three scoring passes, including a 46-yard bomb to James
McKnight. But Troy Aikman's replacement, playing with a sprained thumb similar
to Plummer's injury last year, had his best moments early.
He completed his first 13 passes -- then was 11-for-21 the rest of the way.
After the Cardinals regained the lead for the first time since the second quarter,
Cunningham marched the Cowboys downfield.
Cunningham kept the drive alive with a 6-yard pass to Jackie Harris on
fourth-and-5, and on the next play found Harris for 21 yards to the Arizona 43.
But the drive fizzled.
Wane McGarity returned a punt 64 yards to score -- the Cowboys' first
punt-return touchdown since Deion Sanders took one 70 yards against
Washington last Oct. 24.
The Cowboys got lucky on their final touchdown, a 15-yard scoring grab by
Michael Wiley that made it 31-23.
Simeon Rice, the Cardinals' franchise player who didn't report until Thursday, hit
Cunningham as he released the ball, and it wobbled just over the line of
scrimmage. But Wiley was in the open area, caught the ball in stride and ran into
the end zone 6:07 into the fourth quarter.
It took Blanchard's second field goal -- a 54-yard effort as the first half elapsed --
for the Cardinals to close to 21-13 at halftime.
But the Cowboys started the third quarter with the ball, and Cunningham had a
15-yard run and a 2-yard dive for a first down on fourth-and-inches on the way to
a 45-yard field goal by Tim Seder that sent Dallas to a 24-13 lead 6:44 into the
third.
The Cardinals responded with an 87-yard scoring drive capped by Plummer's
4-yard scoring pass to Sanders with 2:34 left in the period, and made a break
when cornerback David Barrett ripped the ball out of McKnight's hands after a
catch and recovered on the Dallas 24.
But Arizona gained only 7 yards in three plays and settled for a 35-yard field goal
by Blanchard to cut it to 24-23 as the fourth quarter began.
Emmitt Smith, who needed eight yards to become the third player in history to
rush for 14,000 yards, got there on his second carry and finished with 59 yards on
16 attempts. But Arizona's patched-up defense generally held him in check.
"We scored 31 points -- not enough to win, and we need to continue to score
more," Smith said. "You've got to outscore your opponent."
The Cardinals marched 67 yards to score their first points on an opening drive in
19 games since Dec. 27, 1998, against San Diego.
Game notes
The victory was only Arizona's fourth in its last 20 regular-season games with
Dallas, but the second consecutive. ... Cunningham played because of Aikman's
10th career concussion, making the 131st start of his 15-year career. ... Before
McGarity, the last opponent to score against Arizona on a punt return was
Washington's Brian Mitchell on Dec. 7, 1997. ... Cunningham ran for 34 yards,
raising his NFL-leading career total for quarterbacks to 4,838, and has 202
career touchdown passes. ... Eleven of the last 13 Cowboys-Cardinals games at
Sun Devil Stadium were decided by eight points or less. ... Boston had 102 yards
on six catches, his second consecutive 100-yard game.
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