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Cowboys Not Worried About December Slide

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 3, 2008

IRVING, Texas - When there was a call in the Dallas Cowboys' defensive meeting room for players who had been part of a playoff victory to stand up, nearly everybody stayed in their seats.

"I'm definitely looking forward to winning my first one. A lot of us are," LB Akin Ayodele said Wednesday. "We actually had guys stand, and it was only two of them."

It was S Ken Hamlin and NT Tank Johnson, both first-year Cowboys whose postseason victories came with other teams.

And there aren't many players on offense that can claim to be postseason winners either. Terrell Owens is one of four in that group, again all winning before they got to Dallas.

Still, the confidence of the Cowboys (13-3) hasn't been shaken by the lack of postseason success on their roster or a December slide in which they didn't score a touchdown in two losses and their two wins came against teams that didn't make the playoffs.

"I don't think we've lost our swagger at all," Ayodele said.

As Coach Wade Phillips pointed out, the Cowboys accomplished their goal by being the NFC's No. 1 seed and are in the same position as the AFC's New England Patriots, the first team to go 16-0 in the regular season.

"They're still only the No. 1 seed, just like we are," he said.

REMEMBER THE UNDERDOG: Washington Redskins WR Antwaan Randle El knows what it's like to cruise into the playoffs as a division champion. He also knows what it's like to win four straight at the end of the regular season to snag the final postseason berth.

Guess what year he won his Super Bowl ring?

It was the underdog year, of course, when the Pittsburgh Steelers of two seasons ago became the first team to win three playoff games on the road before capturing the NFL title.

That's why Randle El thinks momentum ought to count for something in Saturday's first-round game against Seattle.

"It's hard to just show up, you know what I mean?" Randle El said. "It's hard to start playing extremely well in the playoffs, and that's why I'm glad we've been playing well leading up to it and having to win out. That's one of the biggest things. The other thing is not letting up now."

The Associated Press

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