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Sporting News, The, Feb 5, 1996 by Paul Attner

This victory celebration, of course, was different from the first two. This time it was Barry Switzer, not Jimmy Johnson, who received the Gatorade bath. This time it was Switzer, not Johnson, who touched the Lombardi Trophy and who could proclaim the Cowboys the best damn football team in the land.

Yet these three Super Bowl triumphs Dallas over the past four seasons are linked by a common bond. They are the building blocks that established these Cowboys as an elite modern-era team, raising them into that rarefied atmosphere already occupied Vince Lombardi's Packers, Chuck Noll's Steelers and the rest of the legendary clubs since the late 1940s. An unprecedented three rings in four years is the resume of a dynasty. No debate needed.

"They are," says Noll, who knows something about these things, "a great, great team. People think it is easy to do what they have done. But it isn't Or more would have done it."

But as we watched the Cowboys strut their stuff, as only Deion and friends can do, there also was a sad sense of finality about what was happening on the turf of Sun Devil Stadium.

For Dallas also is the last elite team the NFL will see.

The destructive effects of gnawing away at the best and weakesy, will see to that Free agency is great equalizer," says Tom Flores, who coached the Raiders to two Super Bowl rings. "It can close the talent gap faster than you could do in the past. And it is too hard now to keep great teams together. That is why I don't think you will ever see dynasties anymore."

Even this last dynasty is hanging on now. Far from dominating the Steelers in Super Bowl XXX, the Cowboys needed two timely takeaways to survive the 27-17 triumph. It was a game they should have lost but didn't. They won't be so fortunate in the future.

"We won't be as good next year as we are this year," Switzer says, realistically. Free agency likewise will make sure of that.

This glowing moment in the cool Arizona night stands as the peak moment for an historical team. It never will be the same for this franchise or for this league. For the gap between the Cowboys and the rest of the NFL closed noticeably this season; the Steelers' magnificent effort last Sunday served to accentuate what losess to the Redskins and Eagles already had exposed. Remember, Dallas had to struggle to secure home-field advantage in these playoffs. And the gap in 1996 will diminish even further, so much so that the Cowboys won't make it four out of five.

"We'd like to think we have positioned ourselves to continue to challenge for the Super Bowl,' says Owner Jerry Jones, who gained sweet satisfaction winning this game With Switzer instead of Johnson, who was cast aside after championship No. 2. "But we know we will have to suffer some hits." By now, it is obvious Jones knows something about budding and maintaining teams. But he has paid a terrible salary-cap price to continue the Cowboy greatness, and it is that overwhelming debt to the future that will return his franchise to a lower level. And the crowning irony is that a defense that bailed out the Cowboys against the Steelers will be so ravaged by free agency in the offseason it no longer will be of championship caliber.

If Pittsburgh could come this close to a ring, then why shouldn't teams such as Green Bay, San Francisco, Indianapolis, Kansas City, San Diego and even Philadelphia and Miami suddenly feel more optimistic in 1996 about their championship chances? Combine that hope with the blows the Cowboys will take in free agency, and this next season could prove to be one of the most wide-open and electrifying in years. And possibly even the NFC's domination of the Super Bowl now 12 seasons long, finally will end.

"You don't feel Dallas and San Francisco are invincible anymore," Packers quarterback Brett Favre says. "What happened to both of them during the season gave everyone else the feeling they were now vulnerable. You look at it like, 'If we can get just a little better, we could catch up and overcome them."

The 49ers need a running back; the Packers some defensive help. Both are possible offseason improvements. Still, the Steelers are obvious first choices to jump on top. But they have a major problem of their own. Quarterback Neil O'Donnell, whose two poorly thrown passes led to two Cowboy touchdowns and decided the game's outcome, is a free agent who wants to return to Pittsburgh. But he will be a popular prospect for other teams, particularly the Eagles who need to upgrade a position now occupied by Rodney Peete. Without O'Donnell, the Steelers will tumble considerably. With him, and with a defense that should be healthier and better, they are formidable. Remember, they lost only two of their last 12 games, and both could have just as easily been victories.

"O'Donnell is underappreciated," says Phil Simms, the former Giants quarterback who now is a TV commentator. "He is a hell of a quarterback who still is young (29). He's going to get better. I have the same feeling about him that I had about Brett Favre two years ago."