Parity Wreaks Havoc On Nfl’s Top Teams

Dallas loses, Jacksonville wins. Only one team is unbeaten after five weeks and only two are winless. Bert Bell’s bromide “on any given Sunday …” is still around in Paul Tagliabue’s NFL.

So is Pete Rozelle’s parity.

OK, no one smiles when two big stars are hurt - Troy Aikman of Dallas with a strained calf and Steve Young of San Francisco with an aching shoulder. But they do smile when the season is five weeks old, there’s only one unbeaten left and it’s the Miami Dolphins, not San Francisco or Dallas.

Particularly when it’s not Dallas.

If Jerry Jones (and Nike’s Phil Knight) were crowing last Tuesday after the 49ers lost, are they now humble after the 27-23 loss by the Cowboys at Washington? It was a case of the Redskins’ Norv Turner, Jimmy Johnson’s former offensive coordinator, badly outcoaching Barry Switzer, although Switzer immediately passed the blame to his assistants, his defense, the officials and everyone else.

In reality, what has happened in the past week demonstrates why nobody goes undefeated in the NFL’s 17-week endurance test. Despite San Francisco’s loss to Detroit last Monday and Dallas’ loss Sunday, they still remain the NFL’s dominant teams, with the Dolphins approaching them and the Oakland Raiders coming up on the outside.

The St. Louis Rams’ bubble burst - predictably. They weren’t good enough to go 5-0, so they didn’t, losing in Indianapolis because they finally started turning over the ball.

Jets and … Jets south

For years, the New York Jets and Atlanta Falcons have been the same team - Jets and Jets South. Although the Jets are 1-4 and the Falcons are 4-1, is there reason to think this year is any different?

The northern Jets are just plain bad. Their defense was supposed to be their strong point, yet they’ve surrendered 149 points, most in the league and an average of 30 points per game.

The southern Jets may be setting up their fans for the kind of fall to which northern Jets fans are accustomed. In 1986, the New York version was 10-1 and finished 10-6. That same year, the southern Jets began 5-1-1, then lost seven of their last nine.

So Georgians can be excused if they’re skeptical, particularly considering the Falcons’ wins have come over the Panthers (in overtime); Saints (in overtime), Jets and Patriots (without Drew Bledsoe). The combined record of their victims is 2-16.

Buddyball

Bill Bidwill sold a lot of tickets when he hired Buddy Ryan.

In retrospect, he should have stuck with Joe Bugel.

Ryan got some laughs Sunday (doesn’t he always?) when he said after Arizona’s 24-3 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs: “As general manager, I think the coach is doing a hell of a job.”

But the highlight that got the most laughs was Steve Bono trotting for a 76-yard TD when all 11 Cardinals went for his play fake on third and inches. Bono was escorted down the field by Joe Valerio without a Cardinal in sight.

Then Buddy said he didn’t know who had responsibility for Bono (Seth Joyner said he was the culprit). It proves one thing: Bidwill should have stayed with Bugel, who had almost turned around the Cards.

End zone

Dallas officials said a strained right calf will probably keep quarterback Aikman sidelined the next three weeks… . Mike Cofer, who made only four of nine field-goal attempts this season, was released by Indianapolis… . Pittsburgh quarterback Neil O’Donnell, impatient to play after missing four games with a broken finger, will resume practicing Wednesday and may play Sunday in Jacksonville.