Cowboys Beat Steelers 26-9

	PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Dallas Cowboys fans waited nervously for
months to learn what effect new coach Barry Switzer would have on
the two-time defending Super Bowl champions. The answer: None.
	Emmitt Smith and Troy Aikman were as good as ever and a
question-mark Dallas defense led by Charles Haley was even better,
sacking Neil O'Donnell nine times and disrupting Pittsburgh's game
plan in the Cowboys' dominating 26-9 victory Sunday.
	Smith ran for 171 yards and a touchdown and Aikman directed
scoring drives on Dallas' first four possessions as the Cowboys,
acting like they'd taken only a week off since the Super Bowl
rather than eight months, won their ninth in a row over two
seasons.
	Aikman was 21 of 32 for 245 yards, many on timing pattern throws
to Michael Irvin, who made eight catches for 139 yards, as Switzer
and the Cowboys passed a critical opening day test by outgaining
Pittsburgh 442-126.
	Switzer, coaching his first game in five years since his
unceremonial ouster by Oklahoma and his surprise hiring to replace
Jimmy Johnson, let the Cowboys be the Cowboys. That was more than
good enough to overwhelm a team billed as the Steelers' best since
their Super Bowl teams of the 1970s.
	There was no surprises and no Switzer-installed wrinkles in
coordinator Ernie Zampese's offense as the Cowboys scored on all
four of their first-half possessions and effectively put Pittsburgh
away with 10 points in the final 1:15 of the half for a 16-3
halftime lead.
	Haley thoroughly confused Pittsburgh's veteran offensive line,
sacking a frustrated O'Donnell four times as the Cowboys' defense
hardly acted like it missed departed veterans Tony Casillas and Ken
Norton.
	Pittsburgh's offense never was the same after its first
possession as O'Donnell was sacked three straight times for 25
yards in losses -- two by Haley -- after the Steelers drove to the
Cowboys' 38. The sacks left the Steelers out of field-goal range,
and the Cowboys responded with a 10-play drive finished off by
Chris Boniol's 40-yard field goal.
	Boniol, an untested rookie free agent from Louisiana Tech who
was almost as big a question mark as Switzer, made all four of his
field goal attempts in his first NFL game, including a 31-yard on
the Cowboys' next possession.
	Gary Anderson's 41-yarder on his first attempt following a
five-week holdout cut it to 6-3, but Smith promptly answered with a
46-yard run on Dallas' next play to the Steelers' 33.
	Smith carried on seven of the next 10 plays before Daryl
Johnston made a tumbling, diving catch of a pressured Aikman pass
with 1:15 left before halftime. Kevin Greene was draped all over
the quarterback as he threw, but Aikman still got the ball off.
	Two plays before, a critical pass interference penalty on
second-year cornerback Deon Figures on Alvin Harper gave Dallas a
first down at the 1.
	The Steelers made a key strategical blunder on their next
possession. Lining up with five wide receivers on first down from
their 26, Jim Jeffcoat, who had three sacks, blew through to sack
O'Donnell for a 7-yard loss, and Pittsburgh couldn't run out the
rest of the first-half clock.
	That allowed the Cowboys to strike quickly again on first down
following a shanked 27-yard Mark Royals' punt as Irvin got behind
Figures for 38 yards to the 7. Boniol kicked a 21-yard field goal
on the final play of the half.
	Pittsburgh, with Barry Foster limited to 44 yards on 14 carries
in his first game since last November, never got its offense going
until O'Donnell scrambled for a 2-yard touchdown run with 8:19 to
play to cut it to 19-9.
	But Dallas made sure the Steelers did get back in the game by
putting together a 4 1/2-minute scoring drive ended by Smith's 2-yard
run with 3:48 remaining.