Sport: Upstarts and Upsets in the N.F.L.

New rules help turn some of pro football's lambs into lions

Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but don't try to tell that to the Dallas Cowboys. The National Football League's reigning Super Bowl champions have discovered that they cannot keep a good thing to themselves, either on the sidelines or on the field. First, a dozen teams around the league began buying up hot pants and spangles, then proceeded to out-cleavage the Cowboys' cheerleaders. Then, while Dallas was struggling to win games, a flock of teams once considered lambs suddenly turned into lions. As a result, the Cowboys face a struggle to make the playoffs.

With one month remaining in the schedule, Dallas last week was tied with Atlanta for a wild-card play-off berth. Lowly Houston, the mighty Cowboys' poor cousin in the American Conference, sported an identical record. Throughout the 28-team league, with the season nearly three-fourths over, the standings are closer than at any time since the 1970 merger with the American Football League. Before this week's action, only Los Angeles and Pittsburgh had managed to open modest leads in their divisions—two games. The Pack was back in contention, rekindling memories of the Vince Lombardi era in Green Bay. The New

York Jets, who drooped lower than Joe Namath's eyelids after their 1969 Super Bowl win, seemed to be on the way to their first winning season since 1970. Even expansion teams Seattle and Tampa Bay had managed to damage the play-off chances of the league's powers, scoring upsets over Oakland and Minnesota. It appears that competitive parity, long the aim of Pete Rozelle and other arms negotiators, has at long last been achieved.

The new balance of power is overdue for a sport that has been rigidly divided into haves and havenots: the same eight teams have monopolized the Super Bowl, playing one another again and again for a total of 18 appearances in the championship's twelve-year history. But parity on the field was wrought, at least in part, in the rule book. With the regular season expanded by two games to a total of 16, the league shifted to scheduling that pitted top teams against top teams and also-rans against also-rans more often than ever. The new scheme eliminated the sort of scheduling vagaries that in the past often allowed strong teams to feast season-long on weaker opponents.

The extra two games may well have been a key factor in the erratic play of top teams during the season's opening month, since the preseason schedule was cut to four games instead of the customary six. Many players found it difficult to get into shape during the truncated exhibition season, and coaches were unable to groom second-stringers or work the kinks out of new plays. Says Oakland Raider Coach John Madden: "In the past we would plan on playing Ken Stabler, for example, twelve quarters in preseason. Over six games, that would mean he'd play half of each game.

Now that twelve quarters means three-quarters of each game. The people back of him are given that much less preparation time." Dallas Coach Tom Landry admits: "I don't think we really adjusted to the short training-camp schedule. We coaches have to learn to pace the players better and peak earlier."