IN EX-TEAM, JIMMY MEETS HIS MISMATCH : COWBOYS PROVE TOO POWERFUL FOR MAN WHO BUILT THEM.

Byline: Gary Myers New York Daily News

Jimmy Johnson had no shot. This grudge match, Jimmy vs. Jerry, was an unfair fight, thanks in part to Johnson's previous work in Dallas.

What remains of the team Jimmy Johnson left behind two years ago is so much better than the one he's been building in Miami. Thus, the result on Sunday - Dallas 29, Miami 10 - should not have been surprising.

``We got beat by a better team,'' Johnson said before making a quick exit from the postgame news conference.

And it could have been even worse, but Cowboys coach Barry Switzer declined a perfect opportunity to run up the score on Johnson late in the game.

The Cowboys had a 19-point lead and the ball at the Dolphins' 7-yard line with two minutes remaining. Switzer, with owner Jerry Jones and scouting director Larry Lacewell standing beside him on the sidelines, ordered three consecutive Troy Aikman kneel-downs to end the game.

Deion Sanders, standing a few feet away, wanted the Cowboys to score again.

``They would have done it to us,'' Sanders said. ``You know (the Dolphins) would have went for the jugular.''

Jones said Switzer's decision not to run up the score was ``fine with me. But if I would have wanted us to go score, I would have said something. Barry didn't quite have the background that I had with Jimmy over the last two years. He's looking at it from a different perspective.''

Johnson shook hands with Jones before the game. He met Switzer at midfield after the game and shook hands with him. That was significant. Johnson doesn't consider either among his friends.

The Miami coach also shook hands with a few of his former players during the pregame warmups, but he never did meet up with the three players who were primarily responsible for winning him two Super Bowls and beating him Sunday: Aikman, Michael Irvin and Emmitt Smith.

Johnson, who took $2 million of Jones' money in their messy divorce settlement following back-to-back Super Bowl championships, was done in by the offensive machine he created with the Cowboys: Aikman completed 33 of 41 passes for 363 yards and three touchdowns; Irvin caught 12 passes for 186 yards with one TD; and Smith had 118 total yards and one touchdown.

Meanwhile, Miami quarterback Dan Marino, playing for the first time since breaking his ankle Sept. 23, was a rusty 12 of 27.

All the smiles were on the Cowboys' side.

``I would be less than honest if I said it didn't feel very special,'' Jones said. ``I don't think that any matchup in the future between Jimmy Johnson's Dolphins and the Cowboys will have the interest that this initial one did. It does make it special, just to create closure and create a resolution.

``I really thought our Super Bowl win (last season) took a big step there. ''

Miami (4-4) held a 10-9 halftime lead because three Dallas trips inside the Dolphins 10 netted only three field goals. But the Cowboys (5-3), who have won four in a row, dominated the second half, with Aikman tossing TD passes of 4 yards to tight end Eric Bjornson, 2 yards to Irvin (set up by his 61-yard reception) and 10 yards to Smith.

Afterward, Dallas Charles Haley fumed about his past relationship with Johnson.

``My thing is that (Johnson) is going to be a flop (with the Dolphins) because guys are not going to listen to his stuff that he tries to bring down,'' said Haley, who was not credited with a tackle. ``He's not going to be able to treat players like he did when I came to Dallas - just any kind of way.''

Haley said he did not like the way he was portrayed in Johnson's book, ``Turning the Thing Around,'' written after the Cowboys' Super Bowl XXVII victory. In it, Johnson talked about his thorny relationship with Haley.

On Sunday, Haley struck back.

``To me, (Johnson) is a coward, anyway,'' Haley said. ``If he's got something to say about a brother, say it in my face, not to a book writer.

``It's personal between me and him.''

Jones, who angered Johnson two years ago by claiming 500 coaches could win with the Cowboys' talent, piled on, too.

``I really do hope that our fans will see that with the players we got and the job our coaching staff is doing that no one person can just absolutely create magic,'' he said. ``That was really the point that I hoped this game would resolve.''

It resolved one thing: Johnson's old team is better than his new one.

The Cowboys had 248 yards and 15 first downs at halftime, but still trailed 10-9. They mounted drives of 55, 68 and 66 yards before settling for field goals of 33, 29 and 24 yards by Chris Boniol, with the last score coming on the final play of the half.

Dallas finally reached the end zone on the first possession of the third quarter, driving 60 yards and scoring on third down when Aikman hit Bjornson with a 4-yard pass.

The margin could have been worse, but Miami caught a break in the second quarter when Marino was hit from behind by Tony Tolbert, and the ball squirted loose. Dallas' Darren Woodson picked up the ball and was en route to an apparent touchdown, but referee Johnny Grier blew the play dead, saying Marino's arm had been moving forward.

Replays were inconclusive, but the call meant a 10-point swing because Miami's Joe Nedney kicked a 26-yard field goal on the next play for a 10-6 lead.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1-2--color) Miami coach Jimmy Johnson, left, displays the sideline strain brought on by a meeting with Dallas, the team he coached to two NFL titles. After a 29-10 Cowboys victory at Miami that could have been a lot more lopsided, Dallas owner Jerry Jones, right, exhibits an entirely different emotion: euphoria. There has been a flood of bad blood between Jones and Johnson since a clash of egos resulted in Johnson being replaced by Barry Switzer. Jones welcomed a chance to crow.

(1) Associated Press

(2) David Bergman / Miami Herald