Cardinals confused as division winners

After 33 years without winning a division title, the Arizona Cardinals weren't sure how to act Sunday when they finally broke that streak with a 34-10 triumph over the St. Louis Rams.

"My coach was like, 'Act like you've been there before, act like you've been there before,' " Cardinals defensive tackle Darnell Dockett told The Associated Press. "I said, 'Coach, I ain't been there before; I don't know how to act right now.' "

Dockett was born in 1981 -- six years after the Cardinals last won a division championship.

• SPOILED SOUP -- At 8-5 and in second place in the NFC East, the Dallas Cowboys are in position for a wild-card playoff berth -- making them disappointments in the mind of one of the greatest Cowboys of them all, Emmitt Smith.

Calling the Cowboys "mediocre," Smith told The Dallas Morning News, "I saw this team being a lot better than it is. Chemistry has a lot to do with it. And for some reason, the chemistry of the Cowboys has been thrown off a little bit.

"Either there's too much salt in the gumbo or not enough meat in the gumbo. Something's wrong. Whatever it is, they need to get it corrected. It's just been kind of a 'blah' season for me."

• MORE FOOD METAPHORS -- Home-field advantage in the NFL isn't what it used to be, and here is what Washington Redskins wide receiver Antwaan Randle El says about the success road teams have had in the league this season:

"Some guys love playing away, like myself. ... It's like going in somebody's house and taking their cake off the table and they're sitting right there looking at you, and there's nothing they can do."

• WHERE'S THE BUS -- Not one for understatement, or prudent statement, disgruntled New York Knicks guard Stephon Marbury described his current predicament this way:

"I got shot in the head by my own guys in the foxhole. And they didn't even give me an honorable death."

Reflecting on Marbury's remarks, David Thomas of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram wrote: "Shooting. Foxhole. Honorable death. Sports was so much simpler when we only threw people under a bus."

• POOR STATE OF AFFAIRS -- Washington and Washington State were popular foes on this year's Pac-10 football schedule.

Some teams' combined scores against the Huskies and Cougars: Southern California 125-0, Cal 114-10, Oregon 107-24, Oregon State 100-26, Arizona 107-42.

• SNOW WAY -- Comedy writer Alex Kaseberg, on the latest Warren Miller ski film: "I can't remember the name, but I think it is: 'Crazy Dudes Jump Off Mountains No Sane Guy Would.' "

• DIET RICH IN IRON -- Actor Denis Leary knows bad acting when he sees it.

"You get athletes like Latrell Sprewell saying, 'I can't feed my family on $9.5 million a year,' " he told FSN. "Really? What are they eating, Mercedes sedans?"

• UNSUSPENDED SEMINOLES -- Dan Daly of the Washington Times, bemoaning the Maryland football team's bad luck after a 37-3 loss: "It had to play Florida State on one of those rare days when it didn't have any players suspended."

REVIEW-JOURNAL WIRE SERVICES