Cowboys’ Carnival Continues : Pro football: Aikman shines, Haley whines and Sanders tries to upstage them on the sideline during Dallas’ 34-24 victory over Green Bay.

IRVING, Tex. — For those who understand the rattling Tilt-A-Whirl that is the Dallas Cowboys, it was no surprise that Troy Aikman dragged his stretched and sore right leg to the Texas Stadium field Sunday.

On this team, that is the safest place to be.

On the sideline during the Cowboys’ 34-24 victory over the Green Bay Packers was cornerback Deion Sanders, wearing shorts and a T-shirt, but intercepting a pass anyway. And pretending to run it back.

On the bench was defensive end Charles Haley, cursing his coaches and later saying he wants to quit.

In the press box was maverick Cowboy owner Jerry Jones, embracing the idea of a national debate at upcoming owners’ meetings with rival executive Carmen Policy of the San Francisco 49ers.

“I’m going to tell him, ‘I knew George Halas, and you are no George Halas,’ ” Jones said with a cackle.

Aikman, meanwhile, spent the afternoon in peace. In the pocket. Surrounded by loving linemen who rarely let the Packer defense within biting distance of his severely pulled calf muscle.

Aikman couldn’t run, couldn’t jog, couldn’t even walk without wincing.

But pass? Could he ever.

He completed 11 of his first 12 throws. He passed for two touchdowns while leading the Cowboys to a 21-point lead midway through the third quarter and then engineered a six-minute drive that led to the game-clinching field goal in the final minutes.

All without a mistake. And all against the league’s top-ranked defense, which was supposed to lead the Packers in a game that proved they were finally closing the gap between the Cowboy-49er tandem and the rest of the NFC.

“I think we are closing the gap,” protested Sean Jones, Packer defensive end. “But that gap is, like, a chasm. How much can you close on that?”

Afterward, Aikman surveyed a locker room filled with boasting players and befuddled front-office employees and shook his head.

“Sideshows, circuses, controversies . . . just another week in the life of the Cowboys,” he said.

For once, their subdued quarterback was one of the attractions. Most figured he would miss at least two games after his celebrated first-quarter collapse in Washington against the Redskins last Sunday, when he fell and grabbed his calf as if it had burst.

He was carted from the field, and his teammates were separated from their senses as they later suffered their first loss.

While the Cowboys and all of Dallas were preparing for a debut start by backup Wade Wilson, Aikman had other ideas.

“With the exception of games we’ve had against the 49ers, I felt this was as big of a regular-season game as we’ve played in several years,” Aikman said. “For team momentum . . . for morale . . . for a lot of reasons, it was important for me to get back.”

He didn’t practice with the starters until Friday, and then without pads. He showed up Sunday figuring he could hand the ball to Emmitt Smith and stay out of the way. But the Packers held Smith to nine yards in his first six carries.

Aikman was forced to pass--and face the Packers’ Reggie White-led rush.

“I didn’t think I would finish the game,” Aikman said.

But the Cowboys’ league-best offensive line gave up only one sack while giving Aikman what seemed like hours to find receivers. He passed for more than 300 yards--316--for only the 10th time in his seven-year pro career.

“Heck, he just had an injured muscle, right?” Cowboy guard Nate Newton said. “It wasn’t no joint or nothing. All of us on this team play with those injuries.

“This may hurt all of us later in life, but right now, we just bathe in the victory, the joy, the spoils.”

Not that Packer quarterback Brett Favre didn’t scare them with his usual late heroics. Throwing with his head turned, with his body twisted, with his teammates shaking their heads as he scrambled from sideline to sideline, Favre led the Packers to three touchdowns in the final 18 minutes.

He only passed for one touchdown--ruining his chance to break the NFL record with 13 consecutive games of at least two touchdown passes--but he ran for two others.

“If we win this game it’s huge--we’d be rockin’ and rollin,’ having a good time,” Favre said. “But now . . .”

The Cowboys, it seems, rock as much as they roll.

On what other team would an injured cornerback get as much attention as the starters? Because of this victory, Sanders probably won’t debut until after next week’s game in San Diego. But by grabbing a wild Favre pass, he’s already made his first mark.

And on what other team would a veteran defensive end heroically leave the bench despite a back injury, inspire his team to victory, then rip his bosses? Haley, apparently, is still upset with being criticized last week by Coach Barry Switzer.

“It’s bull what’s going on, I’m getting blamed for everybody’s play,” Haley said. “They can do this stuff to my mind this year, but they’ll never get me back. I’ll retire. . . . I have no love for them. . . . This year, they’re going to get all I got, but no more.”

“So,” Aikman said, “Charles dropped another big one, did he?”

Well?

“Well,” Aikman said, pausing, “you got to respect a guy for speaking his mind.”

Only 16 weeks until Super Sunday. Stay tuned.