Lonesome No Longer In The Lone Star State

Campbell leads the NFL with 1,346 yards rushing, 17 touchdowns and eight 100-yard games, but a better indication of his value to the Oiler offense is his short yardage performance. On second, third and fourth downs with less than three yards to go, Campbell has carried 63 times and gotten the first down 41 times.

One reason for Campbell 's lusty stats is the superb blocking of Leon Gray , the offensive left tackle Houston obtained from New England last August for first-and sixth-round draft choices. The acquisition of Gray may turn out to be this season's smartest NFL deal, just as the deal that enabled Houston to draft Campbell No. 1 in 1978 was that year's slickest maneuver.

Gray has been the savior of an offensive line whose entire left side was wiped out by injuries. Tackle Greg Sampson almost died of a cerebral blood clot in training camp, and less than two weeks later Guard George Reihner and his backup, John Schuhmacher, went out with knee and back injuries, respectively. Had Gray not been acquired, Houston 's running game would have been cut off at the handoff.

"Leon is probably the key to the whole year for us," says Houston Coach Bum Phillips . "It wouldn't have made any difference to me if we'd had to give up the very first choice in next year's draft. I'd have done it, because you're not going to get an All-Pro like him in the first round, or anywhere. He's a smart player, too. He got in here on a Monday and played on Friday, and he's been playing ever since. Took him longer to learn our names than our system."

On defense, the Oilers, one of the first teams to adopt the three-man-rush line, have often used a four-man line and have made 44 sacks, six more than in all of 1978 and six short of the club record. Pass coverage has improved, too, with the installation of J. C. Wilson at cornerback and Vernon Perry, a free agent out of Canada , at strong safety. Mike Reinfeldt, the weak safety, needs but two more pass interceptions to tie the NFL record of 14 set by Night Train Lane in 1952. Dallas ' entire defense has 11.

Houston has also gotten All-Pro feats from the foot of Toni Fritsch , the Austrian field-goal kicker with the countenance of a truck-stop bouncer. Fritsch has succeeded on 17 of 19 field-goal attempts, including nine of 10 from 40 yards or more. His kicking has provided the winning margin in four games. "Every time I see him go out on the field," Phillips says, "I'm grateful for our country's immigration laws." Phillips also is grateful that Dallas traded Fritsch to San Diego in 1976, and that the Chargers released him in 1977.

Refreshingly, the Oilers have been free of disharmony this year. There had been a feud—the cause of which apparently was more female than football—between Pastorini and Tight End Mike Barber, but it has ended amicably. Grumbling by the defense, once common in Houston , was heard again when the offense got only three Fritsch field goals in a victory at Miami , but now there is solid evidence that every phase of Houston 's football is reaching a competitive peak—at the perfect time.

Meanwhile, Dallas has reached a competitive abyss. The most astonishing aspect of Team America 's dour season is the manner in which the Cowboys have lost. Though the Oilers socked it to "Son of Doomsday" on Campbell 's bone-crunching line smashes, it was that bone-headed mistake—of the sort Houston once held a patent on—that doomed Dallas . Known for the most scholarly offense in football, practitioners of Landry 's Flex Defense, intellectual masters of the printout game plan, the Cowboys now need remedial math when it comes to counting to 11.

In the Oiler game, Defensive Tackle Dave Stalls, a member of the field-goal specialty unit, stayed in on fourth down after Houston , trailing 24-23 with eight minutes left, was stopped at the Dallas 37-yard line. But instead of attempting a field goal—which would have had to travel 54 yards—the Oilers punted. This was the wrong specialty situation for Stalls, who realized his error before the ball was snapped—"What are you doing here?" teammate Jay Saldi asked him—but had no way to get off the field in time. "When they lined up for that punt," he said, "it wasn't the greatest feeling I've ever had, I can tell you."

Yellow flags fell—and so did the Cowboys' spirits. Houston got five yards and a first down—and the game-winning touchdown followed immediately. On the next play Pastorini buried the shell-shocked Cowboys with a 32-yard scoring pass to Burrough, and then the Houston defense shut down Roger Staubach 's passing game the rest of the way.