NEW YORK -- This was going to be the NFL's worst nightmare. This was going to be the season pro football would suffer a dramatic turn for the worse, thanks to the introduction of the dreaded salary cap.


This was going to be the year that no superior team would emerge because cap-induced parity was going to lump everyone into the realm of mediocrity. This was going to be the year highly-paid veterans would find themselves on the streets, while an inferior group of younger, cheaper players would make the game more boring and mistake-filled than ever.


Well, guess what, folks? You couldn't have asked for a better season. The NFL's worst nightmare? Try a dream come true.


Really now, could you have imagined a better scenario coming down the stretch and into the playoffs? Could you have imagined that coming into Week 15 there would be 25 teams still mathematically alive for a playoff berth? And entering Week 16 there would be 22 still in the picture?


Or how about the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys showing the rest of the league that there is still a standard of excellence, commensurate with just about any other year in NFL history.


So much for the idea that the salary cap would destroy the concept of the super team, that it was almost fiscally impossible to keep a strong team together.


Try telling that to 49ers President Carmen Policy, who looked the salary cap in the eye, did some major brainstorming with team Owner Edward DeBartolo Jr., and not only re-signed his key players last season but went out and got a few guys named Deion Sanders, Ken Norton, Rickey Jackson and a few other purportedly over-the-hill players who figured to be left out in the financial cold this year.


Or ask Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones, who let several key free agents go believing he still had enough talent to compete for another Super Bowl. His belief was justified, and it's no coincidence that the Cowboys and 49ers are on a collision course for what should be a most memorable NFC championship game.


And what about the rest of the league? Well, there has been plenty of excitement, even if there isn't much of a chance for anyone else to win the Super Bowl. Of course, there will be those who argue that parity is the root cause of the bunching together of so many teams, and that these clubs are the epitome of mediocrity.


Well, the next time someone tells you that, go tell them to look at the stretch run. And go tell them that it's better to have a bunch of teams in playoff contention playing meaningful games in December. Or would you rather have seven or eight upper-echelon teams in each conference playing a bunch of stiffs and just waiting around for the postseason?


No, you would rather have it like this. You would rather have the New York Giants playing the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday at Veterans Stadium, in a game rife with playoff implications. You would rather have a brilliant matchup Sunday at Three Rivers between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Browns. Or the Minnesota Vikings and resurgent Detroit Lions battling for first Saturday at the Silverdome. Or the surprising New England Patriots playing Sunday at Buffalo in the biggest game New England has played in years.


Also this weekend, Denver visits San Francisco on Saturday; on Sunday, Atlanta plays Green Bay in Milwaukee, the Los Angeles Rams play at the Chicago Bears, the Indianapolis Colts play host to the Miami Dolphins, the San Diego Chargers take on the Jets in New York, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers play the Redskins at RFK Stadium. Cincinnati Bengals travel to Phoenix to face the Cardinals, the Houston Oilers face the Chiefs in Kansas City, and the Los Angeles Raiders visit the Seattle Seahawks. On Monday night, the Cowboys play the Saints in New Orleans.


This is what it's all about -- three hours on a weekend afternoon of steam-pouring-out-of-the-facemask battles in mid-to-late December. It doesn't get any better.