Friday, August 28, 1998

Cowboys end with winless preseason following 42-20 loss to Jaguars

By Jean-Jacques Taylor

The Dallas Morning News

(KRT)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The Dallas Cowboys finished with a winless pre-season for only the third time in franchise history Thursday night after a 42-20 loss to Jacksonville before 71,526 at ALLTEL Stadium.

They can only hope it is not a harbinger.

"We're 0-5, and obviously we would have liked to win some games," quarterback Troy Aikman said. "But now the games count. I look forward to starting the season as do a lot of other people.

"What's important is the pre-season is over. Things don't always go as smooth as you'd like, but I don't get down about the pre-season. I don't have any illusions about this football team."

Jacksonville finishes the pre-season 2-2; Dallas 0-5.

The only other times the Cowboys have been winless in the pre-season occurred in 1986 and 1962. Both of those teams failed to make the playoffs.

The Cowboys, however, didn't give themselves much of a chance to beat Jacksonville.

Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin played two series, which amounted to nine plays.

Aikman completed two of four passes for 27 yards, Smith had three carries for three yards and Michael Irvin caught one pass for 14 yards.

Dallas made two first downs, but failed to score.

The Cowboys were most ineffective after Stepfret Williams' 51-yard kickoff return gave the Cowboys the ball at the Jacksonville 39. Three plays gained three yards, and Richie Cunningham missed a 39-yard field goal wide left.

At times, the Cowboys looked disorganized.

Receiver Ernie Mills and tight end Eric Bjornson ran identical routes on one incompletion. On another play, Mills ran downfield, while Aikman threw an out route.

The Cowboys finished the first half with five first downs and 71 yards. They had 21 yards rushing on eight carries.

"We were sporadic on offense, and we missed too many tackles on defense," Coach Chan Gailey said. "We still have work to do, but this is over and done with. It's time to get on with the real thing.

"I would have liked to done a little bit more, but that has nothing to do with where we can be. We can get there. We have to go prove that on the field on Sunday."

The Cowboys' first-team offense ended the pre-season with 15 first downs and two touchdowns in 17 possessions.

Most of that, however, came last Saturday against St. Louis, when the starters had 13 first downs, 258 yards and two touchdowns in their longest stint of the pre-season.

"A lot of people don't know what we really have," Smith said. "They're speculating about this and speculating about that."

Backup quarterback Jason Garrett played one series with the first-team offensive line.

"He has picked up the offense well, and he makes good decisions," owner Jerry Jones said. "We've got a lot of confidence in him. This is more for the team and Jason. We'd like to see him have some success and get some more confidence."

Garrett led the Cowboys on a 10-play drive that ended with Cunningham's 43-yard field goal with 3:38 left in the half.

In the third quarter, he led the Cowboys' offense to its first touchdown. The big play was a 39-yard completion to rookie Jeff Ogden, who made a one-handed, over-the-shoulder catch despite tight coverage.

"We all know these are pre-season games," Garrett said. "The important thing is for me to go out and be consistent with my reads and make some plays."

While the Cowboys' offense sputtered again, Jacksonville's offense appeared in mid-season form.

Mark Brunell completed eight of 12 passes for 148 yards and two touchdowns. Former Cowboy Jimmy Smith caught three passes for 94 yards and scored on receptions of 45 and 31 yards.

The Cowboys' starting defense played two series and came up with one big play.

On the game's third play, free safety George Teague showed why the Cowboys signed him in the off-season.

He broke quickly on a pass intended for Keenan McCardell and deflected it. Linebacker Dexter Coakley caught the deflection and returned it 22 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead.

It was the Cowboys' only lead of the evening.

"We got a lot accomplished," Gailey said. "Are we where we want to be? No. Can we get there? Yes."

He has nine more days to get it done before the Sept. 6 opener against Arizona.

(c) 1998, The Dallas Morning News.

Visit The Dallas Morning News on the World Wide Web at http://www.dallasnews.com/

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.