Thursday, December 31, 1998

Thursday, December 31, 1998

Dallas down and out this time last year

By DENNE H. FREEMAN

Associated Press

IRVING -- New coach. New attitude. NFL parity.

What a difference a year has made to the Dallas Cowboys, who have won three Super Bowls in the 1990s but hit bottom last season.

"A year ago we were hurting bad," said running back Emmitt Smith. "I don't ever want to hurt like that again."

Smith was referring to a 6-10 season in which the Cowboys lost their last five games. Owner Jerry Jones gave Barry Switzer a million dollar goodbye present and hired Pittsburgh offensive coordinator Chan Gailey to revive down and out Dallas.

Gailey, aided by a weaker schedule, and a weak NFC East, flipped the Cowboys around with a 10-6 season and their NFL-record 23rd playoff appearance.

"Last year was a shock to the system," said wide receiver Michael Irvin. "I couldn't believe last year it was so disappointing."

Dallas won all eight of its NFC East games, something no team had ever done. The other two victories came against Carolina and Seattle.

But the Cowboys lost to Denver, Oakland, Chicago, Minnesota, New Orleans and Kansas City, showing they weren't the NFL's most overpowering club. Dallas came within two points of being 12-4, losing 13-12 to both Oakland and Chicago.

"It doesn't get any better than this," said Irvin. "We're back now to being in a playoff game. Everybody in the country will be watching when we play Arizona on Saturday, brothers, cousins, thousands of other people. This was our goal. And we did it."

Dallas hosts the Cardinals on Saturday in an NFC wild card game with the winner traveling to Atlanta for the second round. The Cowboys beat the Cardinals twice during the regular season.

The Cowboys don't care that they may have been helped along by parity and a very week division.

"The league is watered down," said quarterback Troy Aikman. "Because of the salary cap, teams no longer have real solid backups. Backups are making the minumum wage. The talent level is not as strong because the outstanding players get the money. A team has to pick and choose how it will spend the money."

Aikman said the Cowboys did a good job of putting all the pieces together and getting back into the playoffs again.

"I was proud of the way we handled all the adversity," said Aikman, who missed five games with injury. "We've been accustomed to making the playoffs. Last year was a tough season. It was a relief to all of us when it was over."

Aikman added "now we have something to play for again. Anybody in the playoffs have a chance to go all the way. Denver was a wild card last year and won the Super Bowl. There's no reason why we can't do it."