Friday, August 28, 1998

Cowboys show Jags very little in lopsided loss

By Clarence E. Hill Jr.

Knight Ridder Newspapers

(KRT)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - It's a good thing avoiding a winless preseason wasn't a priority for the Dallas Cowboys.

That attitude probably made the 42-20 gangster-slapping by the Jacksonville Jaguars on Thursday night before 71,526 fans at Alltell Stadium and a national television audience in CBS' first broadcast of the Cowboys in four years a little easier to take.

Turnovers, poor tackling and host of mistakes by the Cowboys reserves saw a 21-17 deficit in the third quarter erode into an embarrassment, securing the first winless preseason for the Cowboys (0-5) since 1986. The only other winless preseason came in 1962.

Considering that the ho-hum results against Jacksonville reflected the entire preseason for the Cowboys, there is a question of what the Cowboys will actually look like in the regular-season opener. They play the Arizona Cardinals Sept. 6, trying to end a five-game losing streak that carries from last season.

"We would have hoped that the end result would have been better," Cowboys coach Chan Gailey said. "But that's over and done with, and it's time to get to the real thing.

"We've got work to do. But getting ready for the real thing was our goal."

Though winning would have been nice, the Cowboys' main intentions coming into the game were:

To evaluate bubble players before Sunday's final roster cutdown to 53 players.

Get a look at backup quarterback Jason Garrett with the first-team offensive line.

Continue some of the momentum the first-team offense gained in last week's outing against the St. Louis Rams.

And try to find a kickoff returner.

Maybe two out of four will do for Gailey, who saw some good things out of rookie free-agent receiver Jeff Ogden, who might have earned a roster spot with a solid performance, and Garrett, who led the Cowboys to two scoring drives.

However, while Troy Aikman and the first-team offense didn't revert back to the struggling form they showed in preseason losses to Oakland and New England, they displayed nowhere near the crispness of the performance against the Rams.

Playing just the first quarter, the Cowboys managed just 33 total yards and two first downs, compared to 161 and eight for the Jaguars. On Saturday, the Cowboys outgained the lowly Rams 258-108 in the first half.

The Jaguars, picked by many as Super Bowl contenders, held running back Emmitt Smith to 3 yards on three attempts. He rushed for 110 yards against the Rams in the first half.

In addition, the question of whether to re-sign kickoff returner Herschel Walker remains unanswered. Receiver Stepfret Williams got all the return opportunities against the Jaguars, offering an uneven performance. Williams had a 51-yard return in the first quarter, however, he showed hesitancy on a couple of other returns and bottomed out with a fumble on a return in the third quarter.

The Cowboys had four second-half turnovers, including two fumbles and two interceptions.

Superlatives for the Jaguars included a team rushing total of 176 yards on 37 carries for an average of 4.8 yards per attempt, Mark Brunell completing eight of 12 passes for 148 yards and two touchdowns, and Jimmy Smith hauling in three passes for 94 yards and two touchdowns.

"I thought at times we showed some things that were decent, but obviously not nearly enough things," Gailey said. "We were sporadic offensively and missed too many tackles amd gave away too many rushing yards on defense. You would have hoped we could have done a little bit more. But we got a lot accomplished in the preseason.

"Are we where we want to be? No. Can we get there? Yes."

Aikman, who completed just two of four passes for 27 yards, said he thinks the Cowboys will come out with a good performance against the Cardinals.

"There are areas of concern," Aikman said. "But the preseason is over and will have no more excuses against Arizona."

At the outset, it looked like this might be the breakthrough game for the Cowboys. Three plays after kickoff, the Cowboys defense, maligned last season for its inability to create turnovers, did just that.

Starting free-safety candidate George Teague, playing in the nickel defense, flashed in front of Jacksonville receiver Keenan McCardell to deflect a pass from Brunell. The ball bounced into the hands of speedy weakside linebacker Dexter Coakley, who returned the ball 22 yards for a touchdown.

The momentum, however, was shortlived, as the Jaguars promptly answered with an 80-yard touchdown drive. Former Cowboys receiver Smith blew past cornerback Kevin Mathis, who started in place of injured cornerback Deion Sanders, for a 45-yard touchdown reception.

The Jaguars made the score 14-7 and really never looked back, despite a brief Cowboys rally led by Garrett.

(c) 1998, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

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