Monday, September 28, 1998

Cowboys can't overcome variety of errors, lose to Raiders

By Clarence E. Hill Jr.

Knight Ridder Newspapers

(KRT)

IRVING, Texas - While a few Dallas Cowboys players wondered aloud last week about easing through a relatively easy upcoming schedule, Cowboys coach Chan Gailey cringed at the notion. Though the Cowboys topped the NFC East, Gailey said they "weren't good enough to take anyone for granted."

Sunday's 13-12 loss to the Oakland Raiders at Texas Stadium proved his point.

Less than a week after seemingly having everything go their way in last Monday's victory against the Giants, the Cowboys were undone by turnovers, red-zone failures, dropped passes and a bad bounce on defense.

"There are few teams that can make mistakes and win, and we are not one of them," Gailey said. "We've got to be a consistent fooball team before anyone can talk about us having arrived. We haven't done that yet."

Quarterback Jason Garrett, starting for an injured Troy Aikman for the second consecutive game, lost his undefeated touch as a starter with two interceptions - the first killed a scoring drive in the end zone, and the second sealed the defeat.

The Raiders' lone touchdown came when Jeff George connected with James Jett on a 75-yard touchdown pass, which bounded off the shoulder of Cowboys cornerback Kevin Smith into Jett's hands.

"We gave up one play on defense," Gailey said. "We turned the ball over on offense and shot ourselves in the foot in the red zone. And that will get you most times. That's what happened today."

Instead of winning consecutive games for the first time since topping Arizona and Washington last season, the Cowboys (2-2) allowed a winnable game to slip a way.

Now tied with the Giants (2-2) and Arizona Cardinals (2-2) atop the NFC East, the Cowboys find themselves trying to hold it together until Aikman gets back from his fractured collarbone. They will play the Washington Redskins (0-4) and the Carolina Panthers (0-3) in the next two weeks.

"It was frustrating for the guys on offense," said Garrett, who completed 18 of 33 passes for 222 yards. "We made some errors. And the two turnovers hurt a great deal. Most important is that we have to put ourselves in position to win, and we didn't do that today."

Inconsistency has been the theme of 1998 for the Cowboys, who opened with a victory against the Cardinals, a loss against the Denver Broncos and a victory against the Giants before succumbing Sunday.

Inconsistency certainly was the theme against the Raiders, as the big play to Jett offset a strong performance by the Cowboys' pass defense. Rookie defensive end Greg Ellis recorded his first sack, and rush end Kavika Pittman had probably the best showing of his career with a sack, a batted pass and a couple of quarterback pressures.

The Cowboys also limited Raiders game-breaking receiver Tim Brown to four receptions for 35 yards and largely contained the potentially potent Raiders offense - save for the Jett play, which came against tight-coverage from Smith and gave the Raiders a 10-3 halftime lead.

Despite Smith's play and a 116-yard rushing effort from Raiders running back Napoleon Kaufman, the Cowboys had a chance to win if they could have executed on offense in the second half.

Garrett's first interception - also the first of Raiders cornerback Charles Woodson's career - squelched a Cowboys bid to tie the game midway through the third quarter. Cowboys receiver Michael Irvin ran a curl inside, and Garrett threw the ball outside - into the waiting hands of Woodson in the end zone.

"I made a poor throw," Garrett said. "I thought he was going to be outside. It was my fault. If I throw it in, we have a chance to make a play."

The Cowboys had another chance on the next series when Sanders thrilled the crowd with a 60-yard punt return. However, instead of adding to his NFL record of 16 returns for a touchdown, he was stopped at the 14-yard line.

The Cowboys came away empty when All-Pro kicker Richie Cunningham, who didn't miss any from less than 40 yards last season, missed from 37 yards.

After the Raiders added a field goal to make the score 13-3, Garrett and receiver Billy Davis connected on a 55-yard pass play. A 1-yard touchdown run by Emmitt Smith narrowed the score to 13-10.

However, Garrett, who played the part of hero in his two previous starts at quarterback for the Cowboys, ran out of magic in the final two minutes.

After driving the Cowboys to the Raiders' 43-yard line, Garrett made a second critically bad read. Trying to hit Davis on a post route, Garrett threw into double coverage, and his pass was intercepted by Oakland safety Eric Turner.

"Anytime you don't get it done, you get frustrated," Garrett said. "At the end of the game we had a chance to win, that was encouraging. But we didn't get it done."

(c) 1998, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Visit the Star-Telegram on the World Wide Web: www.star-telegram.com.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.