Tuesday, September 29, 1998

Jason Garrett not on tight leash, Cowboys coach says

By Kevin Lyons

Knight Ridder Newspapers

(KRT)

IRVING, Texas - Jason Garrett's performance Sunday against the Oakland Raiders could be one of his most memorable. For all the wrong reasons.

The two untimely interceptions Garrett threw in a 13-12 loss Sunday might even end his four-year run as the lovable overachiever from Princeton.

But as Troy Aikman continues to rehabilitate his broken collarbone, Cowboys coaches aren't going to scale back the offensive gameplan. Coach Chan Gailey, in fact, still expects Garrett to be aggressive throwing the ball. Gailey just wants Garrett to be smarter, and not repeat the same kinds of mistakes that led to two end-zone interceptions.

Aikman, who could be employed as an emergency quarterback against the Redskins on Sunday, supported Gailey's plan to keep from pulling back the reins on the Garrett-led attack.

"You can't ever get yourself in position where you are unwilling to take chances or unwilling to take your shots (downfield)," said Aikman of Garrett, who was unavailable for comment Monday. "If you ever get to that point then you are not going to be very effective. Jason will still go out and be aggressive and play within his abilities like he did the last couple of weeks."

Against the Raiders, Garrett threw mostly short in the flat or deep over the top. Of his 18 completions, half were for less than 10 yards. Save for Michael Irvin's 30-yard reception on Garrett's second pass of the game, no pass completion went further than 20 yards in the air. (Billy Davis' 55-yard reception was a five-yard throw that turned into a big gain because the Raiders were blitzing).

The Raiders knocked down five Garrett passes. Cornerback Eric Allen had three knockdowns, and one Allen breakup saved a Cowboys touchdown. In the second quarter, tight end David LaFleur was open with no one behind him at the Raiders' 10-yard line. Review of game film indicated that Garrett could have completed the pass had he released it a split second earlier, coaches said.

"He wants to take a lot of the blame for what happened," quarterback coach Buddy Geis said of Garrett. "We watched film, and he kept saying, 'I should have done this. I should have done that.' That's just who he is. I told him he can't be perfect."

Gailey tried to deflect some of the blame off of Garrett on the first turnover, saying Monday that his play calling led to Charles Woodson's second-quarter interception with the Cowboys on the Raiders 7-yard line.

The play called for Irvin to run a curl route in the end zone. Irvin ran it inside. Garrett threw it outside, where Woodson intercepted. Gailey said the play usually has Davis or Ernie Mills running the curl route. He said those players run the route differently than Irvin runs it, and differently than what Garrett expected.

"I take responsibility for that because we'd run it with the other wide receivers all year," Gailey said. "Jason was used to the other guys running it. I should call a different play."

Nobody else took the blame for Garrett's second interception, which came with a little more than a minute remaining as he threw deep from the Cowboys 43-yard line.

The Cowboys sent three wide receivers into the pass pattern, Davis deep, Irvin on a curl, and Deion Sanders on a crossing route. Coaches said the game film showed that Garrett, despite needing just another 15 yards or so to put the Cowboys in position for a game-tying field goal, was looking at Davis deep all the way.

So the goal for Garrett this week is to not get caught looking the wrong way again.

(c) 1998, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

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