Friday, September 25, 1998

Jason Garrett is prepared to handle task

By Tim Cowlishaw

The Dallas Morning News

(KRT)

DALLAS - Troy Aikman was 26 when he won his first Super Bowl. Jason Garrett was 27 when he played in his first NFL game.

Not every quarterback in this league is a sure thing. Overnight success is the exception to the rule. But Garrett, eight months older than Aikman and preparing for the first time to make consecutive NFL starts at 32, is an extreme case - a long shot who made it.

Aikman still laughs when he recalls seeing Garrett after his first day in camp with the Cowboys in 1992. By then, Garrett's winding road already had taken him to the Saints' developmental squad, back to Princeton as an assistant coach and through the World and Canadian Football Leagues, where he was less than a star.

Garrett had his elbow and shoulder packed in ice after the workout in the Austin heat. He explained to Aikman that he was okay, that it was strictly precautionary.

"I thought he'd been in a car wreck," Aikman said. "And you should have seen him last week. He was (in ice) head to toe."

But Aikman believes Garrett is making the proper adjustment to life as a starting quarterback.

"Last Tuesday he was running sprints up and down the field after practice," Aikman said. "This Tuesday he was walking up and down the field."

Garrett didn't have the right size or the arm strength or the background (a quarterback from Princeton?) to satisfy NFL scouts nine years ago when he came out of college. Aikman was the first pick in 1989, Garrett was a no-pick.

But of the 16 quarterbacks drafted that year, only Aikman, Rodney Peete and Billy Joe Tolliver are collecting NFL checks today. Where have you gone, Anthony Dilweg?

Garrett was in part victimized by his Ivy League past, but he said he wouldn't trade those years for a football factory education. "I've got friends that are doing really neat things - working in London for Merrill Lynch, working on Wall Street, and Dean's doing the Hollywood thing," Garrett said.

Dean is Dean Cain, a.k.a Superman to Teri Hatcher's Lois Lane. He played free safety at Princeton, and my guess is he's the only member of those Tigers teams who wouldn't trade places with Garrett right now.

Nine years of patience and preparation combined with Aikman's collarbone injury to give Garrett his first four-week trial under fire. It began with a victory over the Giants, and a favorable schedule lends itself to further success for Garrett.

Aikman won't be surprised.

"We're not talking about a young guy," Aikman said. "He doesn't have a lot of regular-season experience, but he's played in a lot of pre-season games and he's been around here a long time. He prepared himself well. He was fine."

So were the Cowboys. And they will continue to be fine with Garrett at the wheel. As for this week's game, there's not a scout on the planet who would watch Garrett and Oakland's Jeff George practice and say, "I'll take Garrett."

But I give the check mark to the Cowboys at quarterback Sunday. This game isn't all about arm strength. Garrett did plenty of things to win the game against New York on Monday, but mostly he didn't do anything to lose it, an area in which George is more experienced. Quarterbacks' coach Buddy Geis was happy to see Garrett rack up 222 yards and hit Deion Sanders with the 55-yard bomb, but he was most excited in talking about a busted play.

"He made the read, no one was there, and the Giants had a linebacker coming in on him and Jason got rid of the ball," Geis said. "He could have taken the sack, but he got the incompletion instead. The best thing about Jason is he's so prepared."

Why shouldn't he be prepared? He has been waiting for this, his first real NFL audition, since 1989.

"I don't like to get too historical," Garrett said. "You really have to go through this one day at a time. Certainly different guys have different talent levels, but some get the opportunity sooner than others. That's a big part of this game because you can prepare yourself all you want, but you're going to learn the most when you're playing."

Garrett's on the high-speed part of the learning curve now. And contrary to what some assume when a team goes from a first pick to an undrafted free agent at the most critical position, the Cowboys aren't going to suffer for it.

This week Garrett will face a Heisman winner on one corner (Charles Woodson) and former Pro Bowler (Eric Allen) on the other. But when you've gone against Superman in practice, how tough can the Raiders look?

(c) 1998, The Dallas Morning News.

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