Monday, September 28, 1998

Garrett doesn't make any excuses

By Jeff Walker

IRVING - Jason Garrett is human after all. The backup quarterback, who is filling in for Troy Aikman after Aikman broke his collarbone, started three previous games in the National Football League and was 3 for 3.

Garrett filled in for an injured Aikman in 1993 and led the Cowboys to a 20-15 victory over Arizona. A year later, in arugably his most memorable game at quarterback, the Princeton graduate led Dallas to a 42-31 come-from-behind win over Green Bay on Thanksgiving Day.

Last week's victory over the New York Giants improved Garrett's record to 3-0, but the magic wasn't with him on Sunday.

Garrett completed 18 of 33 passes against the Raiders for 222 yards, but two crucial interceptions helped doom the Cowboys.

"Jason did some good things and Jason did some things that I wish and he wishes could be done over," Dallas head coach Chan Gailey said.

Garrett's first mistake came with Dallas driving deep in Raider territory near the end of the third quarter while trailing 10-3.

With a second and goal from the 7, Garrett threw a pass that was intercepted by Oakland's Charles Woodson in the end zone.

Garrett didn't make any excuses, like the fact that he and Michael Irvin hadn't worked a lot together.

"You might want to attribute it to that to a certain extent," he said. "But I have thrown that ball to Michael before. He was right and I was wrong, I should have thrown the ball inside more."

Garrett's other miscue came late in the game and ended the Cowboys' chances of tying the score.

With Dallas trailing 13-10 and under two minutes to play, Garrett lofted a ball down the middle of the field intended for Billy Davis. The ball was slightly overthrown, but two Raider defensive backs were ahead of Davis and Eric Turner came up with his third interception of the season.

"On that particular play I had a deep option, a middle option and an underneath option," Garrett said. "Billy went deep, Michael (Irvin) went over the middle on a curl and I had Deion (Sanders) underneath. Obviously, if I had to do it all over again I would have gone somewhere else with the football."

The Cowboys, who now go on the road to face arch-rival Washington next week, refuse to cast blame on Garrett.

"We, I, will not and should not second guess Jason and his decisions," Sanders said. "We as a team need to play consistently to win and to stay on the top of the league."

Davis reiterated Sanders' vote of confidence.

"Jason's done a wonderful job," Davis said. "He's allowed the team to have succcess and I think we will continue to have success. There is no doubts we have with Jason. Anybody can be fooled by a coverage, I have to read it just as well as he does. It's just as much on me and the whole offensive unit as it is on him."

Jeff Walker can be reached at 676-6711 or at sports@abinews.com.