Monday, November 23, 1998

Aikman had busy day, but so did trainer and refs

By Jeff Walker

IRVING - It was tough to determine who had a busier afternoon Sunday, Troy Aikman, head trainer Jim Maurer or the officiating crew.

When the Cowboys' offense was able to move consistently, Aikman was spreading the football all around.

Injuries and the emergence of some unfamiliar faces allowed the Dallas quarterback to complete a pass to 10 different receivers.

Michael Irvin, Billy Davis, Jeff Ogden, David LaFleur, Chris Warren, Patrick Jeffers, Emmitt Smith, Daryl Johnston, Eric Bjornson and Ernie Mills each caught at least one pass.

"That's a tribute to our offense and to Troy Aikman," said Ogden, who enjoyed the biggest day in his short professional career. "Troy doesn't just key on one receiver, he puts the ball to the receiver that's open and that is what makes him a good quarterback."

Irvin led all receivers with eight receptions for 98 yards, but the biggest surprises came from Jeffers, a backup the Cowboys picked up in a trade with Denver this year, and Ogden, a rookie who made the team out of training camp as a free agent from Eastern Washington University.

Ogden grabbed four catches for 26 yards and added another 12 yards on the ground on a reverse in the third quarter.

"You've got to give credit to those guys because they are coming in prepared to play, they are not expecting to sit out," Dallas head coach Chan Gailey said.

Jeffers hauled in two catches for 40 yards and received praise from his head coach.

"Pat did a nice job, he came in and made a couple big plays for us," Gailey said. "Right before the half he helped get the ball down there to get in field goal position and he made a catch on a big third down earlier. He's going to have to continue to play that role if Ernie can't come back."

Ernie (Mills) may be one of many Cowboys missing Thursday's Thanksgiving contest with Minnesota due to injury.

Mills made his only reception of the game midway through the second quarter. After making the grab near the Dallas sideline, Mills was hit in the stomach and taken to the hospital. Early reports from the Cowboys' staff indicated that Mills suffered internal lacerations to his stomach on the play.

Mills was just one of many Cowboys needing medical attention. Offensive guard Everett McIver had a Seattle player roll on the back of his knee and Gailey said the news isn't good.

"Everett McIver injured his other knee and looks to be possibly gone for the year," Gailey said.

Deion Sanders reinjured his toe; Emmitt Smith sprained his ankle; Chris Warren sprained a muscle in his stomach and Nate Newton sprained an ankle. Their status immediately following the game wasn't known by Gailey.

The injuries couldn't be controlled, but what upset Gailey was the lack of concentration that caused Dallas to be flagged 15 times for 129 yards.

"I don't know how many (penalties we had) but I'm sure I'm going to get about 400 questions about them this week," Gailey said. "We're going to address them; we did a good job of that last week but we didn't do a good job with it this week. We had entirely too many and those kind of things will cost you a game."

The penalties came from all different directions: Warren was whistled for unsportsmanlike conduct for being too close to the field on the sidelines, causing the field judge to trip over him during a play; Aikman was flagged for intentional grounding twice; several different players committed false starts.

The Cowboys have a lot to worry about and overcome before the Vikings come to Texas Stadium. Unfortunately, they only have three days to fix them.

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