Tuesday, August 25, 1998

Jerry Jones optimistic about Cowboys' chances in '98

By Paul Domowitch

Knight Ridder Newspapers

(KRT)

PHILADELPHIA - The Dallas Cowboys have fallen, but owner Jerry Jones sees no reason why they shouldn't be able to get up.

While coach Ray Rhodes is loathe to mention his six-win Eagles in the same breath as the Super Bowl, Jones has no such reservations about the six-win Cowboys.

"I'm not predicting a Super Bowl," Jones said in a recent interview with the Philadelphia Daily News. "But I think we can compete for one this year.

"I don't feel this is a team that should have won just six games last year. We underachieved. The things that caused us to win only six ballgames, we've addressed. I'm excited about our personnel."

He has a new coach and a new offense that won't be quite as predictable as the old one.

"Teams aren't going to know what we're doing," Jones said. "I just hope we know what we're going to be doing."

He expects quarterback Troy Aikman to have a career year. He expects 29-year-old running back Emmitt Smith to bounce back and have a big season. He expects the offensive line to be considerably better than it was in '97.

"I don't think offensively we're on the way down," Jones said. "I think it's reasonable to say Troy should be better than he's ever been when you take his physical abilities and experience. The last two years, we lost the balance in our offense and it allowed defenses to defend the run better and hurt Emmitt's production.

"Defensively, we haven't had Deion Sanders and Leon Lett on the field at the same time in two years. Anybody in the National Football League will tell you you're going to be better if you've got those two out there. It's no accident that we had our roughest times when they weren't in there."

"The disappointing thing about last year, which I thought would never happen, is to have a healthy Troy Aikman and not be in the playoffs. If you get a healthy Troy Aikman to the playoffs, you've got a chance to win the Super Bowl. And we should always have ourselves in that spot."

The preseason prognosticators don't share Jones's optimism about his football team. Most have the Cowboys winning no more than eight games this year, and probably fewer. But he is not discouraged.

He recalls his junior season at the University of Arkansas in 1963. The Razorbacks were the consensus preseason pick to win the national championship that year. They ended up 5-5.

"We had one guy make the all-Southwest Conference team," Jones said. "Everybody said we were so overrated and didn't have any football players.

"The next year, we added one guy to the top 33 players. One player. Only one. We went undefeated and won the national championship and had 15 make all-Southwest Conference. Everybody said, 'Well, I guess they had some pretty good players after all.'

"I think that's what people are going to be saying about us when this season is over."

(c) 1998, Philadelphia Daily News.

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