Tuesday, September 29, 1998

Cowboys learning a lesson in humility

By Frank Luksa

The Dallas Morning News

(KRT)

IRVING, Texas - All this talk about the population crisis in the NFL appeared confirmed by Sunday's result at Texas Stadium. The chatter across bridge tables and bar stools has bemoaned the existence of too many mediocre teams.

Add another one. It's the Cowboys.

A season with the qualities of a bobbing cork continued for coach Chan Gailey's entry. They've been up one week. Down the next. A 13-12 loss to the Oakland Raiders qualified as a real downer.

Defeat leveled the Cowboys' record at 2-2 and should put a stop to silly conversation heard down at the feed store. Euphoric fumes from a 31-7 rout of the New York Giants last Monday night led to projections that by virtue of a soft-looking schedule, the Cowboys would leap into control of the NFC East.

Those who embraced that rapturous scenario forgot the words of a great football coach, who cautioned amid the thrill of victory: "Already remember that humility is only seven days away."

Barry Switzer said that, and he was a terrific coach at Oklahoma. OK, so maybe he wasn't real good for the Cowboys. And come to think on it, Switzer's time frame doesn't fit this case. The Cowboys were humiliated within a span of six days.

The loss exposed certain things about Gailey's team and validated others. The most evident was that until Troy Aikman heals his fractured collarbone, the Cowboys' scoring punch will remain severely limited. That should not register as a stop-the-presses bulletin.

Jason Garrett did not have a good game. Not even a slightly off game. The Red Baron from Princeton flunked his second exam of 1998 in relief of Aikman. Two interceptions and an underthrown pass to Michael Irvin on his first pass of the game soiled his performance.

Nor did the Cowboys run well enough to ease pressure on Garrett. They netted 68 yards, averaged a puny 2.7 per attempt and left Gailey groping through his play list for solutions. Garrett's 33 passing attempts were at least 10 more than desirable.

"Some teams can make mistakes and still win," Gailey said after the game. "We're not one of them right now."

Minor errors tip the scales against the Cowboys. Major clunkers overturn their cart. Any combination leads to an unnecessary fate such as Sunday's raw loss.

Gailey was galled far beyond anything he actually said. Listeners caught a whiff of sulphur when Gailey was asked to comment on Oakland's defense, and plainly for the purpose of a compliment.

"Well..." he said, and paused to find words to soften dismay and disgust. "They (Raiders) played good, but our execution was more at fault than anything."

In other words, pal, we gave it away. We donated like you would to a Salvation Army kettle.

An altered, updated projection of the Cowboys now reflects less rapture. Losing as they did - favored at home against an Oakland team that went 4-12 last season, does not raise confidence in the near future. Nor does it inspire hope that Aikman will inherit a warm cot upon his return.

Who looms as a walk-over victim for the Cowboys? Not even 0-4 Washington, next up on the road and facing season's end with another loss. Winless Carolina frightens. Winless Chicago looks a threat.

Based on Sunday's outcome, the most promising date for the Cowboys lies four weeks hence. It's an Oct. 25 bye.

Another of Gailey's major objectives escaped. Winning was foremost. Then came a spin-off effect. Gailey laid pre-game stress on making Texas Stadium a "tough play to play...we want teams to dread to come into our place."

Once the home of Cowboys mystique, Texas Stadium lately has been a featherbed for visitors. Dallas has lost four of its last five games there. Gailey reflected upon opportunity lost: "To be a championship team, you've got to win at home and win consistently."

A warm, humid afternoon therefore found the Cowboys shut out. They didn't win. They lost at home. They were beaten by their own hand more so than Oakland's timid grip.

If you didn't know better, you may have thought this was just a raggedy game between down-the-track teams from last season that put up 4-12 and 6-10 records. And on a particular Sunday in late September one year later, both looked capable of repeating those finishes.

(c) 1998, The Dallas Morning News.

Visit The Dallas Morning News on the World Wide Web at http://www.dallasnews.com/

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.