Saturday, August 29, 1998

Cowboys tell fans not to worry after completing winless preseason

By TERRY WALLACE

Associated Press

DALLAS -- What can you say about a winless preseason?

Dallas Cowboys coaches and players had plenty of explanations after they lost to Jacksonville, 42-20, to complete their 0-5 exhibition record.

Troy Aikman's suggestion? Don't freak out.

The Cowboys' quarterback projected his usual cool when asked about the preseason whitewash.

"Are we concerned that we're 0-5? No," Aikman said. "I could sit here for an hour and tell you why we didn't win some preseason games. That's not important."

What is important, Aikman said, is what happens a week from Sunday, when the Cowboys open the regular season against the Arizona Cardinals.

"No one can sit here at the end of next Sunday and say, 'We were playing younger players and working on things we weren't going to be using in the regular season.' It's over with, and now we get ready to go," he said.

Few of the other Cowboys seem outwardly bothered by the preseason whitewash, either.

They pointed out that the Cowboys' trinity of Aikman, running back Emmitt Smith and receiver Michael Irvin ran just nine plays together before the backups took their places.

Aikman hit 2 of 4 passes for 27 yards. Smith rushed for three yards in three carries. Irvin caught one pass for 14 yards.

Offensively, the Cowboys had a total of 80 yards rushing to the Jags' 176. Dallas had 150 yards passing to Jacksonville's 269.

The Cowboys roster was still 60 on Friday. Team spokesman Rich Dalrymple says the team won't trim to the league-required 53 until shortly before the 3 p.m. Sunday deadline.

The most important personnel decisions remaining are who will be the other starting receiver alongside Irvin, and who will start at free safety.

The Cowboys hoped Billy Davis would grab the receiver spot, but he didn't make a catch against Jacksonville. His main competition, Ernie Mills, had one 13-yard catch.

At free safety, Omar Stoutmire is competing with George Teague and Kenny Wheaton. Stoutmire had five first-half tackles, three of them unassisted. But he also drew a flag for unnecessary roughness. Teague tipped a Mark Brunell pass to linebacker Dexter Coakley, who returned it for a touchdown. Wheaton made six tackles.

Throughout the preseason, a perception has grown that the team falls flat when the supporting cast is on the field. Partly to blame has been the trial-and-error work of installing new head coach Chan Gailey's offensive scheme.

Smith says much of that work has been completed successfully.

"I think the offense is a lot further along than it's shown during the preseason -- by far," he said.

Gailey admitted the team isn't playing as well as he thought it would by now.

"Are we where we want to be? No. Can we get there? Yes," Gailey said.

Come January, it won't matter to the Cowboys what happened during the exhibition season, he said.

"Sure, you want to win. Who doesn't want to win?" Gailey said. "But if we go on and play like we hope to play in the regular season, and have the season we hope we are going to have, this won't matter."

And if not?

"If we don't do well, everybody will point to the preseason and say it started there," Gailey conceded.