Tuesday, September 15, 1998

Aikman's forays sure to be second-guessed

By Randy Galloway

Knight Ridder Newspapers

(KRT)

DENVER - OK, let the second-guessing begin. In fact, let's hear it from any of you volunteers out there. Be the first to step right up and tell Troy Aikman what he should have done.

Like run out of bounds. Or at least give it a safety slide.

Aikman, his left arm in a sling, his right hand holding an ice bag on a broken left collarbone, said after Sunday's game that he was expecting to hear a loud second-guess chorus from Fort Worth-Dallas precincts.

"It will probably be the same people who last week were so pleased with my running," he added, forcing a smile.

Awaiting a bus ride to the airport and the team flight home, Aikman admitted he was in considerable pain. Actually, the Dallas Cowboys had a postgame locker room full of hurt, but most of it involved broken pride instead of broken bones.

An embarrassing defensive breakdown in the first half led to a 42-23 victory for the Denver Broncos. In this case, however, losing the game is minor.

"I don't care about the game," said receiver Michael Irvin. "But why did it have to be Troy we lost?"

Maybe it didn't have to be Aikman, if he had played it safe there in the second quarter. "But please introduce me to the man brave enough to tell Troy he shouldn't have done what he did," said owner Jerry Jones.

Second guess this:

"If we were going to win today it was going to have to be in a shootout," said Aikman. "It's the second quarter, and even though we're down (28-14), we had our offense going. I was still planning on winning this game.

"I had run out of bounds on the play before (for a three-yard gain), and when that side of the field opened up for me again, I was going for it. I knew I had five yards, but I needed a couple more to move the sticks. I wanted to move those sticks."

Broncos' linebacker Bill Romanowski appeared to have Aikman cut off short of the first down.

"I started to slide," said Aikman, "but then I thought I could duck in behind (Romanowski). That's when I made the dive, trying to get the first down."

Two Denver defenders came down on Aikman, but he thinks the collarbone gave way when he hit the ground, or before he took the hits.

Recovery time for Aikman was estimated at four to eight weeks.

"A normal person, it would be eight weeks before they'd play again," said Cowboys team doctor Robert Vandermeer. "But Troy, knowing him, it will be four weeks, and he will be asking to come back before then."

"Four weeks, and that's maximum," stressed Aikman. "It's not like I'm out for the season. Lets keep this thing going, and I'll be back ... quickly."

"I've never talked much to (Aikman) about running out of bounds on plays like that," said head coach Chan Gailey. "Now I wish I had. Now he wishes I had."

Ironically, Aikman's most enjoyable season in years has now been temporarily delayed almost before it got started. "What is kinda devastating right now is that I really like what we're doing as a team, and on the offensive side, I think we've got a chance to be good," said Aikman. "It's no secret I've been excited about a lot of things that have been happening with Chan.

"I don't want to see that end for even one game. Again, however, the season is not over for me, and certainly not for this team."

Part of the offense Gailey brought to Dallas involved Aikman moving around more in the backfield. If he's moving around, opportunities to scramble are going to surface. Aikman running the football helped jump-start the offense in the win over Arizona. And the Denver defensive coaches admitted it gave them a new worry for Sunday's game.

But if Aikman is scrambling, does he increase the odds on being injured? Of course. The sword cuts both ways, particularly when you mix in Aikman's competitive nature.

Losing Aikman for maybe a month of games is an awful blow to the Cowboys, but injury risks for a quarterback is part of life in the NFL. Crying doesn't help, and to the credit of the Cowboys they stayed competitive with Denver until late in the fourth quarter. Afterward, however, reality settled upon the locker room.

"I never like to see Troy run," admitted Irvin. "Every time it happens, I'm out there saying, 'no, no, no.' At home, my wife and kids are also saying, 'no, no, no.' They know, like I know, that Troy is our money man."

Irvin then paused and added, "I'm not very good at talking about this stuff."

For what it's worth, Aikman offered a postgame second-guess of himself. "Knowing what I know now, I'd have run out of bounds," he said.

Then again, with Aikman, it might not be wise to take that as the gospel.

(Randy Galloway is a sports columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Write to him at: Fort Worth Star-Telegram, P.O. Box 1870, Fort Worth, Texas, 76101.)

(c) 1998, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

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