Tuesday, November 17, 1998

Defense, not Irvin's shutout should be Cowboys' concern

By Randy Galloway

Knight Ridder Newspapers

(KRT)

TEMPE, Ariz. - Michael Irvin smiled. If it was forced, he wouldn't have been alone in a winning locker room where the prevailing postgame mood was extremely low-voltage and certainly lacking in celebration.

"I'm happy . . . we won," said Irvin, who along the offensive way Sunday saw his club-record streak of consecutive games with a reception end at 117.

Figure this:

Offensively, the Dallas Cowboys were at their most productive best: five red-zone trips, five touchdowns. It was the top show of the season. The top in several seasons. But it almost wasn't enough to beat the Arizona Cardinals, and it wasn't enough for Irvin to make even a one-catch contribution.

Still wearing a smile, Irvin sounded not miffed, but a tad hurt when he said: "You work a lot of years to build something, and then you lose it without even having an opportunity to make a play. I guess that's the one regret."

It was certainly not the only regret for the Cowboys. There were many more, all of them on defense. In an incredible afternoon on several fronts, the Cowboys survived a frantic rally from young Jake Plummer, and in the end were hanging by fingernails to beat the Cardinals, 35-28.

In the NFL standings, the victory kept the Cowboys unbeaten against divisional foes and now basically uncatchable in the NFC East. Plus, at 7-3, they remain in the chase for home-field consideration in the playoffs.

Then again, the Dallas defensive collapse was so severe (leads of 28-0 and 35-14 were unsafe), the victory was rather hollow. Only questionable judgment by a referee in the end zone - he failed to call pass interference on the game's final play - kept the Cowboys out of possible overtime and, yes, a very possible loss.

Afterward, coach Chad Gailey tried to play up the angle of "it feels great to win," but even he would later backtrack a bit. Asked if it were a bittersweet victory, Gailey paused and said: "It does kinda feel that way, but I hate to get bent out of shape right now about it. It's best to take the victory, and then go home and start to evaluate what happened, and get to work fixing it."

There will be plenty on defense to fix. But worse yet for a first-year head coach would be any boat-rocking from a team leader like Irvin. It is a fact that Irvin's role in the offense has not been prominent of late, and then Sunday came the shutout on receptions. Actually, the Cowboys threw to Irvin only once, an unsuccessful slant late in the game.

But at the same time, the offense couldn't have been better for most of Sunday. In Gailey's offensive philosophy, the star-system is not necessarily in place.

In fact, Aikman threw only 18 passes, as the running game was featured. Aikman made the most of his chances, hitting 14, including 13 consecutive at one time. The biggest of the game was a 42-yard beauty to Billy Davis in the third quarter that set up the Cowboys' fifth touchdown. At the time, Arizona was starting to roll, having cut the lead to 28-14.

But Davis said after the game he was bothered by Irvin not being involved in the offensive process.

"The offense played well for the most part, but when Mike is a part of it, we're that much better," he said. "We've got to get him involved some way."

Aikman agreed.

"I'm pleased the offense continues to grow and that today we cashed in with touchdowns," he said. "But Michael means so much to us. I still say that will come. We are an offense that wants to develop a lot of weapons, but Michael remains the biggest weapon. And the other teams know that, too."

Obviously, Aikman also considers 18 pass attempts extremely low, but he added, "What we were doing worked."

Irvin appeared to take the same approach. And at the moment, Irvin deserves credit for the way he has handled the whole scene. His famous sideline antics of the past few years are long gone. And after the game, there was no pouting. More than anything, this is a show of respect for Gailey.

"Someone handed me a stat sheet and I saw Michael didn't have a catch - I was shocked," Gailey said. "We threw to a lot of people today and scored a lot of points, and I couldn't believe Michael didn't have a catch."

Even stranger, the long-awaited offensive breakthrough came Sunday without Irvin being a factor. That, of course, can and will change. The new worry is what to do about the Dallas defense.

(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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