Sunday, September 20, 1998

Joe Avezzano shapes new players into special unit

By David Moore

The Dallas Morning News

(KRT)

DALLAS -- Joe Avezzano wasn't concerned. He has been asked to plug different bodies into the Cowboys' special teams for years.

But he was uncertain. The changes this season were so sweeping, the losses so dramatic, that he couldn't be sure how quickly the group would come together.

Two weeks in, there are no complaints. The Cowboys rank among the NFL's top 10 in kickoff return average, punt coverage and kickoff coverage as they prepare to play the New York Giants on Monday night in the Meadowlands.

Punter Toby Gowin leads the league in gross and net average and has boomed most of his kickoffs into the end zone. Richie Cunningham has a career-long 54-yard field goal to his credit, Deion Sanders has a 43-yard punt return and Kevin Mathis ranks third in the NFC in kickoff returns.

Put it all together, and Avezzano feels compelled to extend the ultimate compliment.

He's pleased.

"I think one reason we are good, year in and year out, is that we expect to be good, and our veterans expect us to be good," Avezzano said. "That carries down to the youngsters.

"I don't accept youth or inexperience as an excuse for not being sound and being productive."

The Cowboys have lost 36 players to free agency the last six years. They have signed only seven. Many of the athletes who left were on special teams.

Dallas started this season with 10 new players on its kickoff coverage team and nine on its punting unit. The players who formed the nucleus of last year's special teams -- Bill Bates, Herschel Walker, Vinson Smith and Brock Marion -- have all moved on.

So has Dallas. The one constant has been Avezzano, who is in his his ninth year as the Cowboys' special teams coach. Avezzano's presence is one reason Cowboys' Coach Chan Gailey stops short of saying the group has exceeded expectations.

"The thing about it is, they expected themselves to be good on special teams, which is more important because they will rise to the level of their expectations much quicker than they will rise to the level of my expectations," Gailey said. "They expect to be good and work to be good, and they accept challenges."

Here's a look at how the challenges have been met so far:

-- KEVIN MATHIS: The second-year pro from Texas A&M Commerce has averaged 30.7 yards on his six kickoff returns. That average is even more impressive when you consider the two players ahead of him in the NFC, Green Bay's Roell Preston and Detroit's Terry Fair, have ripped off returns of 100 and 101 yards, respectively. Mathis' longest return is 38 yards, which shows his consistency.

Avezzano raves about Mathis' toughness and speed. Avezzano and Gailey both talk about his instincts. So good that Gailey and owner Jerry Jones are no longer fielding daily questions about possibly adding Walker to the roster.

"The hole is only there for a second, so you have to attack it," Mathis said. "Most guys shake too much. By the time they find the hole, it's gone."

-- DEION SANDERS: He did break one against Arizona, returning a punt 43 yards. He has averaged 11.2 yards on his five returns to rank seventh in the NFC.

"No question, he's one of the top threats in the NFL," Avezzano said. "Now, we've just got to get the opposing punter to let him catch a punt with some reasonable room."

-- KICKERS: Cunningham has hit all four of his field goal attempts and all seven of his extra points. Gowin has averages of 50 (gross) and 43.7 (net) on his punts, has drilled 10 of his 13 kickoffs into the end zone and took a fake punt 33 yards for a first down against Denver.

Avezzano and Gailey also credit deep snapper Dale Hellestrae for the consistency he lends to the kicking game.

-- COVERAGE UNITS: The Cowboys rank sixth in the league in kickoff coverage and seventh in punt coverage.

"I'm not prepared at this point to start singling guys out as the future Bill Bates of the world," Avezzano said. "But I think, as a group, we've done a nice job so far."

"So far" is a key phrase for Avezzano.

"When it gets later in the year and we can say the same things," he said, "then we know we've done something worthy of mention."

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(c) 1998, The Dallas Morning News.

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