Friday, December 25, 1998

Starters won't rest vs. Redskins

By Clarence E. Hill Jr.

Knight Ridder Newspapers

(KRT)

IRVING, Texas -- Dallas Cowboys coach Chan Gailey doesn't plan to rest any of his starters, despite the meaningless nature of Sunday's season finale against the Redskins.

"We are going with two objectives," Gailey said. "The first one is to win the game. The second one is to improve. We can't do that without the starters playing and playing a good bit. That's how we are going to approach it."

Gailey said how long the starters play will be dictated by the flow of the game.

If the Cowboys (9-6) beat Washington (6-9), they would become the first team to go through the NFC East unbeaten and untied. It would also be the 23rd time the Cowboys have registered a 10-win season, the most of any NFL team.

Many Cowboys players said reaching 10 wins is-3/8 important, considering it would be a reversal of last season's 6-10 mark.

BRIEFLY

Tight end David LaFleur (sprained knee) practiced with the team Wednesday and did fairly well, Gailey said. LaFleur is expected to play against the Redskins after missing the past two games.

The inclement weather yesterday shortened the Cowboys' practice by 20 minutes but did not prevent the team from having a quality practice, Gailey said. The Cowboys considered moving practice to Texas Stadium, but Gailey decided against it because of icy roads and the iced-down artificial turf.

(c) 1998, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

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