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Winning ugly not good enough for Cowboys

By Scott MacGregor / The Chicago Tribune

IRVING, Texas -- Troy Aikman's postgame comments Sunday were as pointed and as accurate as perhaps anything that has been said about the Dallas Cowboys this season.

"We just can't allow ourselves to accept the mediocrity we've put out the last few weeks," the Cowboys' quarterback said, stone-faced and frustrated. "We've struggled and we're not used to that. We have to go out and run plays crisply and not just go through the motions. Otherwise I'll be up here saying the same thing every Sunday."

And this was after the Cowboys had beaten the Bears 27-3 to improve to 3-1. Perhaps that says as much about the Bears (0-5), who would kill for any kind of a victory right now, as it does about the Cowboys, for whom merely winning isn't enough.

Why all the consternation? The Cowboys had just 180 total net yards, with 56 of them coming on the ground. They had a total of zero rushing yards at the half, and Emmitt Smith, who used to be their bread-and-butter weapon, finished with just 43 yards on 13 carries.

It was the third straight subpar performance by the once-vaunted Dallas attack.

The message was clear throughout the Cowboys' locker room: We'll take the win, but we don't feel too proud about it.

"It's frustrating to the whole group," running backs coach Joe Brodsky said. "Last year we didn't have everybody, but this year we have it all and we're not getting it done."

The Cowboys gave three reasons for their offensive ineptitude: their own failure to execute, the Bears' ball-hogging in the first half and the Bears' blitzing defense, which came at Aikman on almost every play. Only in the second half, when the Cowboys scored on a 26-yard pass from Aikman to Michael Irvin, did the offensive line successfully handle the blitz.

"We used to sit in the chapel and pray that teams would blitz us," Irvin said. "(Blitzing is) the new fad. It's not a bad idea, but when they go for broke, we have to say, ÔOK, y'all are broke.' "

Smith, in particular, was frustrated -- he had one 15-yard burst, but most of his carries were of the short, struggle-to-get-a-few-yards variety. The onetime touchdown machine still hasn't scored this season, and when the Cowboys got into the so-called Emmitt zone -- inside the 10-yard line -- they preferred to pass.

"It's somewhat frustrating that they key on me, but that's when we have to spread it out and play run-and-shoot for a while," Smith said.

Smith is only 28, but it has been suggested that eight years of heavy duty have caught up with him, that he's not the weapon he was during the Cowboys' Super Bowl runs in 1992, '93 and '95. Brodsky disputes that notion.

"We're not too old," he said. "Maybe we're not hungry enough. But if Emmitt Smith's a quitter, I'll quit coaching today."

Irvin, who had six catches for 105 yards and a touchdown, emphasized the final score over final stats.

"We sometimes have to look at the positive and smile instead of looking at the negative and being upset," he said. "We're 3-1. Last year we were 1-3 at this time. Just look at that."

Aikman, too, noted the flip of the record from last year and said the problems can be fixed.

"A lack of confidence in each other isn't the case," he said. "We just haven't executed well. We have to fight through this."

(c) 1997, Chicago Tribune.

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