Thursday, December 3, 1998

Cowboys say they must play better on defense

By David Moore

The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS -- The immediate concern is to find enough capable, healthy bodies to populate the secondary for Sunday’s game against New Orleans.

But a much bigger issue faces the Cowboys’ defense. It’s a question first raised in the rubble of a loss to Denver and driven home with 46-36 force by Minnesota on Thanksgiving Day.

Does the Dallas defense have what it takes to compete with the NFL’s best once the playoffs arrive? Their performance against the Broncos and Vikings fosters doubt as the team enters the final month of the regular season.

"We know what our offense is capable of doing," linebacker Randall Godfrey said. "We know what our special teams are capable of doing. It’s in our hands now as a defense. We’ve got to stop teams.

"It hurts me to know I’m part of the cause of not winning these games. The offense had its ups an downs early, but to play in a big game and the defense not to come through the way we should have ... it hurts."

This is not a blanket indictment of the defense. Two of the team’s four losses -- 13-12 defeats to Oakland and Chicago -- can be laid at the cleats of the offense. The defense has given Dallas a chance to win 10 of its first 12 games.

But the numbers given up in losses to Denver and Minnesota are sobering. A total of 88 points and 12 touchdowns. That’s only three fewer touchdowns than the Cowboys have given up in their other 10 games combined.

The Broncos ran all over the Cowboys. The Vikings passed at will. These two teams didn’t just beat the Dallas defense. They overwhelmed it.

Denver scored the first five times it touched the ball; Minnesota Minnesota the first three. That’s eight touchdowns in eight possessions totaling 597 yards to start the two games against Dallas.

"We haven’t gotten to the point where I don’t think we can hold teams by any means," Cowboys’ Coach Chan Gailey said. "I think we still have a chance to have a very good defense."

The coaching staff and players dismissed the 42-23 loss to Denver in Week 2 as an aberration. As Godfrey said, the Broncos "jumped out on us and we didn’t come close to stopping them."

Minnesota is another matter. Injuries to starting cornerbacks Deion Sanders and Kevin Smith left the Dallas secondary vulnerable. Even though the Vikings jumped ahead 21-6, the Cowboys narrowed the deficit to 24-19 in the third quarter before succumbing.

"I don’t think you can put it in the same category," Gailey said. "In Denver, we were healthy, and they scored the first five times they had the ball. That was one of those situations where they outschemed us and hit a couple of big runs, and got us totally out of whack.

"Minnesota was more a culmination of injuries and things like that taking their toll. And us not getting it done. That’s part of it."

Defensive coordinator Dave Campo said he doesn’t believe the losses to Denver and Minnesota provide an accurate read of the team’s defensive personality. He and the players say they feel good about the talent and the scheme.

Still, defensive tackle Leon Lett concedes the way the defense played against the two best offenses it faced is frustrating. Campo said the bottom line is the defense must improve, but he’s quick to give the Broncos and Vikings credit.

"Randy Moss has done that to about nine teams this year," Campo said of the Minnesota receiver who had three catches for 163 yards and three touchdowns against Dallas. "It’s not just us. Give them some credit, too. I’m not sure if the game would have been any different if Deion had been there.

"You can’t erase the game and say it didn’t happen. We must use it to our advantage. I think it’s a wakeup call and gives us an opportunity to go back out and show we are a better defensive unit than that."

Godfrey agreed.

"I put it on me," Godfrey said. "I put it on the defense. The defense has to play better, especially against top-notch teams like that."

The Cowboys won’t face another top-notch offense until the playoffs. Philadelphia owns the league’s worst offense. New Orleans (No. 28) and Kansas City (No. 22) aren’t far behind. Washington can generate yardage, but has a knack for turning the ball over at inopportune times.

The final four games should give the Dallas defense a chance to build confidence -- even with a patchwork secondary -- and the time it needs to get Sanders and Smith healthy. But it won’t answer the main question facing this defense.

That will have to wait until the playoffs.

"I think you’re measured over the course of an entire year," Campo said. "Obviously, we’re not happy that we didn’t play well against Denver and that we didn’t play well against Minnesota. At the same time, we may have a chance to face those teams again.

"That’s the challenge of the whole thing."

(c)1998, The Dallas Morning News.

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