Monday, December 14, 1998

Cowboys seem in no rush to get offense moving

By FRANK LUKSA

The Dallas Morning News

KANSAS CITY -- A significant event occurred before halftime of Sunday's game between the Cowboys and Kansas City Chiefs. A water main servicing Arrowhead Stadium malfunctioned and brought all of its toilets to a standstill.

The crisis worked a hardship on the Cowboys. Their offense wouldn't flush.

In a second consecutive display of scoring impotence, the Cowboys secured a 20-17 defeat by the Chiefs that left them locked in a late-season stagger. The loss was their third in a row, whittled the season record to 8-6 and allowed 7-7 Arizona to climb within one game of the NFC East lead.

This was the second game in as many weeks where the Cowboys could have clinched their division title by beating a sub-.500 team on the road. They failed a week ago against 5-7 New Orleans, 22-3. Another failure raised more doubts about their ability to compete against NFC elite, modest AFC entries and certain teams in the Big 12.

The 5-8 Kansas City team that beat them had lost seven of its last eight games, led the NFL in penalties and had its coach, Marty Schottenheimer, on the brink of his first non-winning season in 13 years. The Chiefs lacked the theoretical advantage held by the Cowboys' playoff incentive.

What the Cowboys lacked was every team's security blanket and the essence of coach Chan Gailey's offensive philosophy -- a running game. The outcome swung on that factor rather than an aerial duel between Troy Aikman and Rich Gannon.

Bam in fine form

The Chiefs ran hard, well and often behind Bam Morris, the Cooper, Texas, native from Texas Tech who's trying to revive a career interrupted by prison time on a marijuana possession charge. He landed in Kansas City at mid-season after previous stints with Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Chicago and a Texas jail cell.

The Cowboys ran into various cul de sacs. Simple as that. No further analysis is necessary to explain why the Cowboys are waist-deep in troubled waters.

Shedding tacklers like dandruff, Morris gained 138 yards on 27 punishing carries. Other runners chipped in to increase KC's rushing total to 183 yards on a 4.8 per-carry average.

Ahead 20-17 with 2:48 left to play, the Chiefs gave the ball to Morris four times in a row. Bam gained 11, 5, 2 and 17 yards. Dallas never got the ball back.

The Cowboys suddenly are run-feeble on offense and run-vulnerable on defense. One beyond-poor rushing effort can be dismissed as an aberration a la the all-time franchise low of six yards that Emmitt Smith gained against the Saints. But the week before, it was 58 yards against Minnesota followed by even fewer against the Chiefs.

Three such games in succession is a trend of worrisome proportion, especially in December. Smith gained 42 yards all day long, a total he once reached with regularity in the first quarter. The team total wasn't much higher: 51 discouraging yards.

Logic says an ever-diminished starting cast has robbed the Cowboys of continuity. Their center, right guard, tight end and third wideout already were missing, and a back injury put Michael Irvin down late in the second period after he'd made one catch for nine yards.

A rag-tag line

What has happened? An offensive line gone sour, much of it through attrition. A person named Hayward Clay, originally found on moon beam and placed on the practice squad, started his first game of the season at tight end. Eric Bjornson shared the spot with Snyder's Hayward, although few noticed.

Rookie Flo Adams went at right guard, which is fine except he's a natural tackle. Good ol' Nate Newton is 36 and playing old. There's not much difference at center between Mike Kiselak and Clay Shiver, and that's unfortunate. Tackles Erik Williams and Larry Allen aren't enough to tote that blocking bale.

So the offense winds up too often looking at third-and-long. It surrenders pass rush advantage to a defensive line able to ignore a run threat. Aikman may not be trapped, but there's enough penetration for his passes to be batted away at the line when receivers aren't dropping them at the usual crucial juncture.

Aikman struck back with two TD passes in the fourth quarter, but it was desperate, hully-gully work by an offense gone soft on fundamentals. The rally amounted to confetti blown by the wind.

What ails the Cowboys is as plain as their frequent no gain. The team has rushed for 117 yards during its season-high three-game losing streak. Morris beat that by 21 yards by himself and in 60 minutes.