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Sunday, December 21, 1997

Bye Bye to Barry?

By DENNE H. FREEMAN / AP Sports Writer

DALLAS (AP) -- Was the Dallas Cowboys great collapse of 1997 really caused by coach Barry Switzer?

Print publications and broadcast outlets certainly have pointed a finger in the direction of the "Bootlegger's Boy," with offensive coordinator Ernie Zampese coming in a close second as the most likely culprit for the collapse of '97.

The Cowboys, winners of three Super Bowl in the 1990s, certainly had enough leftover talent from those three great teams to win a sixth consecutive NFC East title.

However, this team had the discipline of a 3-year-old at an ice cream social.

If Switzer said it once, he said it 100 times in this season of discontent at Valley Ranch. All together now: "We had too many mentals."

How many times did we see Erik Williams move early and get an illegal procedure penalty or Anthony Miller run the wrong route or Troy Aikman throw into double coverage?

Zampese, the 61-year-old cigarette-puffing play-caller, often disappointed arm-chair quarterbacks with his decisions in tight situations. None was booed more roundly than the fourth-and-one bootleg call in the Carolina game in which Aikman was trapped for a 25-yard loss.

"If it had worked, nobody would have said a thing," Zampese said in his own defense later.

It also would have worked if Williams had blocked somebody.

But back to Barry, who proved he was one of 500 coaches who could win a Super Bowl after Jimmy Johnson left with two championship rings.

Switzer teams have always had discipline problems. Look at his Oklahoma clubs where players got out of control in the dorms.

When he arrived in Dallas, there was so much talent on the team offsides, holding and pass interference could be overcome. The Cowboys won their third Super Bowl in the 1990s and their first under Switzer.

This year, with a team decimated by free agency and getting long in the tooth, the Cowboys couldn't afford to play imperfect football.

They did and the won and loss record showed. They paid the price for sloppiness.

Aikman, not the world's biggest Switzer backer, pointed out again recently the Cowboys were a team in need of more discipline.

"That (discipline) is just my nature," Aikman said. "Maybe, it's an extreme approach. Something needs to be done about our mistakes and penalties."

Aikman thrived under the no-nonsense approach of former coach Jimmy Johnson, who put two Super Bowl rings on the Cowboys fingers.

If the charge against Switzer is a team lacking in discipline, then that's probably one item in which he would have to plead "guilty as charged."

Just like the gun deal at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

It was a lack of personal discipline that saw Switzer that hot August day try to check his luggage with through a metal detector with a .38-caliber pistol inside.

The goof certainly provided plenty of ammunition for the anti-Switzer faction.

That, and the fact, that Dallas was one of the most penalized teams in the NFL this year.

Dallas had 107 penalties for 970 yards in losses going into Sunday's season finale.

Did the Cowboys undisciplined play contribute to their dreadful season? Certainly.

Should you blame Switzer or the players?

Both.

But it appears Switzer may be the one who has to pay with his job.