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Thursday, December 11, 1997

Emmitt Smith sums up Cowboys: 'We've played like garbage'

By Clarence E. Hill Jr.

Knight-Ridder Newspapers

(KRT)

IRVING, Texas - Sitting at his locker at the Valley Ranch training complex on Wednesday, running back Emmitt Smith took a deep breath and surveyed the Cowboys' state.

His assessment of a team that began the season as Super Bowl contenders but is now trying to salvage a .500 season wasn't pretty.

"Me personally, I had a lot of high expectations," Smith said. "Not to get in the playoffs is definitely disappointing. From the standpoint of the season, it has been a disappointment for us. It's been embarrassing. We've played like garbage at times. There is no other way to put it."

While keeping alive their slim playoff hopes, the Cowboys have other motivating factors in their last two games.

Defensive tackle Tony Casillas said that because the Cowboys will be playing a lot of young players to evaluate talent for next season, his teammates might be motivated to play at a higher level.

"A lot of guys will be under a microscope," Casillas said. "A lot of jobs are on the line, so that's got to motivate you. Maybe that will be the motivation for us to win the last two games."

The Cowboys, who face the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, are mathematically alive, but they would need a lot of luck to get in the playoffs. They must win their final two games while all of the following happens: Washington loses twice, Philadelphia loses once, Detroit loses twice, Carolina loses twice and Atlanta loses to Arizona.

Smith is one of 22 Cowboys players who have never been on a team that's been eliminated from the playoffs this early. The Cowboys, whose string of six consecutive playoff berths likely will be broken, weren't eliminated from playoff contention in 1990 until the final day of the season.

Safety Brock Marion, who in his five seasons has five NFC East titles and three Super Bowl victories, called it disappointing.

"In five years, I haven't been in this position," Marion said. "It's tough to swallow. Coming into the season as a rookie going to the Super Bowl, the only thing we've known is winning. To be in the position we are in now is frustrating."

Probably nobody can relate more to this first-time frustration than Cowboys coach Barry Switzer. In only three of 20 seasons as a head coach has Switzer missed the playoffs or a bowl game. And those three seasons were when Oklahoma was under NCAA probation. But even that didn't stop Switzer from succeeding, as one of those seasons ended in a national title, one a conference title and the other a second-place finish.

As a result, Switzer said the Bengals have a "psychological edge" going into Sunday's game.

"They've been in this situation before, not playing for anything," Switzer said. "Our mind-set has to be kind of like Cincinnati. Even though we are out of it doesn't mean you don't want to play your best. You take pride and play to win."

Linebacker Vinson Smith, who played with the Chicago Bears the past four seasons, has experienced a few losing seasons before and said the Cowboys will simply have to go out and play like professionals, though he doesn't know how his teammates are going to react.

"For me, it's about playing," Smith said. "You have to do the job you get paid to do."

(c) 1997, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

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