Thursday, August 22, 1996
Rushing style leaves Emmitt Smith vulnerable
to injuries
By Jean-Jacques Taylor
Dallas Morning News
(August 22, 1996)
IRVING, Texas (KRT) - Emmitt Smith has sprained his left knee
three times since November. The injuries, he said, are not the
start of a trend.
"I don't worry abut this being a chronic problem,"
Smith said. "If I had a chronic problem, my knee would hurt
when I was just walking around.
"I don't have any fear that I'm going to keep hurting it;
that's the least of my worries."
Smith's most recent sprain occurred on Saturday, when 324-pound
tackle Erik Williams accidentally fell on the back of leg during
a running play.
Smith is supposed to miss 2-4 weeks with a sprained medial collateral
ligament, but he likely he will be in the starting lineup on
Sept. 2 when the Cowboys play Chicago on Monday Night Football.
The Cowboys insist they will not rush Smith back into the lineup,
even though they will likely have several key performers missing
from their starting lineup because of injuries and suspensions.
Ideally, said Cowboys trainer Jim Maurer, Smith wouldn't play
again until he was completely healthy. But that's not an option
in the world of professional football, where pain is part of
the game.
Maurer also said he wants Smith's knee to be strong enough to
play without a brace.
"His injury doesn't make him susceptible to spraining the
knee again," Maurer said. "But if he gets hit on the
side of the knee again, it's going to hurt and it could happen
again."
Cowboys coach Barry Switzer said the Cowboys must be careful
with Smith, who signed an eight-year, $42 million contract with
a $12.5 million signing bonus last week.
"We're not going to sacrifice for one game," coach
Barry Switzer said. "This is a marathon season, you can
come out a little slow."
Sprains occur in three degrees. Smith has sustained a first-degree
sprain, a mild stretching or partial tearing of the ligament,
each time.
Miami Dolphins trainer Kevin O'Neill, who spent the past six
seasons as the Cowboys' trainer, said a more severe sprain could
predispose Smith to spraining the knee again. The first-degree
sprains, he said, make it less likely to occur.
Robert Vandermeer, the Cowboys' doctor, said Smith has strong
muscles surrounding his knee, giving the joint additional support.
"He's not ever going to be super until after the season,"
running backs coach Joe Brodsky said. "But the work he has
done in the off-season and in the weight room will enable him
to come back much quicker."
Maurer said Smith is vulnerable to knee sprains because he's
usually running or being tackled in a crowd, where it's easy
to be caught in awkward positions. Last season, Smith touched
the ball 439 times (377 carries and 62 receptions).
"There's not a lot you can do about it," Maurer said.
"He just uses his knees in ways that other positions don't
have to. Linemen don't have to make spin moves or the other moves
that Emmitt makes."
Smith can play with pain. He proved that in 1993 against the
Giants when he rushed for 168 yards and caught 10 passes despite
playing he second half with a separated shoulder.
And he said he won't pamper his knee or change his running style
to protect it when he returns to the lineup.
Last season, Smith sprained his knee against Kansas City on Thanksgiving.
Ten days later, he carried 21 times for 91 yards against Washington.
"I'm going to know before I get back whether I can run the
way I'm used to running," said Smith, who called his current
knee sprain the worst he has ever had. "We'll do a lot of
testing and stuff before I get back on the football field. When
I come back, I'm not going to be thinking about the knee."
(c) 1996, Dallas Morning News. Distributed by Knight-Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.
All content copyright 1996, AP, The Abilene
Reporter-News and Reporter OnLine
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