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Monday, August 25, 1997

Healthy Eric Bjornson should be the cure for Cowboys

By Josie Karp

Knight-Ridder Newspapers

(KRT)

IRVING, Texas - A comparison of two plays shows the difference between this season and last for Eric Bjornson, tight ends coach Robert Ford says.

Flash way back to the Cowboys' divisional playoff game against the Carolina Panthers in January.

After throwing a 2-yard pass to fullback Daryl Johnston for a touchdown, quarterback Troy Aikman looks in the end zone to complete a two-point conversion. Bjornson cannot shake his defender.

Now, flash back to the Cowboys' third preseason game.

After an Emmitt Smith touchdown, the Cowboys go for a two-point conversion, Aikman getting it when he finds Johnston in the right corner. At least that's what everyone in the stands at Texas Stadium saw.

Ford saw this:

"This time, Bjornson just went out there and threw a forearm, knocked the guy about 2 or 3 yards, turned around and he was wide open," Ford said. "He learned from the experience in Carolina."

After an injury-plagued season a year ago, Bjornson is healthy this season. The ankle injuries that limited him during the season, and the hamstring injury that robbed him of valuable training-camp time in 1996, are healed. This is exactly what the Cowboys had in mind when they selected Louisiana State tight end David LaFleur in the first round of the draft.

The team drafted LaFleur, in part, to try to take away some of the pounding Bjornson, the lightest tight end in the league, was forced to endure a year ago. LaFleur might someday be the Cowboys' featured tight end the way Jay Novacek once was. But if preseason games are any indication, there is room for at least two tight ends in the Cowboys' offense.

Bjornson was the starter in all four preseason games. Exactly how the two players will split time once the season starts is still unclear, Ford says. He would also like to get tight end Scott Galbraith involved, but, for now, he envisions Bjornson on the field for about 25-30 plays per game.

The relationship between the old tight end and the new one could have been strained, Bjornson admits. But it's not.

"It would have been tough for me, if they drafted a guy in the first round and he came in here and was a jerk," Bjornson said. "But (LaFleur) is the greatest guy in the world. We've become good friends. It's made the whole deal a lot easier. We root for each other."

Bjornson knows the kind of obstacles awaiting LaFleur.

The biggest challenge for any new player who hopes to catch passes for the Cowboys, is earning the trust and confidence of Aikman. Bjornson appeared to have it early in his first season, when the exacting quarterback openly praised the first-year player.

Last year, though, Bjornson says he saw that confidence erode.

"He didn't have any confidence in me at the end of the year," Bjornson said. "He didn't say anything but, there were plays early in the year when I was healthy when I'd run the play and the way the defense reacted I knew I was getting the ball right away. Then, toward the end of the year, there were times I was open and I wasn't getting the ball. It's understandable. He didn't know whether I was going to be open or not."

That trust, Bjornson said, is developed in practice. Injuries robbed him of most of his practice time last year. Bjornson estimates that he did not get more than a day or two of practice during the week over the last quarter of the season.

So far this preseason, he has not missed one day of practice. His fear, that maybe he would never regain Aikman's confidence, has subsided.

"I went out in minicamps and ran real well," Bjornson said. "He's given me the ball. I think having gone through that and training camp, I think he feels better about me. Obviously we're not on the same page that he and Jay were on. But, I think it takes a lot of years to get that kind of chemistry. That's something we'll build on."

(c) 1997, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

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