Saturday, October 5, 1996
Irvin's Back, Cowboys Hope They Are, Too
By DENNE H. FREEMAN
AP Sports Writer
(Oct. 5, 1996)
IRVING, Texas (AP) - The moment that saved the season for the
defending Super Bowl champion Dallas Cowboys could have been
when Herschel Walker returned a kickoff 49 yards against Philadelphia.
That the Cowboys would have to rely on such an unlikely player
to avoid a 1-4 start shows just how topsy-turvy the first five
weeks of the season has been for Dallas. Walker, whose 1989 trade
to Minnesota for 12 players and draft picks started the Cowboys
on the road to winning three Super Bowl titles in four years,
has done a little of everything - play backup fullback, tight
end, wide receiver and special teams - while playing for the
league minimum.
That he would be the early-season savior on a team with Deion
Sanders, Emmitt Smith, Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin is nothing
short of ironic.
"I guess you say I have an attitude and I want the Cowboys
to get their old attitude back," the 34-year-old Walker
said.
Some of the old swagger did return this week in the form of Irvin,
whose drug-related NFL suspension ended after the Cowboys' 23-19
win over the Eagles.
With Irvin back, the Cowboys (2-3) went into a bye week with
a chance to retool their lost offense and heal injured players,
such as Smith and practically every member of the offensive line.
Irvin will be eligible Oct. 13 when Arizona plays at Texas Stadium.
"It feels like our group is now closer to being back together,"
Aikman said. "As much as anything else, along with having
a great player on the field again, it gives us a lot of confidence."
Right now the Cowboys are two teams. The defense is playing as
well as any defense the Cowboys have had in the 1990s. The offense
still sputters like a car with only two sparkplugs.
"We are making way too many mistakes on offense," said
coach Barry Switzer. "We've got two weeks to get it ironed
out. We are proving we can move the football but we can get a
lot better.
We've got it turned around now. We were going south and now we're
going north. Maybe we can catch fire down the stretch. We're
suring getting some big help back with Michael."
Irvin's suspension stemmed from his no-contest plea to felony
cocaine possession charges in July.
"I walked up to him, hugged him and kissed him," offensive
lineman Nate Newton said of Irvin's return to practice on Thursday.
"I told him how he's helped us dig this hole that we're
in and now he's got to help bring us out of it."
"Michael is going to be on the field about a minute before
we start throwing the ball to him," Switzer said.
But Irvin's absence has been only part of the problems for the
Cowboys in a sorry September for the NFL's crowned king.
Defensive end Charles Haley has been rendered ineffective because
of back problems which kept him out of one game and mostly out
of the other four.
Tight end Jay Novacek has such a bad back he has yet to play
and might not before the season is over.
The offensive line, oldest and among the heaviest in the NFL,
has been playing at about 75 percent because of injuries.
Deion Sanders, who grabbed attention by being a two-way starter,
didn't dazzle on offense. Sanders had trouble running routes,
which caused problems for Aikman.
The Cowboys' only experienced receiver, Kevin Williams, broke
an ankle bone in the fourth game and his return date is unknown.
Some of the blame for the Cowboys' slow start goes back to a
crazy training camp lined up by owner Jerry Jones that included
games and scrimmages but allowed for no down-to-earth practice
time.
"It was almost a useless training camp," Aikman said.
"We never got a chance to get settled in, to get repetitions."
Switzer, with his laid-back style, has taken a lot of the heat
for the Cowboys' bumpy start. Trying to show he can be a disciplinarian,
he even pounded a table with his fist during a team meeting.
Stung by rumors that Switzer might be booted out the door, Jones
issued a vote of confidence to his coach: "I think of Barry
Switzer coaching the Cowboys 10 years from now. He is my coach
and my only coach for a long time to come."
The Cowboys hope the bye week will do wonders for the health
of Smith, who has never been so banged up so early in the season.
Although he rushed for 92 yards against the Eagles, he did so
wincing every time he was hit on his tender ribs. He still has
a sore neck, shoulder, knee and ankle.
"I need the bye week," Smith said. "I think it's
really going to help me. It couldn't have come at a better time."
The rest of the Cowboys would certainly agree.
All content copyright 1996, AP, The Abilene
Reporter-News and Reporter OnLine
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