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Jones says Switzer will right Cowboys

By Rick Gosselin

The Dallas Morning News

(KRT)

WASHINGTON - For those out there who think Barry Switzer is a mannequin on the Dallas sideline, brace yourself. The mannequin is about to come to life.

"Barry works well in adversity," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said Tuesday during a break in the NFL's annual fall meetings. "That's his calling card. He seems to come to the fore on those occasions."

Adversity is a 21-16 loss to the Washington Redskins on Monday night. A 3-3 record. Three losses in the division. A two-game losing streak. If you're the Cowboys, check all of the above.

"Barry thrives on adversity," Jones said. "This challenges him, gets his juices going. He certainly can recognize he must bring every skill, every instinct, every ounce of experience he's got to help this football team straighten out. If he doesn't do that, he would have let me down. He will do that ... not let me down."

But seven weeks into the season, the Cowboys have been a letdown. This is a team that aspires to win Super Bowls, not division titles. Yet the Cowboys find themselves looking up at Washington and New York in the NFC East - and these aren't Joe Gibbs' Redskins nor Bill Parcells' Giants.

But now is no time to panic, Jones said.

"We've got it under our control - anybody does - at six games," he said. "When your expectations are to end a season with home-field advantage ... those are high expectations. I don't back down at all from the fact if we can get (Troy) Aikman into a playoff situation, we have a good chance to go (to the Super Bowl). The key is Troy, his play and his health."

From the owner's vantage point, effort is not a concern.

"I know as a team we're competing extremely hard," Jones said. "The effort is there. The preparation is there."

Nor is talent a concern. Jones doesn't see the same aging cast that much of America does.

"The thing I like about our team is that we're playing a lot of young players," Jones said. "It's subtle, but it's there. If (Darren) Woodson hadn't started, we were ready to start three rookies on defense. I like what we have in young players like (David) LaFleur and Stepfret Williams. The future is not one of an aging team."

Jones also feels his cast of franchise players remains capable of championship-level performances.

"I don't view Aikman as anything other than in the prime of his career," Jones said. "Everything I've seen from Michael Irvin this year tells me he can compete at the level that a (Jerry) Rice has competed over the last several years. And I didn't see anything out there (Monday night) that concerned me about Emmitt (Smith). I thought he played as well as he's played in the last two years. He ran with power, ran with quickness."

Yet the problem remains. The Cowboys are 3-3 and a muffed field goal attempt by Philadelphia away from being 2-4. Effort and ability may not concern Jones, but mindset does.

"Believing in ourselves, believing in what we're doing offensively - I don't want any doubt creeping in," Jones said. "Two losses in a row can start some of that. But we've got people that have had hard times and come back to win Super Bowls, staff members as well as players. A lot of them have been through this before. They've got to show these young guys how to do it."

That's why Jones thinks Switzer is on the verge of becoming an asset.

"When we get our back to the wall, I know what we've got in Barry," Jones said. "We've got a long way to go and certainly have the time to do it."

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