Sunday, August 18, 1996

Cowboys Face Much Longer and More Difficult Road Back to Super Bowl

IRVING, Texas (AP) - The Dallas Cowboys have won three out of the last four Super Bowls. They face a long, long road for another ring because of suspensions, injuries and the NFL salary cap.

Wide receiver Michael Irvin must serve a five-game suspension as the result of his sex and drug scandal and defensive end Shante Carver will be gone six games because of alcohol abuse.
The injuries keep piling up.

Tight end Jay Novacek's has a bad back and probably won't start the regular season. Offensive tackle Mark Tuinei is out indefinitely after rupturing the medial collateral ligament in his right knee in a 31-7 preseason loss to New England Monday night.

There are other hobbling injuries, including season-ending knee problems for tight end Kendell Watkins and defensive lineman Darren Benson.

"We have no depth at all," Switzer said. "We are the thinnest team in football right now."

The Cowboys aren't having much preseason success. That means little in the overall picture. In fact, the Cowboys are 11-19-1 overall in preseason games during the 1990s but have three Super Bowl rings to prove exhibition games are mere exercises for owners to make money.

Nevertheless, there's no getting around the fact that the Cowboys don't look good.

"We haven't had a lot of our top guys in there, but there are no excuses for the way we've played," said quarterback Troy Aikman. "I wish I had an answer on how we could improve our flat play."
Emmitt Smith, the Cowboys' $48 million man, and Aikman might have to carry the offensive load for the team.

All the news hasn't been gloom and doom.

Cornerback Kevin Smith, who missed the 1995 season with a torn Achilles' tendon, played a quarter against New England and reported no major problems.

"It was a short jump in the water, but it was a jump and that's good," Smith said.

Charles Haley also played a quarter at defensive end and Herschel Walker, playing for the NFL minimum of $275,000, continues to impress as a receiver, blocker and special teams player.

Smith's return at cornerback is vital for the team because of the Deion Sanders experiment at wide receiver.

The more Smith can play cornerback, the more Sanders gets to play offense.

"We expect Deion to do both," Switzer said. "With Irvin gone, we have to get Deion into the game to give our passing game some explosiveness."

The Cowboys special teams are also suffering.

Switzer said he was most concerned with special-teams play. The Cowboys gave up a 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against New England.

"When you don't have defensive backs and depth and don't have specialists, it makes it difficult," Switzer said. "We have to find people who can cover and play."

The Cowboys don't have much depth. In fact, Switzer said, it's apparent "this team will have less depth than any returning Super Bowl champion the Cowboys have had."

"That's the facts of life because of the salary cap," he said.

Dallas opens the regular season on Sept. 2 in Chicago against the Bears on Monday Night Football.
Then they host the New York Giants and Indianapolis, and travel to Buffalo and Philadelphia before Irvin comes back on Oct. 13 against Arizona.

"Each player on this team is going to have to reach deep this year," Switzer said. "It's going to be a lot tougher to get to the Super Bowl than it was last year."

Cowboys Chatroom.....Dallas Cowboys.....Back to Reporter OnLine