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Friday, November 28, 1997

Cowboys' trio couldn't carry a tune

By Frank Luksa

The Dallas Morning News

(KRT)

DALLAS - Reba McEntire sang Thursday at Texas Stadium. Better had she played.

The country and western vocalist could have played quarterback, tailback and tight end for the Cowboys, and not much worse than those who did. Those positions accounted for a ghastly collection of five turnovers during a 27-14 loss to the Tennessee Oilers that found its place high on the all-time stink-bomb chart.

The magnitude of the game magnified errors by the triplets of tragedy - Troy Aikman, Eric Bjornson and Sherman Williams. One couldn't pass. One couldn't hold a catch. The other was unable to run with the ball without dropping it.

Aikman threw three interceptions that accounted for 14 Tennessee points. Bjornson fumbled a touchdown to the Oilers. Williams upchucked another fumble at the Tennessee one-yard line with 4:19 left to play to erase a potential Dallas TD.

If you're adding along with us, the Cowboys gave away 21 points, took away seven from themselves, and, thus, swung the final outcome by a negative 28 points. Not many offensive units can say that, and fewer still want the opportunity.

AWFUL OFFENSE

So the Cowboys' offense finally made good on a threat it has had in place since Game 2 of the regular season. It sank the ship, set fire to the house and allowed its fishing license to expire. It offered further exposure of an aspect of the team that has been plain for the last three months.

These Cowboys are not playoff worthy. This is a team in decline and disarray, especially when it has the ball since that is when things go bump in the night and at all hours of the afternoon. A 6-7 record should be enough proof of how far the Cowboys have slipped, but if not, there's another way to illustrate the point.

Every advantage lay with the Cowboys on Thursday. They were home and a touchdown favorite as much on the basis of history as recent performance. Home was where the Cowboys were 20-8-1 on Thanksgiving Day against opponents forced to travel for a short-week road date. Texas Stadium had been a lone oasis for the Cowboys, a watering hole where they were unbeaten in five starts, and Coach Barry Switzer's last hope for rescue.

This loomed as a blue-chip game for the locals, an occasion where their championship pedigree surfaced. A time when the cream also rises. A big game for big-game players facing virtual playoff extinction if they lost.

And they still couldn't win. The Cowboys have lost games of every size, but the most telling are the extra-large variety. Three deserve underline.

Against NFC elite, the Cowboys lost to San Francisco (17-10) and Green Bay (45-17). Against the AFC Oilers of 6-6 substance at kickoff, they lost again (27-14). Subtract Deion Sanders' touchdown runback against the Packers, and the Dallas offense is left with a combined 34 points to its discredit. Or an average of 11.3 points per defeat.

HALF-HEARTED HALF

The Cowboys were beaten in the first half and behind, 24-7, throttled by their own hands. The details are gory.

Aikman threw a pass for Stepfret Williams, who fell down. Marcus Robertson intercepted and ran 48 yards to the Dallas 10. Touchdown followed. Aikman next threw a high screen pass to Herschel Walker, intercepted this time by Darryll Lewis, who ran 34 yards to the Dallas one. Touchdown followed.

Robertson then scooted 42 yards for another TD with a Bjornson burp. Lewis stole an Aikman pass from the Oilers 15 and took it 26 yards the other way. And so on four times in the first 30 minutes of action.

Here's how things stood at the half in this particular matchup. A peculiar standoff was in progress.

Cowboys' total offense - 162 yards.

Robertson-Lewis return yards off turnovers - 150 yards.

Aikman was game to play after suffering muscle cramps in his back that caused him to exit pre-game warmups and seek a locker-room injection for relief. He denied his performance suffered from physical discomfort, which appeared the case since he scrambled with a normal gait and showed no loss of arm strength.

There was little that anyone could say afterward except the obvious. Switzer admitted the Cowboys weren't good enough, which was about all that needed to be said. Scott Galbraith best caught the flavor of the glum moment:

"This feels like when your wife comes in and asks for a divorce. There was no way in the world that I'd believe we would have stunk up the place like that in a big game. I mean, we're in a big game and that's not supposed to happen."

Well, it did, and for the last time in 1997. There are no big games left for the Cowboys to play.

(Frank Luksa is a sports columnist for the Dallas Morning News. Write to him at: Dallas Morning News, Communications Center, Dallas, Texas 75265.)