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Friday, November 28, 1997

It's up to Jerry Jones to turn the thing around

By Randy Galloway

The Dallas Morning News

(KRT)

DALLAS - If Jerry Jones is smart, and lately that's been in doubt, he will awaken Friday morning, serve himself a huge slice of humble pie, and then admit the truth.

Admit it's best this way. Best that the season ended this early and this ugly for the Cowboys. Best that the most captive national football audience of the year outside the Super Bowl saw it all unravel on a thankless Thanksgiving afternoon.

There's not a pilgrim in America who thought the collection of talent in Dallas could be this bad this long this season. But once weeks turned into months without a sign of a team jelling, the Cowboys were reduced to reliving the past.

Their lone pathetic hope involved clinging to tradition and championship pedigree, meaning, of course, regrouping around the big-game syndrome. A magical transformation was supposed to occur when the late November national spotlight was shining on a team that once made its name by performing on such a stage.

And then ... .

In a four-day span came the embarrassment in Green Bay, followed quickly by bush league self-destruction Thursday at Texas Stadium. Big games became big disasters. Season over, bay-bee.

If Mr. Jones can handle the truth, his first order of business Friday morning will be mapping out a 1998 game plan. That plan should start immediately with Jones removing himself and all his Valley Ranch bootlickers from the football decision-making process.

Bring real NFL people back to Valley Ranch, starting with a real NFL head coach and a real NFL general manager, unless one and the same can be located.

What Jimmy once built has been destroyed. Go find another Jimmy. Now.

Don't, of course, count on any of this happening. Jones has charted the current football course at Valley Ranch, and he's apparently functioning under the same pain-killing medication that Troy Aikman was forced to use minutes before Thursday's game. That stuff will make you woozy.

With the season on the line against the Oilers, what else could have gone wrong in a 27-14 monster of a loss? Aikman became almost immobile during pre-game warmups because of muscle cramps in his back, and after a shot of whatever it was, quickly entered a game that hindsight says he shouldn't have played. At least not the first quarter, when two interceptions led to a 14-0 lead for the Oilers.

While Aikman appeared lost in space, the quarterback of the defense, safety Darren Woodson, wandered the sidelines in street clothes. A shoulder injury in Green Bay prevented him from playing. By the second quarter, Rev. Deion was also gone with a broken rib, then Emmitt Smith had a forced exit early in the third quarter after a shoulder gave way.

The football gods, combined with that physical pounding in Green Bay, conspired against the Cowboys on Thursday. But the two Aikman interceptions - he threw a total of three in the first half - on top of killer fumbles by Eric Bjornson and Sherman Williams served the Oilers well.

Even after being down 24-7 at halftime, the Cowboys had their chances for a second-half miracle - but for what? Where is this team going even if it had made the playoffs? Was anyone eager for another Lambeau visit?

Again, the Oilers did Dallas a favor by not folding. It was the jolt of reality that was needed most of all by Jones. What he eventually does with it, however, is another story.

But when you are the once-mighty Cowboys, and your record has now fallen to the south side of .500, and the owner's personal pledge of a Super Bowl season has been trashed, the verbal hatchets will be aimed at a dangling neck. "You could sense they didn't want it," sniffed Oilers' safety Marcus Robertson, soaking up victory.

Actually, you couldn't sense that at all. With no ground game, as expected, against a tough Oilers' front seven, Aikman appeared to be capable of throwing Dallas to a win. And he might have, except for those first-half passes being caught by the wrong-colored jersies. And then there was the Bjornson fumble that was picked up and returned for a second-quarter touchdown. And then the fourth quarter Sherman Williams fumble at the goal line as the Cowboys were trying to rally.

Overall, however, Thursday's game followed a season-long course - offensive malfunctions combined with a defensive second-half meltdown.

The drive of the game, and also the turning point, was a 90-yard, 21-play masterpiece from young quarterback Steve McNair. It took an incredible 13 minutes off the second-half clock. That's unheard of.

But so is a 6-7 record for the Cowboys. Between now and summertime, the next move, or moves, belong to Jerry Jones. It's a woozy way to do business, but the time has come to change the way Jones is doing business.

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