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Reality sets in for Dallas players

By Bart Hubbuch

The Dallas Morning News

(KRT)

IRVING, Texas - Skeptics around the NFL have been saying it for three years. Less than 48 hours after their second tepid performance in as many weeks, Cowboys players conceded the same thing.

They're no longer an elite team.

Big deal? It is when those words start coming from what was once the NFL's cockiest locker room. And the confessions were flowing freely Wednesday.

"I think we're a good team that can contend, but I don't think we're a championship team right now," strong safety Darren Woodson said.

Heading into the bye weekend, what the Cowboys are is 2-1 and tied with Washington for the NFC East lead. But they also realize how precariously close they were to 1-2 before Philadelphia punter Tom Hutton botched the hold on the final play of Monday night's 21-20 escape at Texas Stadium.

Despite the victory, the Cowboys appeared fatigued in the 95-degree heat and often looked every bit as wrinkled as their standing as the NFL's third-oldest team.

The Cowboys might be 60-21 (.741) over the past five seasons, but as of Wednesday you wouldn't find many of them disputing that age, parity and the salary cap have caught up with Dallas.

"It's not like things were five years ago," running back Emmitt Smith said. "Everybody has to accept that. Everybody else is as good as we are."

Quarterback Troy Aikman, who less than a month ago was insisting that opponents still fear the Cowboys, now sounds realistic about a team that has lost 33 players to free agency since 1993.

"I don't think we're the same team we were in '92 or '93," Aikman said. "There's a tendency to look around the locker room, see some of the same faces from before and think it's the same team - when it's really not."

The rest of the league isn't the same, either, Aikman added. That point is driven home by the 3-0 record of the once-motley Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the offensive woes of the Green Bay Packers and San Francisco 49ers.

"Because of free agency, I think the days of the dominant team are over," Aikman said. "It's awfully hard to keep a team together if you're in the upper echelon."

Continued problems with the running game and scoring inside the 20-yard line -woes the Cowboys had deemed a one-year aberration in 1996 - have made them more realistic three weeks into this season.

The Cowboys, perennially the NFL's most dominant rushing attack in the early '90s, now are a mere seventh in the NFC and 12th in the league with an average of 119 yards per game.

Dallas also has been dismal inside the 20, at least when it comes to touchdowns. The Cowboys have settled for nine field goals in 13 "red zone" possessions, and kicker Richie Cunningham is the NFL's leading scorer with 44 points.

A few years ago, that would have been Smith atop the league's scoring charts. Now, he has zero rushing touchdowns after the first three games for the first time in his eight-year career.

"Everybody wants to single out the Cowboys because we were quote, unquote, the most high-profile team in the National Football League," Smith said. "We set the standard. I don't wear an 'S' on my chest, even though people think I do. These other teams have All-Pros, too."

Switzer changes mind

A day after saying his team deserved its gift victory over Philadelphia, Cowboys coach Barry Switzer decided he wasn't so pleased, after all.

Upset by numerous breakdowns in the fourth quarter Monday night, a visibly angry Switzer has scheduled two Thursday practices amid the Cowboys' bye week.

The Cowboys will focus on their two-minute offense and defense, pass protection and offense inside the opponent's 20, Switzer said Wednesday. Dallas has struggled noticeably in each of those areas the past two weeks.

Switzer was incensed by the pass defense on Philadelphia's final drive. The Eagles marched 80 yards in 51 seconds before botching the hold on what would have been the game-winning field goal.

"We were using the same coverages, but there wasn't a panic mode," Switzer said. "The emphasis needs to be on that."

Aikman likes no-huddle

The Cowboys unveiled a no-huddle offense at least five times Monday to counter the blitz, forcing the confused Eagles to use a timeout on one occasion.

Troy Aikman wants to see more of the no-huddle, although coach Barry Switzer said it won't be used inside the opponent's 20.

"I thought it was really well-conceived," Aikman said. "It gave us some chances, so I think we'll continue to do it."

Briefly...

Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin had serious cramping in the second half the past two weeks because of what he said Wednesday was a pre-game drink concoction. "The mixture stripped my body of water, so I just won't take it anymore," Irvin said. "The cramps won't happen again, believe me."...Coach Barry Switzer awarded game balls to safeties Darren Woodson and Brock Marion and to cornerback Kevin Mathis for special-teams work...Rookie linebacker James Bates, son of Cowboys linebackers coach Jim Bates, was signed to the practice squad.

(c) 1997, The Dallas Morning News.

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