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Friday, August 29, 1997

Cowboys expecting the run

By Jean-Jacques Taylor

The Dallas Morning News

(KRT)

DALLAS - The Cowboys expect Pittsburgh to employ a simple game plan Sunday: Give the ball to 250-pound running back Jerome Bettis as much as possible.

"I hope they try to run it," second-year linebacker Randall Godfrey said. "I want them to try to run it.

"We've lost a lot of key players in the front seven from last year, so we have to take it up to an extra level. We look forward to stopping the run."

Godfrey and his teammates should have plenty of opportunities.

Bettis gained a career-high 1,431 yards and scored 11 touchdowns last season. It was the second-highest single-season rushing total in team history. He gained more than 100 yards 10 times, and Pittsburgh went 9-1 in those games.

Pittsburgh finished second in the NFL in rushing last season with 143.7 yards per game. The Cowboys, however, have been among the NFL's best at stopping the run.

Dallas allowed one 100-yard rushing game last season and only six in the past four seasons. The Cowboys were 3-3 in those games.

But they'll have to stop Bettis without 6-6, 295-pound defensive tackle Leon Lett, one of the NFL's premier players.

Lett, suspended last December for violating the NFL's substance-abuse policy, will miss at least the first 13 games. Without Lett, the Cowboys know Pittsburgh will test their run defense, which allowed 98.5 yards per game in 1996.

Lett forced teams to double-team him, leaving middle linebacker Fred Strickland free to run toward the ball.

Strickland made at least 10 tackles in a game eight times in 13 games with Lett in the lineup. Without him, Strickland had more than 10 tackles once in five games.

"Everybody can't say we're vulnerable to the run because we don't have Lett," said Strickland, "but Chad and Tony played real good in the last pre-season game. Those guys can play."

Tony Casillas, a 12-year veteran, replaces Lett in the lineup, but he'll play right tackle. Chad Hennings moves from right tackle to left tackle.

The Cowboys hope either one is disruptive enough to force a double-team.

The wild card is rookie defensive tackle Antonio Anderson, who has earned a spot in the Cowboys' three-man rotation. At 6-6 and 318 pounds, Anderson has a physical stature similar to Lett's.

And he has shown flashes in pre-season of being a player who can help the Cowboys.

Pittsburgh Coach Bill Cowher said the Cowboys still have a quality defensive line.

"There's no question that Lett had a big impact on their defense because he's a strong guy who anchored their defense," Cowher said. "But Tony Tolbert is still one of the top defensive ends, Shante Carver is a former No. 1, Chad Hennings is an underrated player, and Casillas started for them when they won a Super Bowl."

GRIEVANCE FILED:

The agent for former defensive tackle Mike Ulufale said the NFL Players Association has filed a grievance against the Cowboys on behalf of his client.

The grievance says Ulufale was released with an existing injury (strained neck) he sustained playing football with the Cowboys, said Tom Olsen, Ulufale's agent.

Olsen said the Cowboys did not want to put him on the injured reserve, and an injury settlement could not be reached because neither side knows how long it will take him to recover.

Olsen said Ulufale could need surgery if two months of therapy doesn't cure his problem.

SANDERS UPDATE:

Cornerback Deion Sanders did not practice Thursday, although Coach Barry Switzer said he might participate in limited team drills Friday.

Sanders has been hampered by a bulging disk in his back.

LINEBACKER SIGNS:

The Cowboys signed linebacker James Burgess to the practice squad on Thursday. Burgess, who played at the University of Miami, was cut by Kansas City last week.

(c) 1997, The Dallas Morning News.

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