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Smith believes in his ability, says doubters don't matter

By MIKE BALDWIN / The Daily Oklahoman

IRVING, Texas -- Emmitt Smith has heard enough.

The Dallas Cowboys are in decline. The offensive line is in decline. Smith is in decline. The headline in last week's Sports Illustrated read: Why Emmitt Smith and the Cowboys are Running on Empty.

"I know deep in my heart that my ability is still there, my God-given talent is still there," Smith said. "God is going to continue to bless Emmitt Smith regardless of what somebody else is saying. I'm not going to worry about all the propaganda because it's out there."

The propaganda is a 3-3 start could be the beginning of the end for a franchise that has won three Super Bowls this decade.

"It's time we circle the wagons and push everybody else out and just stay in the wagon by ourselves and do the best that we can," Smith said. "We could care less about the doubters. There will be doubters regardless of whether we win or not."

In the SI article, Smith was quoted as saying he fell down twice in the middle of the night during a trip to the bath room last year.

"It came across like I have problems every day getting out of bed. That's not even close," Smith said. "That happened one time, and that was one time before a game, one time only. It hasn't happened since. I woke up this morning fine. One time and it makes it seems like I've been having this problem for two years. No, that's not the case at all. If that was the case, I'd left the game a long time ago."

If the Cowboys lose Sunday to Jacksonville (5-1), it would mark the first time they've been below .500 this deep into a season since the 1990 team was 3-4 en route to a 7-9 finish.

"These guys have responded well with their backs to the wall in the past," said tight end Eric Bjornson. "It's a great challenge this week. Jacksonville is one of the hottest teams in the league right now. Definitely, a lot of people are going to be paying attention to see how we respond."

In the past, the Cowboys have responded with a win. The Cowboys have never lost three consecutive games during the Barry Switzer era.

"We believe in one another; we believe we can get it done despite what everybody else believes," Smith said. "That's very important. That's very key. The true test of a champion is how you handle all this adversity. Right now, our ball club is handling it quite well."

That was followed by a question about whether the Cowboys' swagger is gone.

"Swagger?" Smith said. "The swagger's been gone. We've just been playing football. We didn't give ourselves the swagger anyway. You guys are the ones who gave us the swagger, the same old folks that called us a dynasty."

Regardless of how they're portrayed, the offense has struggled. And it goes much deeper than being ranked 17th in total offense. Dallas has scored five offensive touch downs in five games and has an NFC-worst 29.2 percent scoring TDs in the red zone.

"There's a sense of doubt. We start questioning how good we are after having not done well the last few games," Bjornson said. "But we'll be all right. We just need to put it all together in one game and have another game like we did in Pittsburgh."

That's the problem. The Cowboys scored 37 points, and the offense scored nearly as many touchdowns (four) in Pittsburgh as it has scored in the next five games. Whether a veteran team can make an other Super Bowl run remains to be seen. At least this game is at Texas Stadium. Dallas has played four of its first six on the road.

"That ought to help," Smith said. "Up in (Washington) D.C. the fans were yelling fairly loud. Now our fans can get be hind us if they want to. We don't know how many are still on the wagon."

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)