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Monday, December 22, 1997

Do-nothing, blame-everybody, Switzer stays true to form

By Jim Reeves

Knight-Ridder Newspapers

(KRT)

IRVING, Texas - The Cowboys finally got around to sending holiday greetings to their fans here Sunday, a Christmas card straight from their hearts to yours, if you will.

Naturally, they mailed it in.

The New York Giants arrived at Texas Stadium with the professed intent of embarrassing the Cowboys en route to becoming the first team ever to win the NFC East without losing to a division rival.

Even with a decisive, 20-7 victory, that goal - embarrassing the 'Boys - was an impossible task. The Cowboys beat them to the punch a long time ago.

The embarrassment continued far beyond the pathetic on-field performance to coach Barry Switzer, once again trying to drag anyone and everyone down with him, and who, if there's still silver in that star, just coached his last Cowboys game.

"It was ugly -1/8Sunday-3/8. I told Jerry he ought to get rid of the whole damn bunch of us," Switzer said after the game, referring, apparently, to both coaching staff and players.

Just Barry's way of saying "Merry Christmas!" to his friends.

In contrast to Switzer's blatant between-the-lines plea of, "I don't do anything around here, so don't blame me," were the attempts by an obviously crushed owner Jerry Jones to lightly step over and around the Switzer issue.

For now.

"I haven't addressed that," insisted Jones, who said that absolutely nothing will be done this week, what with the entire front office and coaching staff off for the holidays. "I haven't addressed it in my mind. I haven't addressed it with Barry.

"We haven't talked about his future. I have too much of a personal feeling for him to in any way have blinked when it comes to talking about his future."

Do not read into that that Jones' intent is anything other than to make a head-coaching change for the third time since he bought the Cowboys in 1989.

It's important to Jones, however, to do this, as he himself said Sunday, "the right way." Having been burned when he fired Tom Landry, Jones doesn't want to be accused to bungling this one, especially since he considers Switzer a close friend.

"Ever since I've been aware of sports and athletics, Barry Switzer has been a part of my consciousness," Jones said. "Where I come from (Arkansas) that's just the way things were. It's a personal thing with me."

Too bad it wasn't so personal for the Cowboys' players.

Embarrassment was Emmitt Smith rushing 13 times for 40 yards.

Humiliation was Troy Aikman finishing his season with a 6-of-16, 73-yard, one-interception performance.

Disgraceful was Michael Irvin's two catches for 13 yards.

Almost criminal was Erik Williams' flag-producing mugging of Giants end Michael Strahan, who's lucky he didn't have his eyes poked out.

Shameful was the spark the Cowboys actually seemed to show once Aikman and Smith turned the game over to understudies Jason Garrett and Sherman Williams to begin the fourth quarter.

Once again the lack of discipline and focus - a direct reflection of Switzer's who-gives-a-flip attitude - was translated into missed blocks, dropped passes and 88 yards worth of penalties.

"Anyone who implies I don't believe in discipline is wrong," Jones said. "I'm just disappointed that we played in a way and at a level that makes discipline, or lack of it, a question.

"We certainly killed ourselves on a couple of drives -1/8Sunday-3/8 where you could fairly say it was a lack of discipline."

Unlike his head coach, who spent the afternoon with his hands in his pockets, trying not to be caught yawning by the national TV cameras, Jones spent an active afternoon. He barged into the coaches' booth above the press box at the beginning of the second quarter, reportedly fuming, and was on the Cowboys' sideline by the beginning of the second half.

"I was in (the booth) in the first half, but I was not irate and not overly critical," Jones insisted. "Just basically observing. No play-calling and no substitutions.

"I did make a couple of suggestions when I was down on the sideline."

No word on whether even that managed to wake Switzer, who has the knack of dozing on his feet like an old plow horse put out to pasture.

A wake-up call, you can be sure, is on Jones' agenda within the next few weeks.

"I was surprised at how emotional I was, walking off that field, knowing our season was over," he said. "and how little we had accomplished. This was not a six-win team when we left training camp."

Finally, if you still doubt the owner's intent, read into these final words what you will.

Asked how he would grade Switzer's performance this season, Jones paused, licked his lips and said very carefully, "I would let the record, and I would let our results, grade him."

Any other questions?

(c) 1997, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

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