Wednesday, September 4, 1996

For Barry Swtizer, defense's play is something to smile about
By Jean-Jacques Taylor
The Dallas Morning News
(September 4, 1996)

DALLAS (KRT) - Selected questions and answers from Barry Switzer's news conference Tuesday:

QUESTION: A day after the game, did it look as ugly on film as it did at Soldier Field on Monday?
ANSWER: Looking at it on film, it was still ugly. But when you look at it and analyze it, then there are some things that we felt good about. We felt good at halftime because we felt the defense was playing well and we thought in the second half we'd get some things accomplished.

Q: The four turnovers seemed like the most difficult things for the team to overcome.
A: In my three years here, I don't know of a game we've won when we've had four turnovers. You can't do that at this level and still win ballgames.

Q: What was your impression of the defense, which had four new starters?
A: Our defensive staff said they would take 15 games like the one we played against Chicago. They were two-for-14 on third downs and gained only 2.8 per carry. We got beat a couple of times in the flat, when our strongside linebacker had to cover a running back, but our coaches know that's going to happen. Overall, we played well defensively.

Q: How big a role did your ineffectiveness on third down play in the loss?
A: We lost because we didn't convert on third down. What were we last year? Forty-four percent, but we don't have the people that we're used to having in those situations. Do you think Chicago was happy with what they did on third down? They might have won the game, but they weren't happy with what they did last night.

Q: When and why did you decide to play Eric Bjornson against Chicago since he has been bothered with a sore hamstring?
A: Eric wasn't ready last night, but he's better than anybody else that we've got. We've got no one else. We put him in the game because we wanted to see if he could make a play. We don't have a tight end passing game, but when we put him in there we can do a lot of the old stuff that we used to use.

Q: How come you opted not to use the hurry-up offense midway through the fourth quarter, when you were down, 22-3?
A: That's not our style, and I don't think I've ever seen the Cowboys do that. I don't think the Cowboys have ever done that before.

(c) 1996, Dallas Morning News. Distributed by Knight-Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

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