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Monday, November 10, 1997

Bells that Troy Aikman heard were Roger Staubach calling

By Jim Reeves

Knight-Ridder Newspapers

(KRT)

IRVING, Texas - Troy Aikman's ears were still ringing late Sunday afternoon after yet another blow to the head, but it was the pealing of the telephone this week that got his attention.

"It was Roger (Staubach) calling with his pep talk," Aikman reported, grinning wryly. "When Rog calls, you know things are a little rough."

If you're scoring along with the neurologists, that's three consecutive weeks that the Cowboys' quarterback has staggered to the sidelines with a severe headache.

If you're scoring along with the Cowboys, make it 24-6, Dallas over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday at Texas Stadium.

If that sounds impressive, it wasn't really.

The Cardinals are not a very good football team and that's being kind. The question isn't how the Cowboys drummed them Sunday; it's how they managed to lose to this sorry 2-8 team the second week of the season in Arizona.

It was, however, a big win for the Cowboys in the sense that any win is critical for a team that sits at 5-5 and needs to run the table to be assured of a seat at the table for postseason play.

It was, unfortunately, your typical NFL game this season: dominating defenses, a handful of key plays, and a couple of blown officials' calls that might have made the biggest difference of all.

It wasn't a typical Cowboys' game, however: They actually scored two rushing touchdowns and in four trips to the "red zone" came away with three TDs and a Richie Cunningham field goal.

That's as close to an offensive explosion as the Cowboys have come since the opening game at Pittsburgh.

Ten games are a sizable sample, so I suggest that it's time to face reality: This is Cowboys' football in 1997. We're way past the glory days. Every week is root hog or die.

"Man, just trying to win a football game these days is hard," Irvin said with a sigh.

This one, naturally, was closer than that 18-point difference would indicate. Consider that, had an official not waved off an apparent 34-yard catch by Rob Moore at Dallas' 1-yard line in the third quarter, the Cowboys would likely have been trying to cling to a 17-14 lead.

It's a different ballgame then, friends.

Replays seemed to indicate that the Cards got jobbed on the play, but don't expect any sympathy cards from the Cowboys, who have seen more hankies dropped and picked up than at a 19th century finishing school dance.

Aikman was 15-of-22 for 216 yards and shuffled his tosses among eight receivers. The Cowboys' revolving tailbacks - Emmitt Smith and Sherman Williams - combined for 117 yards on 31 carries and each scored a touchdown.

Nothing overwhelming, by any means, but a victory just the same.

"I think it's probably the same way around the league," Aikman said. "It's pretty consistent. I don't know who you might consider the top teams in the league, but whoever they are, they've had some of the same struggles.

"Those teams have found ways to win, but Green Bay, they've had their problems; New England started off so well, they've had their problems of late; Denver ... I think it's just the way the league is right now. The defenses are a little bit ahead of the offenses and free agency has made a difference with the execution."

Aikman's counterparts for the Cardinals - rookie Jake "The Snake" Plummer and journeyman veteran Kent Graham - were snowed under by nine Cowboys' sacks, but it was a tossup as to whether that pair or Aikman, who was sacked twice, were hit hardest.

"I took some hits," Aikman conceded. "I took a pretty good shot to the head on the last sack" in the fourth quarter.

That brought on a recurrence of the headaches that followed similar shots against Philadelphia (concussion) and San Francisco in the previous two games.

It was enough for the Cowboys to send backup Wade Wilson into the fray for the last series with three minutes to play.

"If it was a different ballgame, I would have gone back in," said Aikman, who revealed that he had his picture made with Muhammad Ali during the off-season. Ali, of course, is the tragic poster child for doctors who shake their heads at athletes who defy the odds and continue to take repeated shots to the head.

There was typical gallows humor about whether Aikman could remember his phone number and address and what he and Ali chatted about, but Troy wasn't laughing.

"I'm not going to make light of that situation," Aikman said.

He was, however, chuckling about the phone call from Staubach, who retired at Cowboys quarterback because of numerous concussions. That's what Aikman figured Roger was calling about.

"We never did connect," Aikman said. "I just got the message that he'd called and I missed him when I tried to call back. -1/4RBut-1/4S when you hear from Rog, you know you're in trouble."

The surprise is that it has taken this long for Staubach to call.

(c) 1997, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

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