Thursday, December 26, 1996

Irvin: We took the year off

By DENNE H. FREEMAN / Associated Press (Dec. 26, 1996)

IRVING - The Dallas Cowboys got into the playoffs again despite an offense that finished 24th overall in the NFL.

The defense, which finished third, carried the Cowboys to a 10-6 record and the NFC East division title.

"We took the year off," was the way wide receiver Michael Irvin explained the Cowboys' lack of firepower.

The NFL statistics don't lie.

Dallas was 18th rushing the ball and 20th passing it.

On the defensive side, Dallas was second against the pass and 10th against the rush.

The Cowboys managed to post a 10-6 record and win their fifth consecutive NFC East title despite the offensive problems that were obvious from the start.

Training camp was disjointed and unproductive because of scrimmages and trips.

"We never got a chance to get the repetitions we needed going into the season," said quarterback Troy Aikman.

Then came the NFL hammer on Irvin, who was suspended for five games in which the Cowboys limped along with a 2-3 record.

Then there was tight end Jay Novacek's bad back. Novacek was missing in action and that meant Aikman had no hookup with his No. 1 and No. 2 receivers from last year.

"Most people know what Jay means to this offense," Aikman said.

It wouldn't have been so bad if Eric Bjornson had been healthy. Drafted as a Novacek replacement, this former quarterback and wide receiver out of Washington has tremendous talent but is prone to injury.

Even when Bjornson played, it often was at half-speed. In one game, Bjornson tried to play with not one but two sprained ankles.

"Eric has a lot of talent, but he's been injured so much we couldn't get on the same page," said Aikman, who had 12 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions in the regular season.

Then another wide receiver, Kevin Williams, broke a bone in his foot and missed a month.

Deion Sanders never materialized as a big offensive threat, catching only 36 passes for 474 yards and a lone touchdown. During the stretch run, coach Barry Switzer began using him more and more on defense as it became clear that was the only way the Cowboys were going to win.

Meanwhile, the Cowboys offensive line played injured all season.

"We never had a chance to get into good pounding shape," said offensive guard Nate Newton. "But maybe we can get things coordinated for the playoffs."

Dallas plays the Minnesota Vikings in the first round of the playoffs on Saturday.

Placekicker Chris Boniol was all the offense Dallas had in some games. He won three games and currently is on a 27-game field goal streak.

But the defense under coordinator Dave Campo couldn't be budged, even though end Charles Haley missed most of the season with a bad back and Leon Lett was suspended the last three games and the playoffs for violating the NFL's substance-abuse policy.

"Our defense was responsible for us hanging in there like we did this season," Switzer said.