ANOTHER article about Cowgirls to boost your spirits!

[Larry Brown #43]

Posted on Mon, Nov. 18, 2002

Cowboys give us the Heffelfinger

Randy Galloway COMMENTARY

Star-Telegram

Randy Galloway

INDIANAPOLIS - Outside the visitor's locker room here at the RCA Dome, there's a sign hanging in the hallway that says this:

"Pudge Heffelfinger is recognized as the first pro football player. He was paid $500 by the Allegheny Athletic Association for a game in 1892."

Watching the Cowboys play 110 years later, you have to wonder if much has really changed. Except, of course, the salaries.

For a month of Sundays, and counting, the Cowboys have put an 1892 offense on the field, and hopefully that won't insult the legacy of Mr. Heffelfinger or any other football pioneer.

But ox-drawn carts covered more ground than these Cowboys, and 10 games into the season this offensive snail's pace continued against the Colts in what was eventually a 20-3 triple-root canal kind of loss.

Somebody -- like somebody on the Dallas defense, or Jerry Jones, or Dave Campo -- figures to get mad as hell one of these games and go verbally ballistic about half the team failing to carry any of the load.

Actually, we seemed to have a prime candidate here Sunday in one Mike Zimmer, the Cowboys' sometimes volatile defensive coordinator.

With his defense having successfully closed out an Indy drive late in the third quarter of a 3-3 game, Zimmer suddenly went from relief to roaring mad. He reacted to what he had just seen on the field by slam-dunking a stack of play sheets off the turf, then stomping down the sideline as if seeking a neck to wring.

Except this anger was not aimed at the offense. With the Colts punting on fourth down, Cowboys special teams cover man and backup cornerback Duane Hawthorne had somehow wandered offside. The unforgivable penalty gave the Colts a gift first down at midfield, and they cashed in with a go-ahead field goal early in the fourth quarter.

"Oh, I got real angry today, like on that offsides play, and also at one of our defensive plays," said Zimmer. "But as far as the other thing [offensive incompetence], I just want us to try and do our job, keep the team in the game, and all you can do is hope for the best."

The same kind of company line was followed throughout the locker room by those on the defensive side. Week after week, that doesn't change. Not yet, it hasn't. A locker room split is expected at any time by the media, but thus far, nothing public has surfaced.

"I worry about it," said Campo, "but I don't think this team will split down the middle. The team has too much character for that."

Outside of the general anger over a losing streak that has reached four straight, the only yelp registered in the postgame gloom was from Emmitt Smith, and only because he was asked. No, claimed Emmitt, his substitution pattern with Troy Hambrick, which was evident for the first time Sunday, had not been properly explained, and he was disappointed.

Hey, Emmitt. For disappointment, or a reaction much stronger, get in line behind the defense.

Statistically speaking, however, Zimmer's defense slipped against the Colts. What had been a No. 5 ranking in the NFL may fall out of the top 10. Indy hung up sizable yardage, with quarterback Peyton Manning constantly playing catch with all-world receiver Marvin Harrison (14 receptions for 138 yards and two touchdowns). Plus, while it's rare for another Colts receiver to have an impact, backup Troy Walters figured on seven catches for 91 yards.

Add in Edgerrin James' 106 yards rushing, and the Colts moved the ball almost at will, particularly in the second half.

Yet this was a 3-3 game early in the fourth quarter, and a 6-3 game until late in the fourth, when Harrison beat safety Tony Dixon in the end zone for the game-is-over first touchdown of the afternoon. "That one really [ticked] me off," said Zimmer. "[Dixon] bit on a play fake. He shouldn't even be looking for a play fake in the coverage we had."

Actually, based on the caliber of offensive competition, this may have been the defense's finest performance of the season. The Colts, of course, had dropped an offensive atomic bomb on the Philadelphia Eagles' defense only a week ago. Film study of that meant Zimmer had a rope-a-dope strategy devised. Give up some chunks but not the whole thing.

"Yeah, some of that yardage," he said, "was my fault, based on the coverage we were playing. Certainly, that was the case with the rushing yards. This team had taken apart Philadelphia on big plays. We were cautious with that. It left some other things open, yet overall we played our butts off today."

But the Colts' tide also kept rolling in. The flood never came, but in its last three significant drives of the second half, Indy went on marches of 69, 76 and 80 yards, resulting in 10 fourth-quarter points. A wearing-down process took place, as the Dallas defense was on the field Sunday for 72 snaps.

Manning said afterward he had given the Indy defense a pep talk, out of respect for the Cowboys' defense.

"It was really important for our defense to do what they were supposed to do," he said. "We told our defense, 'Hey, these guys are good [on defense]. These guys are 3-6, but their defense is fourth or fifth in the league.' We knew we had a challenge. We were really patient, and then finally made some plays in the third and fourth quarters."

Of course, it's easy for the opposition to play the offensive waiting game based on what's showing on the scoreboard. For weeks now, the Cowboys have had little or nothing in the way of points.

Where is Pudge Heffelfinger when you really need him?