THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 6, 1997 TAG: 9701060130
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE LENGTH: 93 lines
``Pain'' replaced (video) ``Tape'' as the four-letter word of the week for the Dallas Cowboys Sunday during and after their 26-17 playoff loss to the Carolina Panthers.
It was everywhere the deposed Super Bowl champions looked at glitzy Ericsson Stadium.
Just yards from the tunnel that led to the Dallas locker room stood four presumably Panthers fans, dressed in prison-issue striped uniforms. One held a sign that mockingly identified themselves as ``The Michael Irvin Fan Club.''
On the other side of the field, a portly man made his way down some stairs to his seat, jutting his chest out so that his neighbors could get a good look at a T-shirt most certainly not officially licensed NFL property.
``Convicts vs. Carolina,'' it read.
And then there were the banners, which ranged from the trite ``Momma, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys,'' to the overly polite ``Mr. (Jerry) Jones, America's Team Lives in Charlotte Now.''
Almost directly behind the end zone in which tight end Wesley Walls caught the 10-yard touchdown pass from Kerry Collins that gave Carolina a 7-3 lead it never relinquished, Matthew and Steven Cramer posted a banner-shaped message for their brother Michael Scott, a building inspector in Virginia Beach.
``Panthers Defense is Dom-Inating,'' a cutesy play on the first name of the Panthers' head coach, Dom Capers.
That's a notion Irvin, Deion Sanders and just about everyone else who walked around with a star on the side of his helmet learned the hard way Sunday.
For Irvin, the continuous taunting for his role in a tawdry sex-and-drug scandal about a year ago and for whatever part (if any) he played in another such case last week, was nothing compared to the pain inflicted on him by Carolina linebacker Lamar Lathon. On Dallas' first drive, Irvin gained 22 yards on a slant pass before Lathon drove him into the ground shoulder first.
Irvin's right collarbone snapped like a dry twig. Escorted to the locker room, television cameras caught him kneeling, head bowed, either in desperate prayer or excruciating pain. When next he was seen, it was the third quarter. Irvin was strolling towards his bench wearing a spicy mustard-yellow suit, his right arm in a sling, eyes encased in sunglasses.
Sanders wasn't nearly as lucky.
Subbing for Irvin at wide receiver, Sanders ran 16 yards on a reverse, at the end of which was a free overnight stay at the Carolinas Medical Center. Four Panthers slammed Sanders face down to the turf. Miniscule linebacker Sam Mills did the most damage, applying a blow to his head that knocked Sanders silly, although a CAT scan proved negative.
Quarterback Troy Aikman played the whole way despite retreating to the sidelines to have his calf tightly wrapped after taking a couple of shots from the ever-present Lathon. Linebacker Darrin Smith trudged off the field, seemngly oblivious to the thin river of blood running down his right arm. Fullback Darryl Johnston left the locker room with a berg-sized ice bag taped to his right elbow.
Tending to their injuries and licking their (psychological) wounds were among the many reasons the Cowboys' locker room was as silent as a crypt following an unexpectedly early postseason dismissal. Most of the Dallas players long ago stopped talking to the media, convinced America's sporting press played a conspiratorial role in removing them from their perch atop the football universe.
``We couldn't get a break the whole season,'' said guard Nate Newton, who wasn't on anyone's original A-list of interviews, but ascended to the part when it was discovered he was about the only player talking. ``The police, the judges, the media, the NFL. We fought through the suspensions, we fought through the allegations. We never went a whole week where the media asked us football-only questions.
``This week, we never talked Carolina. It was always something else. I think we did a good job against them, all things considered. What we've been through, a lot of bigger men would have broken. We never broke.''
A few feet away, that point of view was being debated by fullback Johnston.
``The guys are tired, physically and emotionally,'' he said. ``It's not unusual to be tired physically at this time of year. But our emotional tank's empty, too. That's what's different.''
It may be about the only thing that's different about the Cowboys in the months to come. Owner Jerry Jones says Barry Switzer will return as coach next season, squelching a long-standing rumor that Switzer would be canned no matter how he fared this season.
And Aikman, that noblest of Cowboys, brushed off talk that he was fed up with being a Dallas Badboy and would seek employment elsewhere before next season.
Mostly, the dethroned champions dressed in silence and waved off requests for insight and autographs.
``I hope people forget about us now,'' Newton said. ``Concentrate on the rest of the league.'' ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOS
First the Panthers broke Michael Irvin's shoulder, top photo, with a
first-quarter hit, then broke the Cowboys' spirit, as evidenced by
Erik Williams' and Emmitt Smith's sullen demeanor in the closing
seconds of Carolina's 26-17 victory.