this is my beloved cowboy's only goal this season..DOH!::
Cowboys don't want to be first to lose to Texans
By JAIME ARON
AP Sports Writer
September 5, 2002
IRVING, Texas (AP) -- As Dallas prepares for Sunday's opener against the expansion Houston Texans, the Cowboys will stand on the brink of NFL ignominy. Their challenge: Don't make the same mistake as the 1961 Chicago Bears. ADVERTISEMENT
In the opening game of that season, the Bears lost to the brand-new Minnesota Vikings. More than four decades later, the Vikings remain the only one of the NFL's 11 modern-day expansion franchises to start 1-0.
``We want to make sure that doesn't increase to two,'' Dallas defensive end Greg Ellis said.
Expansion teams no longer are the ragtag bunch of castoffs they once were. Carolina and Jacksonville proved that in 1996, when both came within a victory of the Super Bowl in just their second seasons.
Still, it's tough to win right away with 53 guys who have never played together. The Jaguars lost their first four. The Panthers lost their first five. And the most recent expansion team, Cleveland in 1999, started 0-7.
Should the Texans win even half their games, that would be a first-year first. None of their 11 predecessors reached .500 in their debut seasons. Two of them -- the 1960 Cowboys and the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers -- had to wait until their second season to get a victory.
``Looking at history, then, we've got a good chance to beat them,'' cornerback Mario Edwards said. ``But if we have to use that as motivation, then we're in big trouble.''
Ellis said the biggest reason to fear failure has nothing to do with the opponent. His concern is it would set a bad tone for the rest of the season.
He remembers how a 41-14 loss to Philadelphia to open 2000 destroyed preseason optimism and sent Dallas to a 5-11 record.
After going 5-11 again last season, the Cowboys hope they're on the way back up. The reasons include the maturity of Quincy Carter, a new offensive system under coordinator Bruce Coslet, and the addition of La'Roi Glover, Kevin Hardy and Roy Williams to an already solid defense.
``It's no secret the expectations are for us to do better,'' Ellis said. ``So for us to go out and stub our toe, that would really hurt.''
Dallas players have been saying all the right things about the Texans. Most of the talk is about the promise of quarterback David Carr and the presence of perennial Pro Bowl pick Tony Boselli, even if he is hurt.
``Just because they're an expansion team doesn't mean they can't play football,'' running back Emmitt Smith said. ``You need to get off that. That's why they call it `any given Sunday.'''
Considering that 24 Cowboys are in their first or second seasons, the best way to describe the David vs. Goliath status of these NFL teams might be by using a college analogy.
So for top draft pick Williams, who went to Oklahoma, losing to the Texans would be the equivalent of losing to Baylor. And for second-year quarterback Quincy Carter, who went to Georgia, it would be like losing to Vanderbilt.
``Hey, I lost to Vanderbilt when I was at South Carolina,'' running back Troy Hambrick said. ``That showed me you've got to come juiced up to play, or you'll get whipped.'' |
