WELCOME TO THE NFL : Cowboys Win, but Rookie QBs Are Unimpressive

Off the evidence of their first exhibition game under new Coach Jimmy Johnson, the Dallas Cowboys are in trouble with their two rookie quarterbacks.

Troy Aikman proved to be the master of the seven-yard pass Sunday, but showed the same old reluctance to throw the ball downfield.

Steve Walsh, who replaced Aikman by prearrangement at the start of the second half, immediately opened up--throwing long whenever he had receivers open. But unlike Aikman, he threw inaccurately.

So the Cowboys have committed themselves to nearly $2 million in salaries this season for two rookies of whom this might be said:

One can, but won’t. The other will, but can’t.

Aikman, that is, has the talent to deliver National Football League passes but seems strangely unwilling to stretch out with long-distance--or even middle-distance--throws.

By contrast, Walsh has the self-confidence but not the talent to throw downfield.

All this is, of course, subject to change eventually. With nearly a month left of training camp this summer, the Cowboys have the time to persuade Aikman to loosen up. And maybe they can improve Walsh’s throwing motion.

But in their first pro game, both showed the same weaknesses that identified them in college, when Walsh was a frail, non-athletic, winner type who couldn’t gun the ball, and when Aikman would gun it short but not long.

At UCLA, in fact, Aikman often threw it 12 yards and sometimes even 15. In his pro debut, he stopped at nine.

In a 20-3 game, as the Cowboys won their opener for new owner Jerry Jones, they had the field position to rout San Diego, at least in the first half, when it was first team against first team. But after Aikman, in six full series, gained only 67 yards passing with eight completions in 11 short attempts, they settled for 10-3 at the turn.

The unusual thing about Aikman is that hardly anybody looks and acts more like an NFL quarterback. Standing nearly 6 feet 4, weighing 225 or more, and showing both a disciplined field presence and a quick, clean throwing motion, the former Bruin quarterback appears to be an athlete who has been playing pro ball for 10 or 12 years.

Moreover, to watch him casually, he seems to be doing it all. Once in San Diego, fielding a low snap in shotgun formation, he kept his focus on the secondary, picked himself up, and completed the throw--a short throw, of course.

Again, earning the only touchdown of the first half at the end of a 47-yard drive, Aikman came with two picture passes inside the San Diego 20.

First, unloading to wide receiver Michael Irvin on a short slant pattern, he threw the ball into a crack so small that Irvin was sandwiched into a concussion as he caught it and had to leave the game.

Next, putting a pass exactly where he wanted to put it, Aikman lofted the ball nine yards over the Charger defense to the other wide receiver, Kelvin Martin, in the end zone.

That was pretty football. Still, a slant is the game’s easiest to throw--that time he didn’t even throw it particularly hard--and as for the lofted touchdown, no one ever said that Aikman doesn’t have a touch.

It’s only when you glance at the sideline sticks after an Aikman completion that you realize how little he has actually accomplished.

Although he has the power to fire long passes, it takes more than that. It also takes long ball accuracy, long ball touch and the will to throw long. At the moment, in Aikman the passer, one or more of these is missing.

It was when Walsh came aboard in the second half that any coach could appreciate Aikman. Whereas Aikman looks like a big league quarterback, Walsh is the obvious rookie.

At Miami last season, Walsh played so successfully, so intelligently, that he seemed to have a pro future. And he may still have. But at the moment, back to throw the ball, he does all the rookie things.

For example: When Aikman powers his short passes, they arrive at just the right time. This is one reason he looks so much like a pro quarterback. By comparison, against the Chargers, Walsh’s passes arrived late almost every time.

He threw the turn-in late, the long one late, the short one late.

Walsh, who completed two of eight for 22 yards, plainly knows what to do with the ball, he simply hasn’t mastered what it takes to do it right.

Not the least of Walsh’s problems is his throwing motion. The Aikman motion, though somewhat constricted, is as splendid as that of any passer in the league. For years, Aikman has had the look of a very well-coached passer.

Walsh looks like a Miami passer. Though Miami has sent up some of the NFL’s most famous quarterbacks--Jim Kelly, Bernie Kosar and Vinny Testaverde, among others, and now Walsh--none throws a picture pass.

To get some mileage out of Walsh, the Cowboys will have to teach him to throw. The question is whether that will be harder than getting Aikman to throw long. Or, anyway, longer.