New Men at Top Inject Enthusiasm Into the Cowboys

It used to be that Tom Landry would stand off about 20 yards from his players and coaches, and silently watch drills in the Dallas Cowboys’ training camp, his hawk eyes staring stonily out from under the bill of a baseball cap, betraying nothing.

That was the Landry style: motivation through insecurity.

Jimmy Johnson smiles. He jokes with his players during stretching exercises. He struts in his busy fashion from group to group, shouting encouragement.

Certainly, Johnson and new Cowboys owner Jerry Jones have given some people in the organization plenty of reason to feel insecure. But aside from the unceremonious way in which they canned Landry, club president Tex Schramm and player personnel director Gil Brandt, Johnson and Jones have injected some fresh air into a franchise that had gone stale.

“Landry and Jimmy Johnson are like night and day,” 14-year center Tom Rafferty said recently. “Jimmy talks to you. He gives you positive reinforcement and enthusiasm. He jokes around, and the players love it. Tom wasn’t like that. Jimmy has a more outgoing personality, and that’s pretty good.”

Rookie quarterback Steve Walsh, who played under Johnson in college at Miami, calls him “The Great Psychologist” for the way he concentrates on keeping his players in the right frame of mind to win while leaving the technique-oriented coaching to assistants.

Acknowledging his reputation as a motivator, Johnson said, “It doesn’t make a difference how old you are, you still need to be motivated. I want them to work hard, but I also want them to enjoy it. I want it to be a somewhat relaxed atmosphere, but they should have a sense of urgency.”

So far, Johnson has succeeded in walking that fine line. He has instilled some optimism in a young team and has rewarded his players for their hard work by relaxing curfew and allowing them to practice in shorts instead of pads more frequently.

That there has been any change is the biggest change from the Landry regime. “I didn’t feel Coach Landry ever changed over all the time I was here,” Rafferty said.

One trademark was the way offensive linemen got into the set position at the line of scrimmage and stood up before getting set again. But Landry was most inflexible when it came to the “Flex” defense. If he lost touch with the game, it was in his persistence in using the “Flex.” Johnson primarily is a defensive coach, and he has installed a modern system that comes as a relief to many of the Cowboys.

“We’re going to play more zone coverage and we can be more aggressive,” said ninth-year cornerback Everson Walls. “It gives you a sense of security at cornerback as opposed to the ‘Flex,’ where we always were in man-to-man coverage. I pride myself on my man coverage, but you don’t want to be predictable. In this defense, no one is left hung out to dry. Coach Landry refused to change the ‘Flex.’ We complained to the assistant coaches, but they always said, ‘Coach Landry wants it this way.’

“Now, we’re finally getting to the point where we’re like other NFL defenses. You can remain aggressive because you’ve got penetration by the defensive line and a matchup zone in the secondary so no receivers can run free deep.”

The last time the Cowboys won the NFC East was in 1985. They were 6-2 in 1986 when quarterback Danny White suffered a wrist injury that ended his effectiveness as a starter. Rafferty traced the Cowboys’ demise to that point. “We were never the same team after Danny broke his wrist,” Rafferty said. “You can read into that what you want.”

Quarterback Steve Pelluer, White’s replacement, was not the answer. Johnson quickly reached the same conclusion after taking over the team and choosing UCLA quarterback Troy Aikman with the No. 1 pick in the draft.

Pelluer went into a terminal pout after Aikman signed a six-year contract worth slightly more than $11 million. Now, Pelluer is a free agent and a trade seems imminent.

It seems clear Aikman is destined to start and that Walsh, the first pick in the supplemental draft, will back him up. But the prospect of going with two rookie quarterbacks doesn’t bother Johnson.

“We know they both are talented,” he said. “It’s a matter of making sure they have a good supporting cast. I’d love to have a veteran with Aikman’s or Walsh’s talent, but I don’t.”

The offensive line hasn’t overpowered anyone lately, but Johnson insisted they have a blocking system capable of protecting his rookie quarterbacks. As long as Aikman is in the game, that means plenty of sprint-out pass plays.

“The rollouts will help because I can move, and it gives the offensive linemen a break,” Aikman said.

David Shula was hired off his father’s Miami Dolphins staff to coordinate the offense, and Aikman is comfortable because he is required to read defenses in much the same way he did at UCLA.

Reminded of the beating John Elway took as a starter for most of his rookie year with Denver, Aikman said, “There are going to be a lot of shaky times. I’m not naive enough to think I can take the league by storm. I want to keep my head up and be consistent.

“Under the ideal situation, you’d like to learn from a veteran, but that’s not the situation here. Everybody keeps asking about the pressure I’m supposed to feel, but I don’t feel it. As a quarterback, I’ve lived with it all my life.”

If Landry still were coach, the pressure on Aikman to produce immediate results probably would be greater, but in this situation, there are rookies from the owner on down to share the burden.