Smith Returns Home, Might Play Sunday

A sleepy and shaken Emmitt Smith came home in a neck brace Tuesday. That doesn’t mean he’s planning to take next weekend off.

The indestructible Dallas Cowboy running back could play in five days against the New York Giants.

“We feel good about the doctors’ reports, because everything checks out OK,” Dallas Coach Barry Switzer said. “Emmitt was up all night and hasn’t had any rest or sleep, but he says he feels good and maybe he could play this week.”

Smith’s latest injury came late in a 22-6 loss to the Chicago Bears, when he fell on his head carrying out a play fake. A week earlier, Smith suffered a sprained knee ligament in the final exhibition game.

Smith stayed overnight in a Chicago hospital, then flew home with owner Jerry Jones in the Cowboys’ private jet. Smith had some soreness and stiffness in his neck and shoulders, but results of an MRI exam, CT scan and other tests were negative.

“Emmitt’s OK,” said team physician Dr. Robert Vandermeer in Dallas. “There are no fractures at all and Emmitt is feeling well.’

Asked if the all-pro running back would be given the green light in the home opener Sunday against the Giants, Vandermeer said, “We’re going to take it day by day, and I’ll see him again tomorrow.”

Smith told Dallas television station WFAA that he thought he might be seriously injured.

“All of a sudden my left arm went numb, then my leg started to go numb . . . that’s when it started to get scary,” he said.

Smith said that the worst part of the injury was being cut out of his uniform. “It’s nice to try to joke about it, but that was a serious time for me,” he said.

Jones, who signed Smith to an eight-year, $48-million contract in late August, said Smith weathered the trip well and was “A-OK. We’re relieved all the tests came out negative. We’re encouraged. It was a close call.”

Smith, a four-time NFL rushing champion, has sat out only one regular season game because of injury in his six-year career.

“If Emmitt can’t play on Sunday, we’ll go with Sherman Williams,” Switzer said. “We’ll see how Emmitt works later in the week. He’s got to be ready to go by Thursday, because that’s a big day for offensive practice.”

Switzer said he thought about taking Smith out of the game. The injury occurred with 3:41 left and the Cowboys trailing, 22-3.

“I was thinking about it with seven or eight minutes to play, but then I would have been criticized for giving up,” Switzer said. “Now, I’ll be criticized for leaving him in there.”

Smith gained 70 yards in 18 carries.

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Tampa voters approved a half-cent sales tax to help build a new $168-million football stadium, and the team owners said the Buccaneers “will be here forever.”

“Now let’s win a . . . football game and go to the Super Bowl,” said Hillsborough County Commissioner Joe Chillura, who designed the tax that will also go toward schools and city services.

With 96% of the precincts reporting in Hillsborough County, 53% had voted in favor of the proposal, which automatically locks the team into a 30-year lease.

“I almost don’t know what to say,” Bryan Glazer, son of owner Malcolm Glazer, said at a news conference. “The Buccaneers fans in this community have been through a lot in the past couple years and it’s nice that we can say, this team will be here forever.”

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St. Louis Ram running back Lawrence Phillips beat, threatened and once sexually assaulted a former girlfriend during their two-year relationship at the University of Nebraska, a lawsuit said.

Kate McEwen filed the lawsuit Aug. 16 in Jackson County Circuit Court, and it remained sealed until Tuesday, the Kansas City Star reported.

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Green Bay Packer cornerback Tyrone Williams was ordered by a judge to stand trial next week in Lincoln, Neb., on charges of firing a gun into a vehicle occupied by two people.

Lancaster County district judge Bernard McGinn refused to dismiss charges against Williams, who played at Nebraska and was a third-round draft pick by the Packers.