Smith Was Not a Happy Cowboy

Emmitt Smith is quoted in the latest edition of Sports Illustrated as saying that last season, his 13th and final one in Dallas, “was the worst year I ever went through playing football.

“Too much damn drama. Too much selfishness by too many guys on the team. Too much media frenzy around the team,” Smith said.

“People always looking to me for answers, and I didn’t have the answers for them about why we were so bad. It felt like being a diamond surrounded by trash.”

The Cowboys went 5-11 for the third straight season and missed the playoffs for the fourth straight season.

Among the few highlights was Smith becoming the NFL’s career rushing leader. He signed with the Arizona Cardinals after being released in February.

The reaction to Smith’s comments varied.

Cowboy owner Jerry Jones went so far as to say that Smith has meant so much to the organization that he “never needs to say, ‘I’m sorry.’ ”

Troy Hambrick, who made critical comments about Smith several times last season while serving as his backup, said he wasn’t too surprised.

“Emmitt Smith is a future Hall of Famer. He is on top of the pedestal. He can get away with comments like that,” Hambrick said. “Now you know I’m not the only one that says bad things.”

Said defensive end Greg Ellis: “I can’t see Emmitt saying that. I don’t think that he meant that. Not about Greg Ellis, at least.”

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Kansas City Coach Dick Vermeil was angry after a Minnesota Viking rookie injured one of his wide receivers during a scrimmage at River Falls, Wis.

After Dameane Douglas appeared to severely injure his lower leg after a hit by cornerback Rushen Jones, Vermeil, in front of assembled reporters, yelled to the Minnesota trainer that the Vikings should take a shotgun and “shoot [Jones] in the head,” the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported on Friday.

The extent of Douglas’ injury was not immediately known, but Vermeil told the paper “it was not good.”

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Running back Ennis Haywood of the Cowboys died accidentally from a mixture of drugs and ethanol complicated by his asthma, the Tarrant County medical examiner’s office has ruled.

Haywood, 23, died during May minicamp at Medical Center of Arlington. His blood alcohol level was measured at .07 percent, medical examiner’s spokeswoman Linda F. Anderson said.