THE Dallas Cowboys greeted the return of star receiver Michael Irvin after a five game suspension with a trumpet salute at Texas Stadium before the game with the Arizona Cardinals.
The flamboyant Irvin was suspended after pleading guilty to cocaine possession charges and was barred from team practices. He kept in shape by catching endless catches at a local high school field thrown by the coach's son Doug Switzer.
Irvin's return to pro football was unspectacular, but then it was only the Cardinals. The receiver made five catches for 5 yards and no touchdowns. He was the target for Troy Aikman's first pass, but the play was broken up. Irvin, however, did make catches of 12 and nine yards late in the first half to set up Chris Boniol's 23 yard field goal, giving Dallas a 3-0 half time lead.
The game was almost an anticlimax as the Cowboys went on to win 17-3. It was almost a foregone conclusion and the Cowboys have now beaten the Cardinals 12 times in a row. "I thought Mike did a really nice job, but he knows and we know he is still a little bit rusty," said Aikman.
With Irvin back, the Cowboys will have no more excuses for their lacklustre form. In their worst start for years, the Cowboys are 3-3 and face a brutal schedule in the next few weeks - Miami, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Green Bay. Irvin's appearance in the Cowboys' locker room for the first time since the Super Bowl has already given the Cowboys a psychological lift as they prepare for the toughest games of the season.
Irvin strode into the locker room wearing a royal purple suit, gold and green paisley vest and a gold and diamond medallion. "The second I saw him come in here looking and acting like that, ooh baby, all I could think was. `Awright now, we're back in the flow'," said Nate Newton, the Cowboys' offensive guard.
Emmitt Smith was certainly back in flow after being hampered by injuries since the beginning of the season. An extra week off helped. "The bye week really did me a lot of good. It seemed like all my hurts were healed," said Smith, who rushed for a season high 112 yards and two touchdowns, his 100th and 101st of his career. The wear and tear is beginning to take its toll on Smith. Once he would have wanted to rush on every down. Now he is a grateful to have Sherman Williams, the other back, take some of the burden off his shoulders.
The Cardinals, who had won their last two games, failed to make any dent against the Dallas defence. Kent Graham, the Cardinals' quarterback, was smothered by the Dallas pass rush and sacked by Tony Tolbert twice on big plays. The Cardinals only managed three points from a 49 yard field goal from Greg Davis in the fourth quarter.
"We played like we had the number one defence in the NFL," said Barry Switzer, the Cowboys' coach. "It dominated the entire day."
The Cowboys are now in third place in the NFC East, behind the Philadelphia Eagles and the Washington Redskins, who are finally coming out of a long slump. The Redskins beat the New England Patriots 27-22 for their fifth win in a row. Having settled on Gus Frerotte at quarterback, the Redskins have one of the league's most powerful rushers in Terry Allen.
