DATE: Saturday, October 11, 1997            TAG: 9710110494

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   84 lines

``MY LEGS ARE STRONG,'' SMITH SAYS, DESPITE COWBOYS' SHUTTLE SYSTEM AS HE GEARS FOR SKINS, HE BRISTLES AT SWITZER'S NOTION OF HIS LOSING A STEP.

His coach readily admits he thinks his star running back has lost a step. As if to prove it, the coach replaced him last week on the second series of downs, earlier than at any time in an eight-year career that's a one-way street to the hall of fame.

He has yet to make an appearance in the end zone this season. Nor has his team rushed for a touchdown in 1997, for which the fans hold him responsible.

The only place Dallas Cowboys tailback Emmitt Smith is scoring these days is on the ping-pong tables at the team's Valley Ranch training complex. On Thursday, he delayed an interview for 10 minutes while he paddled teammate Larry Allen.

``The score was a lot to a little,'' Smith laughed when asked whether he had won. ``Frankly, Larry's kinda easy.''

That's the only thing in Smith's life these days that is. Although he is on pace for a 1,300-yard season, Smith is facing serious questions about his worth for the first time in his NFL career.

``We've lost a step there,'' Dallas coach Barry Switzer volunteered Thursday. ``Emmitt was never a speed back. He was always a north-south rusher, always a cut-back guy. Now, he's a step slower. That makes a difference.''

Switzer sent Sherman Williams into last week's game against the Giants - a game Dallas ended up losing 20-17 - in the second quarter.

``I wasn't expecting anything,'' said Williams, who gained 28 yards on eight rushes. ``But I think our offense will be a whole lot better if we keep doing it.''

Smith agreed.

``It probably should have happened a long time ago,'' he said. ``But you can't be dealing with hindsight, you've got to be dealing with today.''

Today, Smith said as the Cowboys prepared for Monday night's battle with the Washington Redskins for sole possession of first in the NFC East, he believes he's as good as he ever was.

``The way things are talked about around here, you'd think we can't run the ball at all,'' Smith said sarcastically.

In a recent issue of Sports Illustrated, there's a story about Smith, hindered by a severe ankle injury, falling several times one night last season as he struggled to get to the bathroom. Smith interprets the story as the writer's attempt to make it seem like his whole season was pain-wracked.

``I'm going to tell you something; that was the only time it happened all season,'' Smith snapped. ``He asked me if there was a time that was more painful than the others. I was asleep, I got up to go to the bathroom, my leg was asleep, I got up, then fell. I got up again, and I fell again. Then I got some blood in my legs, the feeling came back and I got up.

``I think my legs are strong. You watch me run. I fall forward this year, not backwards. Last year, my ankle didn't allow me to get that push I needed.''

After the season, Smith underwent surgery to have three bone chips removed from his right ankle.

When Smith was told that Switzer thought he was a step slower than a couple of years ago, you could almost hear Smith bristle.

``Everyone's got an opinion,'' Smith said. ``We are not playing well right now; things don't look as smoothly. The red zone has been a major problem. If we had been more competitive down there, we'd be undefeated.''

Smith went through a similar scenario last year. Ironically, it also was right before a game against the Redskins. After posting a career-low 1.6-yard average with 18 yards on 11 carries against the New York Giants, Smith bounced back against the Redskins with a season-high 155 yards, three touchdowns and 29 carries in a Thanksgiving Day rout of Washington.

The 155 yards put him over 1,000 for the sixth consecutive season, and he became the 12th player to top 10,000 career yards. Becoming the NFL's all-time leading rusher is still an attainable goal, he said. So are the team goals that have separated the Cowboys from the rest of the league.

``I think there's been a lot of exaggeration about me and our team,'' Smith said. ``It's not where you start, it's where you finish. Sometimes, you start slower than others. Sometimes, you start fast and roll through the season; sometimes, you need to be patient and take it one game at a time, one practice at a time, and try to get better.

``I think, without a doubt, we are a Super Bowl team. We have struggled in the first part of the season, only playing one great game, and that was the first. But there's no doubt in my mind that if we get all this red-zone stuff ironed out and cut down on our mental mistakes, we can go all the way.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE

``The red zone has been a major problem,'' the Cowboys' Emmitt Smith

admits. ``If we had been more competitive down there, we'd be

undefeated.''

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