Campo wants Emmitt Smith to reach 1,000 yards
IRVING, Texas (AP) – Football is a team game and individual accomplishments aren’t supposed to matter. Yet in what could be his last game as coach of the Dallas Cowboys, Dave Campo would really like to see Emmitt Smith notch one more milestone. Smith goes into the finale Sunday at Washington needing 38 yards rushing to reach 1,000 yards for the 12th straight year, which would stretch the record he set last season. Barry Sanders did it 10 straight years; Walter Payton had 10, too, but they weren’t consecutive.
“I’d like him to get it, I’ll be up front about it,” Campo said. “He fought his way to 1,000 a year ago, and I’d like to see him get 1,000 again. I think he deserves it.
“We’re still going to try to win the football game. But that would be a goal for me personally to help him get that.”
Campo said he didn’t plan to tell Smith that because it would go against the team concept. The only reason he’s even making the exception is the long relationship he’s had with the running back.
Campo tried recruiting Smith to the University of Miami in the 1980s, then joined the Cowboys in ’89, one year before Smith was drafted.
He’s seen firsthand every one of Smith’s 17,149 yards, the most in NFL history.
“I believe you win with players and he’s one of the reasons we won in the early 1990s,” Campo said.
“He’s one of the big reasons why I have three Super Bowl rings.”
This weekend’s game could be the last time Smith and Campo are employed by the Cowboys.
Team owner Jerry Jones is considering firing Campo and releasing Smith. If Smith is back next season, he’ll have to take a huge paycut from the $7 million he’s due.
Smith, though, doesn’t want to think about the chance that this is his last game for Dallas.
“If it is, it is. If it’s not, it’s not,” he said.
“One thing I cannot control is what happens after this ballgame.”
Smith played possibly his last home game at Texas Stadium last weekend and had just 30 yards on eight carries in a 27-3 loss to Philadelphia.
His body language on the field showed his frustration and he had some legitimate complaints – such as why the Cowboys called passes on three straight plays inside the 3-yard line instead of giving the ball to him, the leading TD rusher in NFL history.
After the game, Smith kept his comments brief.
He said Monday that doing so prevented him from saying something he’d regret.
He still didn’t want to talk about what happened, and he wasn’t interested in discussing his pursuit of 1,000.
“I’m not playing the game for records,” he said. “I’m playing the game to win games. I’d put aside any 1,000-yard seasons just to have a win.”
Asked if it would be ridiculous for him not to get enough carries to get the 38 yards, he said it would be “about as ridiculous as us losing to the Texans at the start of the season.”
Smith had a season-high 144 yards against Washington on Thanksgiving.
He has 11 other 100-yard games against the Redskins and the Cowboys have beaten them 10 straight times.
“For some reason, we’ve played well against them, probably because it is a rivalry,” Smith said. “I can’t really put my finger on the reason we’ve had that type of success against them, outside of just executing. We need to get back to that.”
While 1,000 yards is more statistical novelty than measure of greatness, doing it 12 times in a row is something special.
Just lasting 12 years is rare. Of the few running backs that do, they rarely even get enough carries to gain 1,000.
Or, think of it this way: Only eight players besides Smith have even reached 12,000 yards for their career.
Smith could be after No. 13 if not for a slow start and a rough finish to his rookie season.
After missing training camp while negotiating his first contract, Smith had just 2 yards on two carries his first game and 11 yards on six carries the next week.
He could’ve gotten to 1,000 with a big game in the finale, but Atlanta held him to 34 yards on 16 carries.
That left him 63 yards short. Campo promises not to leave him dangling again.