Even in the desert, they know the difference between a sweep by Herschel Walker and a sweep by Al Del Greco.
The good people of Arizona paid an average of $38 a ticket Monday night to watch the powerful running back of the Dallas Cowboys gain 149 yards and almost single-handedly beat the Phoenix Cardinals 17-14.
They also watched the Cardinals send placekicker Del Greco on a sweep of eight yards on a fake 42-yard field goal before halftime. Del Greco needed 24 yards to score.
”I mean, I`m not a runner,” Del Greco explained.
Phoenix coach Gene Stallings explained further.
”We weren`t sure we could kick it. He missed the first one and wasn`t kicking well before the game,” Stallings said.
Del Greco`s first miss was from 40 yards, so Stallings had a point. He needed three and the Cardinals came up short again, snakebit in the wilderness.
”Reminiscent of things that happened to us in St. Louis,” said guard Joe Bostic.
The loss dropped the 0-2 Cardinals to the bottom of the NFC East, where the view is the same as it was in St. Louis.
A crowd of 67,139 turned out for the regular-season inaugural in the Southwest. It was enthusiastic, but two nights earlier, 70,091 watched Arizona State beat Illinois in the same stadium.
The fans booed owner Bill Bidwill a little when he formally introduced his club along with NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle, but Bidwill can afford it. Game-time temperature was 98 degrees at 5 p.m. local time, and the team`s first day game is Sept. 25 against Washington.
The Cardinals outgained and outplayed the Cowboys most of the night in every area but one.
”When we had to stop Herschel, we couldn`t do it,” Stallings said.
In the first half, Walker gave the Cowboys a 10-7 lead on a three-yard sweep that sent a sideline cameraman to a hospital for stitches.
In the fourth quarter, Walker carried nine times for 58 yards on an 81-yard drive that made it 17-7 with 5 minutes 23 seconds to play.
The Cardinals responded with a 23-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Neil Lomax to tight end Jay Novacek with 3:52 left but couldn`t get the ball back.
A questionable interference penalty against former Bears cornerback Reggie Phillips on Dallas receiver Ray Alexander turned a third-and-8 into a first down with two minutes left.
”Everybody gets excited when they call a Dallas game. They want to impress (Coach Tom) Landry,” Phillips said.
It wasn`t the only bad break for a team that is now rich enough to buy good ones.
Early in the third quarter, a 34-yard pass from Lomax to J.T. Smith to the Dallas 9 was nullified when an official detected left tackle Luis Sharpe too far off the line of scrimmage.
”Usually, they give you a warning,” Sharpe said. ”But the bottom line is we didn`t do the things we needed to do to win the ballgame.”
Referee Red Cashion said Sharpe had previously not been off the ball and no warning was necessary.
After that penalty, good-looking rookie running back Tony Jordan fumbled when stripped by Ed ”Too Tall” Jones at the Dallas 30.
As good as Walker was, it was his mental error that gave the Cardinals a last chance to score before the half. Walker ran out of bounds and stopped the clock on third down, forcing a punt and giving Lomax the ball at his 40 with 37 seconds left.
The Cardinals moved to the Dallas 24, where they called time out with three seconds left and brought on Del Greco for a 42-yard field-goal attempt that would have tied the score at 10.
Instead, holder Cliff Stoudt flipped the ball over his shoulder to Del Greco on a planned play apparently designed to show off big-time football to Arizonans. Del Greco tried to circle right end, but was immediately run out of bounds to end the half.
”We counted on one guy being out there and there were two,” Del Greco said. ”I thought I did what I was supposed to do.”
The Cardinals haven`t had a good kicker since Jim Bakken left a decade ago, but as a runner, Del Greco looked like a great kicker.
