Cowboys Hope to Even Score With Jaworski

DALLAS —  On Oct. 20, 1985, Ron Jaworski threw 36 passes against the Dallas Cowboys in Philadelphia’s Veterans Stadium.

Thirty-five of them were intended to beat the Cowboys, which Jaworski and the Eagles did, 16-14. The 36th was the one that unsettled the Cowboys’ dander. It was the sip of champagne, Jaworski toasting the town with a victorious toss into the stands. Call it his Hallelujah Heave.

Well, Redemption Day is near, only three days until the Cowboys again meet the Philadelphia Eagles in Texas Stadium. And the Cowboys can’t wait.

“He should have saved that throw,” said Dennis Thurman Wednesday, not having forgotten Jaws’ celebration the least bit. “Maybe now his shoulder wouldn’t be sore.”

There lies the hitch in Redemption Sunday. The Cowboys, in all their zeal, might get stood up. Wednesday, the Eagles downgraded Jaworski’s status from “questionable” to “doubtful,” meaning he has less than a 50% chance of starting Sunday. Jaworski is suffering from a bruised right shoulder sustained in the first half of the Eagles’ victory over St. Louis Sunday.

He did not play the second half, but was spotted warming up on the sideline in the fourth quarter. Monday, Jaworski was saying he would play, and Eagles head coach Marion Campbell said, “He expects to play.”

But Wednesday, the Eagles’ first day of practice this week, Jaworski did not participate in the team workouts. His shoulder was too sore, and Campbell said he would wait and see what happens. Not waiting too long, though, the Eagles signed Jeff Christensen, a third-year free-agent quarterback, just in case.

The Cowboys aren’t buying it.

“I think they’re just messin’ with us ‘cause we’re Dallas,” said Ron Fellows, Cowboys cornerback. “He’ll be out there.”

“I think he’ll play,” said Everson Walls, the Cowboys’ other cornerback. “You always look for the starter to play unless he has a broken leg.”

For the Cowboys, it’s same thing, next week. Last week, the Cowboys had to prepare for two quarterbacks, not knowing if the injured Jim McMahon would start for the Bears or his second, Steve Fuller. Now it’s Jaworski or Randall Cunningham, the Eagles’ No. 2 quarterback, who started four times when Jaworski was benched after the season opener.

“It’s a little different (preparing for) Cunningham,” Cowboys coach Tom Landry said. “I guess it’s just like last week. We’ve got to get ready for both of them.”

And just as last week, the backup is cut from a different mold. Jaworski is the passer, benched earlier in the season for lack of mobility. Cunningham is the scrambler, much as Fuller, who bootlegged and rolled-out the Bears to victory Sunday in a relief appearance against the Cowboys.

The Cowboys want nothing to do with Cunningham, but mostly for selfish reasons.

“I’d like to see (Jaworski) play,” Thurman said. “He had a great game against us and we want him this time at full strength.”

Redemption on their minds.

After reviewing the game films, the Cowboys might change their minds. Jaworski completed 22 of 35 passes--without throwing an interception--for a then career-high 380 yards; he topped that with 394 two weeks later against the 49ers.

He brought the Eagles back from a 14-3 third-quarter deficit, and completed the comeback by burning the blitzing Cowboys with a 36-yard Walls-tipped touchdown pass to Kenny Jackson at 4:53 of the fourth quarter. Seven games into the season, this was the first time the Cowboys failed to grab an interception.

“He seemed to know what we were playing a lot of the time,” Fellows said. “He would just read what defense we were in and see who was getting single coverage. Lot of quarterbacks have a play called and sit back and run the play. Not him.”

Said Walls: “He’s no slouch. He reads the defenses. I think Jaworski knows how to read us. He reads his keys and throws to the weakness of the defense. And that is a big change because we’ve had him confused before.”

What to do this time?

Easy. The Cowboys must make like a Russian novel: hard to read.