Emmitt Won’t Give Up The Ball Dallas Tailback Doesn’t Feel As Though He’s Wearing Thin

Go full-speed with the same heavy workload for as long as he can at the expense of an abbreviated career. Or accept less of an offensive burden to maintain peak form until he is 30 and into his twilight years.

Which will it be, Emmitt Smith?

“I’d rather win,” the Dallas Cowboys’ tailback said. “If I have to carry 360 times a year to win, I’ll do it.”

That is what Smith has been doing for five NFL seasons. The number he chose coincided almost exactly with his per-season average of 311 rushing attempts and 54 pass receptions, counting playoff games. A field mule would balk if he had to plow so much ground every autumn.

Hence when Smith went lame with hamstring pulls late in ‘94 - his first serious leg injury - concern arose that he may be breaking down physically. Even steel-belted tires wear out from too many miles. Smith has 7,183 regular-season rushing yards behind him, another 919 on a post-season odometer, plus 1,810 yards receiving.

Smith’s reply to the proposed options sounded indirect. He first mentioned winning as an objective that superseded individual goals. But when he said he’d tote 360 times to win, therein lay a pointed answer.

Smith knows only one gear. It’s fast-forward. This is the way he will run until his days are done. And Smith believes he has days left that number into years.

On that basis, he rejected the option of easing off to prolong his career as an idea hatched by others, which in truth it was. He doesn’t believe his body is failing. So if somebody sends out rookie Sherman Williams to relieve him, better bring a posse.

“You know the hardest thing about coming out of a game?” he asked. “It’s your teammates on the sideline saying, ‘What the hell are you doing here?”’

Therefore, Smith sketched his season ahead with obvious relish in these busy-body terms:

“I don’t think my workload will be reduced. I think when game time rolls around, I’ll be there on first, second and third down. I’m preparing to play every down. Catch some flats (passes), swings and crosses. Run some options.”

But won’t he self-destruct prematurely?

“I don’t buy that,” Smith said. “All I’m doing is running. But I hear it so much. Sometimes you think about it. But I don’t want to believe it. If you believe it, it will start to affect you.”

The game offers no guarantees on longevity. Any play can be the last if a knee gets wrenched in a pileup or struck broadside. In a best-case projection, given sound health and able offensive line, how long might Smith endure?

“I think I can go another six years at this pace,” he speculated. “If I come to camp healthy, in top shape, work hard, get my mind right, I think I can maintain it that long. A lot depends on teammates. What kind of team we have. How good an offensive line.”

At 26, after only five seasons, Smith already ranks 23rd on the NFL’s all-time rushing list. Most backs asked for a selfportrait turn to physical qualities such as speed, vision and ability to feint tacklers. Smith described himself in terms of mindset and sense of direction.

“I am very determined to get positive yardage,” he said. “I was told a long time ago that running east to west never gets you anything. North to south is where the yards are. I’ve seen lots of kids in high school and the pros who like to go east to west.”

Can Smith go long enough to challenge Walter Payton’s career NFL rushing record of 16,726 yards? How important to him is it to leave a lasting mark? To the latter question, he said, not much.

“Records are broken every day and every year. They’re not as important as winning Super Bowls and games. People remember players for the Super Bowls they won. The record I want is in the Super Bowl category more than individual. If, during that process, I’m able to gather enough yards to get close to a record or maybe break it, that’s icing on the cake.”

Mention of Payton’s standard made Smith raise his eyebrows in appreciation.

“I might be 35 or 36 years old before I could break that,” he said. “That’s a long way.”

Dreaming he might still be running at age 35 seemed to indicate Smith believes he has a long way to go, too. He sounded even more convinced when he said: “There’s lots of tread left on these wheels.”