Aikman Has His Cowboys Moving In New Direction

If Dallas makes it back to the Super Bowl next season, credit Troy Aikman, not Jerry Jones.

For America’s Team is now Aikman’s team.

During the off-season, Aikman has quietly put his stamp on the Cowboys after hinting to Jones that the team do things his way. If not, Aikman suggested, he might retire early and the team might have to find another franchise quarterback.

Jones relented and Aikman’s good friend Daryl “Moose” Johnston re-signed instead of heading for Jimmy Johnson and Miami. Aikman also went to Baton Rouge, La., to work out David LaFleur, the tight end from LSU, then recommended that the team draft him.

In fact, if the Cowboys had managed to draft Ike Hilliard, the wide receiver from Florida, that would have been Aikman’s doing - he liked Hilliard, too. But the Giants got to Hilliard much earlier, leaving Aikman - uh, Jones - to draft LaFleur.

All of this is part of the effort to clean up the team’s image, about which Aikman has been vocal for the past two years. That was one reason Calvin Hill was hired as a consultant (the young players probably know him as Grant Hill’s father rather than a former star running back).

So when the Cowboys showed up for minicamp last weekend, who sounded like the coach? Not Barry Switzer, who Aikman believes is too lax.

“We’ve had to take a hard look at our team in the off-season and we’ve made some positive changes,” Aikman said.

Building the Bucs

The “experts” have been almost unanimous in their opinion that Tampa Bay had one of the NFL’s best drafts this season. One even went so far as to predict the Bucs would be in the Super Bowl in two years if Trent Dilfer can fulfill his promise at quarterback.

That’s silly. It takes three or four years to evaluate any draft - there are always injuries, disappointments and pleasant surprises.

But there’s no doubt Tampa Bay, which has lost 10 or more games for 13 of the past 14 seasons, seems to have elicited a more favorable reaction than with previous bungled drafts.

One reason: The Bucs finally figured out what other teams have known all along.

“We want players who have achieved at a high level,” Jerry Angelo, the team’s scouting director, said before the draft. “We used to draft on potential. Now we draft on achievement.”

That got them Warrick Dunn, the most productive running back available; Reidel Anthony, the wide receiver from national champion Florida; offensive linemen Jerry Wunsch of Wisconsin and Frank Middleton of Arizona; and defensive back Ronde Barber of Virginia.

All five could have a greater impact than the last dozen or so first-rounders. Of that group, only offensive tackle Paul Gruber has fulfilled his promise in Tampa.

Vinny Testaverde had to leave to have a decent season. Bo Jackson never played for the Bucs. The likes of Keith McCants, Charles McRae and Broderick Thomas never made it or did better with other teams.

Christian and the Giants

When the New York Giants signed Christian Peter in January, it was only after he had spent months in counseling with Dr. Joel Goldberg, the team psychologist.

But when Peter showed up at minicamp last week, he quickly got into four fights. Nobody seemed to mind, except perhaps his opponents.

“It’s OK to see aggression on the field,” coach Jim Fassel said. “It’s off the field where he has to control his anger.”

To the uninitiated, Peter is the former Nebraska defensive tackle who was drafted in the fifth round a year ago by New England.

His rights were relinquished the next week after Myra Kraft, wife of Patriots owner Robert Kraft, read media reports about Peter’s off-field problems in college. The most serious of those was a misdemeanor disturbing-the-peace charge, for which he served 10 days in jail.

Peter could be a major asset for the Giants - for salary reasons alone. Peter will earn the rookie minimum of $131,000 and could allow the Giants to get rid of major cap burdens by releasing a highly paid defensive tackle like Ray Agnew.