COWBOYS TRYING TO WORK IT OUT : NOT EVERYBODY IS DISTRACTED BY TEAM'S OFF-FIELD PROBLEMS.

Byline: Don Pierson Chicago Tribune 

Chicago Bears coach Dave Wannstedt beckoned Rashaan Salaam into his Halas Hall office recently.

``Guess what I heard from Dallas?'' Wannstedt asked his young running back. ``Guess who is working out in the weight room at 7 o'clock in the morning? Emmitt Smith.''

For Salaam, the news was confirmation, not exhortation. Wannstedt knew Salaam was working out, too, early and regularly. The coach just wanted him to know that's what the great ones do.

For Wannstedt, it was a bit of a revelation, because he didn't recall Smith being quite so diligent in his early years. His occasional workout mate? Deion Sanders.

This is the kind of grapevine fodder that tantalizes football coaches in May.

While the outside world eyes the trial of Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin on felony cocaine and misdemeanor marijuana charges June 24 and imagines the demise of the defending NFL champions, Wannstedt looks at his season opener against the Cowboys Sept. 2 and thinks of Emmitt Smith pumping iron.

If all isn't well in Dallas, there still might be enough.

For the first time, Sanders is running routes and catching passes instead of running bases and chasing fly balls. His respite from baseball enables the world's best cornerback to hone his skills as a wide receiver. Assuming Irvin is free to play Sept. 2, the Cowboys will enter Soldier Field with a better core of wide receivers than they had a year ago.

Troy Aikman is recovering nicely from elbow surgery that kept him out of the Pro Bowl. Defensive ends Charles Haley and Tony Tolbert also are recovering from surgeries that limited their effectiveness last season, though they never will be good as new.

Aikman and coach Barry Switzer also are recovering from hurt feelings. They had a long meeting at the end of March to air out differences that bubbled to the surface during Super Bowl week. Aikman didn't like the way Switzer handled innuendos of racial tension from former assistant John Blake, now head coach at Oklahoma.

After the meeting, they agreed they probably never would see eye-to-eye, but that didn't mean they would go head-to-head.

``They said the problems they had in the past were not going to be problems in the future,'' Cowboys spokesman Rich Dalrymple said.

If their role model for quarterback-coach relationship is Chuck Noll and Terry Bradshaw or Mike Ditka and Jim McMahon or Bill Walsh and Joe Montana - all ranging from touchy to hostile - that's enough Super Bowls to get both into the Hall of Fame.

Assuming anything about the future of Irvin is perilous, but his loss could be more of a blow than losing four starters from last year's defense via free agency. The Cowboys are hoping a first-time offender might avoid both jail time and the NFL's parallel discipline track, which could include a four-game suspension. Irvin is going for broke at the trial.

To top it off, the existence of a ``party house'' close to the practice facility was revealed in court documents on a separate case. A so-called ``white house'' leased by ex-Cowboy Alvin Harper was used by several Cowboys as an entertainment center. Neighbors told the Dallas Morning News Harper and Irvin were among numerous Cowboys regularly seen entering the house. Cowboys guard Nate Newton confirmed that players regularly accompanied women to the location.

The Cowboys have had problems enough this off-season without Irvin as lead distraction. Super Bowl MVP cornerback Larry Brown, defensive tackle Russell Maryland, middle linebacker Robert Jones, and outside linebacker Dixon Edwards all signed elsewhere. Brown and Maryland went to the Raiders, Jones to the Rams, and Edwards to the Vikings.

Compounding the problem of the subtractions, however, was the addition of linebacker Broderick Thomas, who was released by the Vikings following two arrests on weapons charges.

``I'm a very nice guy and that's behind me. Certain things happen. I'm just here to give it my best shot,'' Thomas said.

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Photo: If Michael Irvin is free to play - which is a big if - Dallas will begin the season Sept. 2 with stronger pass-receiving than it had last year.

Associated Press