Emmitts comments about Cowboys. Diamond surrounded by trash

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SAN ANTONIO – Emmitt Smith told Sports Illustrated that breaking the NFL career rushing record was his only highlight of the 2002 season, the Dallas Morning News reported Friday.

Smith, now with the Arizona Cardinals, told the magazine that last season "was the worst year I ever went through playing football. Too much damn drama. Too much selfishness by too many guys on the team. Too much media frenzy around the team," according to the paper.

"People always looking to me for answers, and I didn't have the answers for them about why we were so bad. It felt like being a diamond surrounded by trash," Smith said to the magazine, according to the report.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said that he was unaware of the depth of Smith's frustrations.

"He never showed his frustration, he just tried to do anything he could to help us win ball games," Jones said to the paper Thursday. "That's the way he has always been.

"If you can have a highlight when you win five games, he certainly was the highlight and arguably the highlight of the last 14 years."

Last season, Smith finished under 1,000 yards rushing for the first time since his rookie season in 1990. He broke Walter Payton's all-time rushing yardage record with a 109-yard outing against Seattle at Texas Stadium.

"It was just a mental grind," Smith told the magazine about the season, according to the Morning News. "When I got the record, it was like God said, 'I'm going to give you one moment this year.' "

Smith was released by the Cowboys in February and signed a two-year deal for about $8 million to play for the rebuilding Cardinals, who lost their starting quarterback and top wide receiver and running back from last year.

The Cowboys head to Arizona for a preseason contest on Aug. 9 and the Cardinals and Smith make a regular season visit to Dallas on Oct. 5.