RYPIEN HELPS NFC WIN PRO BOWL

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, February 3, 1992                   TAG: 9202040077
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HONOLULU                                LENGTH: Medium
RYPIEN HELPS NFC WIN PRO BOWL
Washington Redskins quarterback Mark Rypien, MVP of last week's Super Bowl, threw for two first-half touchdowns and the Atlanta Falcons' Chris Miller brought the NFC from behind with a fourth-quarter touchdown pass Sunday as the NFC beat the AFC 21-15 in the Pro Bowl.
Miller's 11-yard touchdown pass to San Francisco's Jerry Rice with 4:04 remaining rallied the NFC from a 15-14 deficit.
The Dallas Cowboys' Michael Irvin was voted the game's MVP, with eight receptions for 125 yards, including one of Rypien's touchdown passes.
After the NFC touchdown, Chris Spielman of the Detroit Lions recovered a fumble by the New York Jets' Ken O'Brien at the AFC 46 to help preserve the victory.
Miller drove the NFC 85 yards, consuming more than nine minutes, then threw the winning pass to Rice in the end zone.
Rypien completed 11 of 18 passes for 165 yards, and Miller was 7-of-10 for 85.
For the AFC, Jim Kelly of the Buffalo Bills completed six of 10 passes for 68 yards and one touchdown while sharing the duty with O'Brien and the Houston Oilers' Warren Moon.
Jeff Jaeger of the Los Angeles Raiders kicked his second field goal, from 27 yards, to give the AFC a 15-14 lead early in the fourth quarter.
Kelly directed a march of 70 yards to set up the field goal.
Rypien, returning to the game to replace Dallas' Troy Aikman as the NFC went to its two-minute drill before halftime, staked his team to a 14-12 halftime lead when he threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Redskins teammate Gary Clark with 26 seconds left in the half.
Clark, running a post pattern, sprinted past defender Dennis Smith of the Denver Broncos and was wide open when he hauled in the pass in the end zone.
An 18-yard punt return by Detroit's Mel Gray to the AFC 35 set up the touchdown.
Rypien's other touchdown was a 13-yard pass to Irvin, who broke free in the left flat and made the score 7-7 late in the first quarter.
The NFC fell behind 9-7 early in the second quarter when, on second down at the NFC 10, Washington's Earnest Byner took a pitch from Aikman, was hit immediately by Greg Townsend of the Raiders, spun around and went down in the end zone for a safety. NFC 7707-21 AFC 7503-15 First quarter
AFC-Clayton 4 pass from Kelly (Jaeger kick), 9:00.
NFC-Irvin 13 pass from Rypien (Lohmiller kick), 12:18. Second quarter
AFC-Safety, Byner tackled in end zone, :25.
AFC-FG Jaeger 48, 11:07.
NFC-Clark 35 pass from Rypien (Lohmiller kick), 14:34. Fourth quarter
AFC-FG Jaeger 27, 1:49.
NFC-Rice 11 pass from Miller (Lohmiller kick), 10:56.
A-50,209. NFCAFC First downs 21 15 Rushes-yards 21-28 32-103 Passing 265 111 Return yards 24 10 Comp-att-int 23-36-114-28-1 Sacked-yards lost 3-18 4-23 Punts 1-44 3-38 Fumbles-lost 6-2 3-1 Penalties-yards 8-60 11-106 Time of possession 27:31 32:29 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING-NFC, E.Smith 10-33, Sanders 6-5, Miller 3-0, Rypien 1-0, Byner 1-(-10). AFC, Butts 12-63, Thomas 9-14, G.Green 3-10, Williams 4-8, Kelly 2-6, Clayton 1-2, O'Brien 1-0.
PASSING-NFC, Rypien 11-18-1-165, Miller 7-10-0-85, Aikman 5-8-0-33. AFC, Kelly 6-10-1-68, Moon 5-9-0-54, O'Brien 3-9-0-12.
RECEIVING-NFC, Irvin 8-125, Rice 7-77, Clark 2-46, Rison 2-29, Anderson 2-(-3), E.Smith 1-5, Sanders 1-4. AFC, T.Brown 5-74, Horton 2-24, Cook 2-17, Jeffires 1-6, Lofton 1-6, Clayton 1-4, Butts 1-2, Williams 1-1.
MISSED FIELD GOALS-NFC, Lohmiller 28. AFC, Jaeger 39.
Keywords:
FOOTBALL

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB