Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 24, 1994 TAG: 9401240109
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: IRVING, TEXAS LENGTH: Long
True to Johnson's word, the Dallas Cowboys beat San Francisco on Sunday and headed to their second consecutive Super Bowl against the Buffalo Bills.
And Emmitt Smith, whose separated shoulder was pronounced "healed" by Johnson on Tuesday, dominated the 38-21 victory with 144 net yards in the first half as the Cowboys took a 28-7 lead.
"I've been talking all week," Johnson told his players after the game. "If you're gonna talk the talk, you've got to walk the walk. Thanks to you guys, y'all did the walkin'.
"This week I'm not going to say a word, but you know how I feel. All I've got to say is: How 'bout them Cowboys!"
Overall, Smith rushed for 88 yards and caught seven passes for 85 yards, and the Cowboys made it look easier than Johnson's prediction Thursday night on a Dallas radio show. He said the game would be close for three quarters and the Cowboys would break it open in the fourth.
They did it two quarters earlier, scoring touchdowns on four of their five first-half possessions and taking control with two touchdowns in less than four minutes after the Niners tied it at 7 on the first play of the second quarter.
They added a fourth touchdown with 58 seconds left in the half and then held off San Francisco in the second half after Troy Aikman was knocked out of the game when he was hit in the head by Niners lineman Dennis Brown. Aikman was hospitalized with what trainer Kevin O'Neill said was probably a first-degree concussion "maybe more than that. He didn't know what day it was."
"Let's see how the tests come out and we'll go from there," O'Neill said of Aikman's fitness for Super Bowl XXVII on Jan. 30.
But Aikman's absence hardly mattered Sunday.
His replacement, Bernie Kosar, threw a 42-yard touchdown pass to Alvin Harper to open a 21-point lead 3 minutes, 23 seconds after the Niners cut the margin to 14 points and seemingly grabbed the momentum on a 4-yard scoring run by Ricky Watters.
"The San Francisco 49ers are a great offensive team," said Kosar, signed as a backup for $1.5 million after being cut by Cleveland. "They scored that TD to get within two scores. We realized we needed to put a drive together and get some first downs. We didn't want to go three-and-out and punt from our own 10-yard line."
Kosar's touchdown pass made it 35-14 and the game was all but over. Eddie Murray tacked on a 50-yard field goal, and the Niners scored a meaningless touchdown at the end.
"The prediction had nothing do with it," said George Seifert, San Francisco's coach. "It was just part of the pregame hype. We had an opportunity to do something special, but it eluded us again, this time in humiliating fashion."
Still, it was pretty familiar.
Harper's 70-yard reception broke the Niners' backs after they had cut their deficit to four points in last year's 30-20 loss to Dallas in the NFC title game.
Now, the Cowboys go to Atlanta seeking a double-double - they beat the Bills last year 52-17 for the title. The Bills did beat the Cowboys 13-10 during the regular season, but Smith didn't play because of a contract dispute.
So without Joe Montana and Kansas City against the 49ers, the title game is reduced to several, perhaps familiar, plot lines:
Can Buffalo become the first team to lose four consecutive Super Bowls in the first rematch of teams that played the previous year?
Can Dallas become the second team since 1980 to repeat? San Francisco did it in 1989 and 1990.
Can the Cowboys join Pittsburgh and San Francisco as four-time Super Bowl winners? Dallas' Super Bowl appearance will be its seventh, the most ever.
Can an AFC team win the for first time since the Raiders 10 years ago?
But that's next week.
On Sunday, the Cowboys were savoring the moment.
Not only did Smith stand out, so did the Dallas quarterbacks.
Aikman was 14-of-18 for 177 yards before being knocked out of the game on the first series after intermission. Kosar finished 5-of-8 for 83 yards.
The Cowboys' defense also was a major factor, holding Steve Young to 27-of-44 passing for 287 yards, 67 of those yards on the final drive. Dallas also sacked him four times, intercepted one of his passes and kept him from leading the 49ers to a Super Bowl - something Montana did four times.
"I never believed we'd be beaten by this score," Young said.
Still, it was the defense that seized the momentum for the Cowboys early in the second quarter after Daryl Johnston's 4-yard touchdown run and Murray's extra-point kick gave Dallas a 14-7 lead in a game that was taking on the appearance of a shootout.
That was what Johnson hinted at in his prediction, but that changed on two plays - starting when the Niners had a second-and-six on their 27-yard line.
Keywords:
FOOTBALL
by CNB