Games Involving Doormats Decided Aikman’s Pro Fate
It may have been Troy Aikman’s biggest game - although he didn’t play in it.
In 1988, the Cowboys and Packers, who meet in Sunday’s NFC Championship Game, were the worst teams in football. Each went into its final game tied at 3-12. If they had finished tied at 3-13, Green Bay would have won the tiebreaker for the first pick in the ‘89 draft.
The Cowboys desperately needed Aikman. The Packers were very excited about him, too.
Dallas held up its end by losing to Philadelphia 23-7 in Tom Landry’s final game. The Packers beat the Cardinals 26-17.
The Cowboys drafted Aikman and the Packers, picking second, took Michigan State offensive tackle Tony Mandarich, now out of football.
Spurrier spurns Bucs
Florida coach Steve Spurrier rejected a lucrative offer to take over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Detroit Lions owner William Clay Ford, who issued a make-the-playoffs-or-else ultimatum to coach Wayne Fontes after the Lions got off to a 3-6 start, said the coach will return for the 1996 season.
Phillips declares
Running back Lawrence Phillips is taking his coach’s advice and leaving Nebraska for the NFL.
LSU receiver Eddie Kennison and Michigan running back Tshimanga Biakabutuka also declared themselves eligible for the NFL.
Sorry, Reggie
Mike Holmgren, Packers coach, was describing an emotional conversation he had with defensive end Reggie White on the plane home from San Francisco last Saturday night.
White, playing with a hamstring injury that limits his playing time, will be making the first championship-game appearance of his storied 11-year career.
“We sat down, and he said, ‘I’ve never been this far before coach.’ It was very quiet,” Holmgren said, pausing. “Then I told him he still couldn’t have my Bud Light, and he’s not getting any more snaps, either. Nice try.”
Around the league
Most of the Philadelphia Eagles were stranded for more than a day in Dallas while their charter flight was unable to take off for snowbound Philadelphia.
Proving that he is not a sore winner, Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith showed up at a Dallas area hotel Monday, offering to show the Eagles the town. Several took him up on his offer.
Cowboys coach Barry Switzer received an interesting phone call this week. It was from the mother of Packers tight end Keith Jackson, whom Switzer had recruited and coached at Oklahoma.
“She wanted tickets to Sunday’s game,” Switzer said, a revelation that will surely embarrass Jackson. “But that’s OK, I understood. When you recruit a player and his family, you recruit them for life.”
Snow and wind from a record blizzard caused the collapse of a bubble that the New York Giants use for an indoor practice field.
Unrestricted free agent quarterback Dave Brown of the Giants had minor surgery on his left knee and will not need more extensive surgery.