Back In The Saddle Dallas Raises Arizona; Nfl Championship Cowboys 27, Steelers 17

The football and NFL history hit the Dallas Cowboys squarely in their puffed-out chests Sunday - and they didn’t drop either.

They didn’t win this Super Bowl (27-17) as much as the Pittsburgh Steelers lost it, but history doesn’t make that kind of distinction.

Two second-half interceptions by unsung cornerback Larry Brown, both glaring mistakes in communication between Steelers quarterback Neil O’Donnell and his receivers, set up two short touchdowns by Emmitt Smith that kept the Steelers from pulling a huge upset.

The struggle surprised none of the Cowboys, who prevailed in a tumultuous season of great expectations and great adversity.

“It was representative of the kind of season we had,” owner Jerry Jones said.

“It’s a feeling more of relief than anything else,” quarterback Troy Aikman said.

“We did it our way, baby,” coach Barry Switzer said.

Their way gave the Cowboys an unprecedented third Super Bowl title in four years and tied them with the San Francisco 49ers as a five-time Super Bowl winner.

They have a way to go to catch the Green Bay Packers’ eight championship-game victories, but they have a big leg up on Team of the ‘90s. The three out of four is the best string since the Packers became the only team to put together three NFL championships in a row in 1965-66-67.

Commissioner Paul Tagliabue presented the Lombardi Trophy to Jones only hours after criticizing the maverick owner on national television Sunday morning for “dishonoring” league principles of revenue sharing.

Aikman broke from the pack of two-time championship quarterbacks and is now one behind Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw in Super Bowl wins. The most accurate passer in NFL postseason history was far superior to O’Donnell in his decisions. He completed only 15 of 23 passes and was limited to one touchdown pass to Jay Novacek.

It helped the Cowboys get off to a 13-0 lead, but the jittery Steelers’ ability to limit the Cowboys to field goals kept it close.

“Not the prettiest football game we’ve played,” Aikman said. “We’ll have about two weeks to enjoy it and everybody will be asking will we be able to do it again.”

It was the 12th Super Bowl win in a row for the NFC, but close is starting to count in the AFC. The only way the powerful Cowboys were supposed to lose this one was to beat themselves. It turned out the only way they won it was when the Steelers beat themselves.

Brown became the first defensive player to win most valuable player since the Bears’ Richard Dent after the 1985 season. Miami defensive back Jake Scott was named MVP in Super Bowl VII.

Brown’s two interceptions came when all he did was stand and catch perfect strikes by O’Donnell. He returned the first 44 yards and the second 33. Both turned around momentum the Steelers had grabbed in dominating the second half.

Flashy Deion Sanders was “the other cornerback” in this one. Nevertheless, Switzer credited him with Brown’s heroics.

“Why do you think he was standing over there in the flat?” Switzer asked. “Because he’s not sprinting 50 yards deep on every play like Deion. We are able to roll up in zones.”

With Sanders taking away one of the Steelers’ receivers all by himself, the Cowboys were able to blitz and play zone behind it.

“We’ve got so many stars,” Brown said. “I knew they would stay away from my boy Deion, so I knew I’d be the key.”

“If I had seen Larry, I don’t think I’d have thrown it there,” O’Donnell said.

The passes were not all O’Donnell’s fault. On the second, receiver Corey Holliday failed to adjust his pattern on a blitz and ran upfield instead of slanting. It came with 4:01 to play after the Steelers had sandwiched 10 straight points around an onside kick.

Smith’s clinching TD came with 3:43 to play. Held to only 49 yards on 18 carries, Smith’s inability to dominate confirmed the Steelers’ boast they would match the physical Cowboys blow for blow. Setting Smith up at the goal line, however, is like giving candy to a baby.

Pittsburgh coach Bill Cowher, who had promised to pull out all stops, played it conservatively as his nervous team fell behind, then went to more spread formations as the Steelers settled down with their first touchdown only 13 seconds before the half. After that, it was all Steelers. They were at midfield when O’Donnell’s first interception was returned to the Pittsburgh 18. Down 20-7, the Steelers were stopped on fourth-and-2 late in the third quarter when Cowher sent Bam Morris up the gut twice on short yardage, almost reminiscent of Switzer’s ill-fated fourth-down decisions in a criticized loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Undaunted, the Steelers came back with a field goal, then surprised the Cowboys with a perfect onside kick with 11:20 left, the earliest in Super Bowl history. It set up a Morris touchdown with 6:36 to play that made it 20-17.

Pittsburgh then forced a Cowboy punt and took over at its 32 with 4:15 to play. Andre Hastings, otherwise brilliant with 10 catches, dropped one before O’Donnell threw to Holliday on the blitz and Brown picked it off.

Jones called it his “sweetest” win, partly because of the bitterness that still lingers among those critical of his firing of Johnson, his hiring of Switzer and his league-high payroll of $62 million. As for Switzer, the game was at least a moment of vindication after two years of skepticism. His problems went right up until kickoff when he said he made his defensive players angry by deciding to have the offense introduced.

“But I told the defense, ‘You’ve going to win the football game.’ And that’s exactly what happened,” Switzer said.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Cowboys 27, Steelers 17 Dallas 10 3 7 7 - 27 Pittsburgh 0 7 0 10 - 17 First quarter Dal-FG Boniol 42, 2:55. Dal-Novacek 3 pass from Aikman (Boniol kick), 9:37. Second quarter Dal-FG Boniol 35, 8:57. Pit-Thigpen 6 pass from O’Donnell (Johnson kick), 14:47. Third quarter Dal-E.Smith 1 run (Boniol kick), 8:18. Fourth quarter Pit-FG Johnson 46, 3:40. Pit-Morris 1 run (Johnson kick), 8:24. Dal-E.Smith 4 run (Boniol kick), 11:17. A-76,347. Dal Pit First downs 15 25 Rushes-yards 25-56 31-103 Passing 198 207 Punt Returns 1-11 2-18 Kickoff Returns 3-37 5-96 Interceptions Ret. 3-77 0-0 Comp-Att-Int 15-23-0 28-49-3 Sacked-Yards Lost 2-11 4-32 Punts 5-38 4-45 Fumbles-Lost 0-0 2-0 Penalties-Yards 5-25 2-15 Time of Possession 26:11 33:49 Individual statistics RUSHINGDallas, E.Smith 18-49, Johnston 2-8, K.Williams 1-2, Aikman 4-(minus 3). Pittsburgh, Morris 19-73, Pegram 6-15, Stewart 4-15, O’Donnell 1-0, J.Williams 1-0. PASSINGDallas, Aikman 15-23-0-209. Pittsburgh, O’Donnell 28-49-3-239. RECEIVINGDallas, Irvin 5-76, Novacek 5-50, K.Williams 2-29, Sanders 1-47, Johnston 1-4, E.Smith 1-3. Pittsburgh, Hasting 10-98, Mills 8-78, Thigpen 3-19, Morris 3-18, Holliday 2-19, J.Williams 2-7. MISSED FIELD GOALSNone.