SUPER BOWL XXVII

PASADENA, CA. - Jan. 31, 1993 - OUCH! This one really smarted! The Dallas Cowboys ripped the relative heads off the Buffalo Bills and put them over their mantle as trophies along with the Vince Lombardi Trophy as they shellacked the Bills 52-17. In losing in such a manner, the Buffalo Bills disgraced not only themselves but the Super Bowl itself.

They became the only team to ever lose three consecutive Super Bowl clashes. The 52-17 thrashing was the worst post-season loss the Bills ever had. The major weapon the Cowboys used against the Bills was Buffalo's self-destructive mode. The Bills coughed up the ball a Super Bowl record nine times! To top that, five of the turnovers happened in the first half, which produced 28 Cowboy points.

Bills quarterback Jim Kelly had his worst post-season game ever. He threw 7 times for 4 completions and had two picked off. He also fumbled once. The fumble and the first interception led to Dallas touchdowns.

"You can't beat a college team with that many turnovers," Kelly said after the blowout.

Then the roof really caved in for Kelly. Ken Norton, Jr. raced in on Kelly and was sent into the air by a tremendous block by Kenneth Davis. Norton's momentum sent him right into Kelly and he hit his right knee. The force of the collision made Kelly's knee buckle inward and that was the day for Jimbo.

In came Frank Reich, the architect of the biggest comeback in NFL history. He had an even taller task than he had when the led the Bills to that huge comeback win.

The strange part of the whole story is that the Bills led the game when Thurman Thomas had a two-yard touchdown run and Buffalo was up 7-0. Then Kelly did his best to give the Cowboys a late Christmas present. Kelly threw right into the hands of Dallas safety James Washington, and he returned it 13 yards into Buffalo territory. The Cowboys got down to the Bills 2 and then Dallas quarterback found tight end Jay Novacek for a touchdown to tie the game.

When the Bills got the ball back on the kickoff, Kelly got sacked by Charles Haley while he was attempting to pass on first down from his own 10, fumbled the ball way back at the Bills 2-yard line and Jimmie Jones of Dallas scooped up the loose ball and danced into the endzone putting Dallas up 14-7.

Kelly drove the Bills down to the Dallas goal line, but on fourth and one, Kelly threw an interception to Thomas Everett to end the drive.

"It was fourth down, and if I get sacked it was their ball," Jimbo explained. "I thought: Why not take a chance? I knew I had guys back there. I saw Pet Metzelarrs, and I saw Carwell Gardner and just started throwing it up hoping our guys come down with it. If I throw it out of the end zone, it's their ball. If I get sacked, it's their ball. I was trying to make a big play."

Buffalo had many other chances to take over the momentum, but failed to do so. In fact, on six different occasions, they needed 1 yard to score a touchdown or to get a first down and failed to do so. They were inside the Cowboys 5-yard line on four of those attempts.

When Jim Kelly went out of the game with 6:52 remaining in the first half, hopes were that Frank Reich would engineer another comeback. It appeared that Reich was determined to do just so as he completed a 7-yard pass to Metzelarrs and then connected 38 yards to Andre Reed to get to the Dallas 22-yard line. The Bills then took to the ground, and on three rushes, got to the Dallas 6. Reich then connected to Don Beebe in the endzone for an apparent touchdown, but Beebe dropped it! The Bills had to settle for a 21-yard Steve Christie field goal. That made it 14-10. From there, the Cowboys decided it was time to completely devour the Bills.

Dallas drove the ball from their own 28 all the way to the Bills 19-yard line. Then Troy Aikman struck gold with a perfect pass to Michael Irvin for a touchdown, putting the ‘Boys up 21-10. Amazingly, Aikman found Irvin 15 seconds later (another Buffalo turnover on a Thomas fumble off a screen pass) for his second straight touchdown pass, this time for 19 yards and the Cowboys went into the dressing room smiling 28-10.

To open the second half, Dallas drove down the field 77 yards in 12 plays and got a 20-yard field goal by Lin Elliott when the Bills finally held the Big D ‘O' in check.

Now was the time for Frank Reich to pull another rabbit out of his helmet and produce another of his famous miracle comebacks. Trying to make things happen on a 3rd and 14, Reich rolled out to his right side to avoid being sacked and hit an open Don Beebe on a 40-yard pass play to narrow the ‘Boys margin 31-17.

Aikman was not to be outdone, so he threw a 45-yard strike to Alvin Harper, who had blown past Henry Jones for the touchdown. Blowout City: Dallas 38-17!

Now Reich really had his work cut out for him. And this time he failed miserably. He threw an interception that helped set up a 10-yard Emmett Smith touchdown gallop. Reich, in shotgun formation, fumbled the snap and Ken Norton picked up the ball and ran 9 yards with it to put Dallas up 52-17.

And then came the play that will be remembered in Super Bowl lore. Reich got sacked and fumbled once again. This time, giant Cowboy defensive end Leon Lett picked it up and was off for the races. He wobbled all alone 64 yards and was about to score when he decided to do a little showboating. He waived the football with his right hand giving the Bills one last jest. However, speedster Don Beebe, racing down the field the entire way, caught up with the showboat and knocked the ball out of Lett's hand and the ball rolled all the way through the endzone, forcing a touchback. Bills ball at the 20. This play would be replayed thousands of times to youngsters all over the world to show that one must never give up. If you try hard enough, you never know.

Cowboys Head Coach, Jimmy Johnson was exuberant in the locker room. He started off by saying, "How ‘bout dem ‘Boys!" Then he added, "Well, I felt we had the best football team. As far as the domination thing, when you turn the ball over as much as they did, you're going to have problems. Sometimes, it just snowballs."

Troy Aikman, who won the MVP award was awesome in the game. He threw 30 times, completed 22 of them for 273 yards and 4 touchdowns. Also, he had no picks.

"Obviously it's the biggest thing for any player," Aikman said. "Going out on the field and seeing all the pageantry of the game, I just had to talk to myself into staying relaxed and clam, and to play within the framework of things. Now that we've won, yeah, it's as great a feeling as I've ever had in my life, and I wish every player could experience it before they finish playing."

Frank Reich said after the game, "They're a good football team, and they executed extremely well, but anytime you turn the ball over nine times, you're going to lose. It's just tougher to accept when you've worked so hard for it and you feel you were prepared for it. But every day is an opportunity. As bad as this hurts, it's just an opportunity to come back and do it again."

And do it again, the Bills would. The next year, both the Bills and Cowboys returned to the Super Bowl. And this time the Bills would lose their fourth straight Super Bowl 30-13. The 52-17 defeat wasn't enough for the Bills, they had to come back for some more humiliation!

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