Football Function
Team of Destiny: 1993 Dallas Cowboys
(bell ringing) - Hello, it's me, your oil change light. That last mechanic took three hours. Would you trust him again? (bell ringing) - Silence your oil changed the idea at Valvoline Instant Oil Change, where we change your oil in about 15 minutes. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - What's going on, everybody, guys and girls. Welcome back to another edition of E- Football Function Podcast, available on all of your podcasting platforms, including on Patreon. If you prefer an ad-free listening experience, as always, I am one of the hosts of the show, Michael Ritter. You can find me on X at Michael5Ritter or on Instagram at MichaelRitter5. Joining me on this episode, per usual, my humble co-hosts, doing of the game, young Karen Smithfield. Terry, how we doing? - Man, I ain't gonna lie to you. I am super sore, Mike. Valvoline's taking a toll on your boy, getting up there in age, so the back isn't recuperating as fast as I want it to. But nonetheless, speaking of volleyball, we'll go ahead and get the talks out of the way, right? - Oh, yeah. - Volley talk, Volley talk, let's get it out of the way. But yeah, we had a volleyball game this weekend, and two, actually, first game was against a team that we played last week that absolutely stomped the fucking breaks out of our asses. And the score was kind of the same, but if you came out and saw us play, you wouldn't think that the score was at a hand as it was. - We played a whole lot better. We played our asses off as a matter of fact. - It didn't seem like we got blown out by it anyway. - I mean, I don't remember what the score was to be completely honest, but I think what was in it like what? I mean, 'cause you go to 25, like 25-17 maybe, or 25-15, or am I wrong? - Yeah, you're completely wrong. - 25-10 or something? - 25 to six was the final score. - Oh, man, I made the edit that out. - The first game was 25 to six. - The first match? - Yeah, it's the first match. - Okay, so the second match, second set, whatever you call it. - Second set of the first match was a lot better. That's the one that you may be thinking of. We lost 25 to 16. - Yeah, where we improved. - Slowly improved all throughout. And to be honest, we could have won that second game as well because-- - We took a match? - 'Cause I mean, yeah, didn't we split? - Yeah, we split it. - We split the second game. - Because that one we were, I feel like we were playing well, everyone was kind of jelling together, flying around, reacting well. I just think that one of the people that we were playing against just so having to kind of just turn it on. They got lucky on a few of the-- - They did turn it on. - Whenever you, you know, you go up and hit it and somebody blocks it and it hits their hands. It's all about, you know, how it bounces off. - Right. - It does require a little bit of luck for it to bounce your way and land and bounds. And definitely got to give him credit though. And I even told Caleb, I was like, it's crazy because as we were playing, I didn't realize that he was wearing the Jordan 11s. - Ooh, yeah. - Until about halfway through the game. And once I realized he was wearing them, that's whenever the switch flipped. It was weird. So-- - Involible. - Shout out to him for having a hell of a performance. But yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to playing that team again 'cause I do think that as long as we're on our A game, we can, you know, we can go out and handle this. - We've got that team on the ropes for real. We split the last game, last set with them. And like I was about to say, man, it's cool to see somebody that's been playing the game a while, turn it on, switch it, just like that. And, you know, snap it over the net really quick or find the open holes that, you know, maybe somebody's not paying attention. And it's pretty cool to see how somebody can just automatically know I'm gonna go right there and it's gonna be a point. But yeah, shout out to that kid. I don't even remember his name. He told me it, but his shoes, or he was swaggy as hell. And the boys got outrageous hops. It is crazy. - We got him though a few times. - Yeah, we did. Like I said, that first match, the first set, or whatever you want to call it. - Yeah. - I feel like we got a lot of, you know, good plays against him. And it wasn't until the back half of the second set that he absolutely kind of turned it on. So it was really like a fourth quarter performance. - It's crazy how he goes line and then he'll fake you, go online and go in the middle and say, this is crazy. That dude's good. - I do like the improvements though. - Yeah, you too. - That was off on our team. So that's really, you know, we're only getting better, dog. It's more, the more we jive, the more we play, the better everybody's going to fucking realize we are. And we got people's eyeballs on us. - No doubt, no doubt. But I'm excited to get into, you know, this specific team of destiny episode. This is the first one that I am officially alive for. So shout out, we are here, we'll go. But it's also a pretty special Super Bowl because the Georgia don't. - Oh yeah. - And we'll get into that as we break down this 1993 Dallas Cowboys team in root to a Super Bowl 28 victory. Are you ready to dive in here? Is there anything else outside of Volley Talk that you want to, you know, get off your chest or discuss before we dive in here? - Um, no, I think Volley Talk, what it is. You got a golf tournament tomorrow, right? - I sure do, that's, I'm nervous as hell. - By the time this episode drops, it will be over. I'm not dropping this one on the weekend. I think this could end up being the Monday episode. - Hell yeah. - So, yep, definitely have a golf tournament this weekend. First one out of town, you know, kind of big-ish. It is in your home, your home stomping grounds. So I'll be playing with a bunch of guys that you may know, shout out to our boy Ashton and our boy LVP for dragging your boy out there. And, you know, testing the waters in the golf world. - Well, hopefully it goes very, very well. - I'm nervous. - I think you'll do fine, honestly. I'm not really sure. You guys playing like at the country club or where? - I'm not sure at all. - I'm not sure what I'm going to show up. I'm going to compress the ball as good as I can. I'm going to try to hit my driver's straight. - I imagine that's where you guys are playing. But any who, let's go ahead and get into this. We're going to be talking about Super Bowl 28, which was an American football game between the NFC champion Dallas Cowboys and the AFC champion at Buffalo Bills. - Not again. - To decide the NFL champion for the 1993 season, the Cowboys defeated the Bills for the second straight year by a score of a 30 to 13, winning their fourth Super Bowl in team history, tying the Steelers, San Francisco 49ers, for the only teams with four Super Bowl wins. The Buffalo Bills became the only team to play and lose four consecutive Super Bowls, 25, 26, 27 and 28. That earned them an 0 and 4 franchise Super Bowl record. And as of 20, 23, remains the team's most recent Super Bowl appearance. This is also the most recent consecutive Super Bowl rematch. The game was played on January 30th, 1994 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. Since the 1993 regular season was conducted over 18 weeks, two buys per team, the traditional bye-wheat between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl was not employed. The last time this has happened was before Super Bowl 25, so it was a long time ago. - Yeah, a long time. - This is the only time that the same two teams have met in consecutive Super Bowls. The defending Super Bowl 27 champion Cowboys finished with a 12 and 4 record. In the regular season, despite key players missing games due to injuries, the Bills were making their fourth consecutive Super Bowl appearance, but still seeking their first title after also finishing with a 12 and 4 record. And largely through the strength of their no-huddle offense. This is the last time you'll probably hear about that. We've been talking about this no-huddle offense. - We're a minute now. - Pretty much throughout the entire summer. And I feel like I am very now, or now I am very up to speed on why the Bills were so dominant in that decade and why they were able to continue to just slice through the AFC. - Because of this offense. - After trailing 13 to six at halftime, the Cowboys scored 24 unanswered points in the second half. The Bills had built their lead off of running back Thurman Thomas's four-yard touchdown run, but just 45 seconds into the third quarter, Thomas was stripped of the ball, and Dallas's safety James Washington returned the fumble 46 yards for a touchdown to tie the game. From there, Cowboys running back Emmett Smith, who was named the Super Bowl MVP, largely took over the game. On Dallas's next possession, Smith was handed the ball seven times on an eight-play 64-yard drive that was capped off with his 15-yard touchdown run. He later scored on a one-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. Overall, Smith had 30 carries for 132 yards and two touchdowns while also catching four passes, four 26 yards. - What was it working? - NFL owners voted to award Super Bowl 28 to Atlanta during their May 23rd, 1990 meetings in Irving, Texas. It would be Atlanta's first of three Super Bowls as of 2024, and first of two played at the Georgia Dome. Four cities, sorry, submitted bids, including Atlanta, Miami, New Orleans, and Tampa. On the first ballot, Tampa was eliminated, mostly due to the fact that they were already scheduled to host 2025, or Super Bowl 25. So, I'm not sure if that's a mistake or something. If they were already scheduled to host 25, considering that this is Super Bowl 28, so maybe they're talking about 35 or something? I don't know, it could be a typo. - That could be it. - Nonetheless, Atlanta won the bill. - Yeah, Tampa Bay Representative Hugh Culver House Jr. Immediately due their support behind the Atlanta bid, Atlanta won the fourth ballot with owners rewarding Falcons owner Rankin Smith for his decision to keep the franchise in Atlanta, and for orchestrating the construction of the new stadium. However, the NFL attached conditions to Atlanta's hosting duties. The Georgia Dome was still under construction. The first concrete footings had just been poured the same week. The league gave Atlanta a deadline of September 1st to finalize the construction schedule and budget. Otherwise, they may consider reassigning the game. In September of that year, Atlanta was selected as the host for the 1996 Summer Olympics with the Georgia Dome, a key venue for the games. Almost immediately, the stadium's luxury boxes begin to sell out, helping ensure the stadium would be completed within budget. The stadium was completed on time for the 1992 season. - Thank God it was. - Thank God, man. And thank God the owner didn't relocate the team. - For sure, and you got to think Rankin Smith. - No telling what would have happened. Yeah, like, shout-outs are Rankin. - Shut up, Mr. Rankin. - We may have to dedicate a segment or something to old Rankin. - You definitely have to. - Rankin's Rankin's. - Ooh, Rankin's Rankin's. - You gotta Rankin some Rankin's. - Or workshop that. - Let's do it. - Let's talk about the Cowboys here, right? - Do we have to? - The Cowboys' journey to Super Bowl 28 proved way more difficult than the previous season whenever they won the Super Bowl. Pro Bowl running back MS Smith held out the first two regular season games over a contract dispute and Dallas lost both of those contests, including a 13 to 10 loss at home to their eventual Super Bowl opponent, the Buffalo Bills. Pro Bowl quarterback Troy Eggman, along with a few other key players, missed games, due to injuries. Following the loss to the Bills, oops, sorry. Clicked on something I shouldn't have. Following the loss to the Bills, Cowboys defensive in at Charles Haley was so upset. He slammed his helmet through a locker room wall, screaming, "We'll never win with a fucking rookie running back. "And we have the greatest one ever sitting at home watching TV." In reference to MS Smith's replacement, Derek Lassick, who obviously took a ricochet shot there is a little bit of a unnecessary shot as teammate, but nonetheless. - He didn't deserve that. - Team owner Jerry Jones apparently agreed, quickly signing MS Smith to a contract that made him the highest paid running back in the NFL. Jerry Jones, who was in the locker room whenever the helmet was thrown, said that it missed him by about two feet. - Oh shit, was it intentional? - Well, sure, I feel like yelling about a contract situation. You told your helmet at the guy who was signing said contract and could be the one who's holding up the negotiations. Let's just say that it seemed like there could have been some intent behind that. - Show was. - With MS Smith back in the starting lineup and eight men healthy, Dallas went on to win their next seven straight games, including a dominating 26 to 17 win over the San Francisco 49ers and a 23 to 10 win on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles, in which MS Smith rushed for 237 yards, the sixth highest total in NFL history. Their winning streak was finally snapped against the Atlanta Falcons, with eight men on the sidelines with an ankle injury. And Smith knocked out of the game after his very first carry. - Oh shit. - They also lost their next game against Miami doing an infamous error by defensive lineman Leon Let that enabled the Dolphins to kick a game winning field goal, but then went on to win the remaining five games. In the season finale against the New York Giants, with the Cowboys desperately trying to clinch the NFC East title and a first round by in the playoffs, Eichmann showed he was at full health, completing 24 of 30 passes with no interceptions. While for Smith, it was his career signature game. He suffered a first degree separation in his right shoulder during the first half, but he still finished. And he finished with 229 total yards, 168 rushing, 10 passes caught for 61 yards, and the team's only touchdown of the day. And a 16 to 13 overtime win, which enabled Dallas to finish with an NFC best 12 and 4 record and clinched home-filled advantage, obviously, throughout the NFC playoffs. I want to talk about that really quickly here. - The team on the bag note. - We all have somewhere we're trying to get to. As the largest energy producer in Colorado, Chevron is helping meet rising demand, and we're working to do it responsibly. Our next-gen tankless facilities reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of our operations by more than 90% compared to our older designs. Working to provide Colorado with energy that's affordable, reliable, and ever cleaner. So everyone can get to where they want to be. You've arrived. That's energy and progress. Visit chevron.com/tankless. - That game that they're talking about, I've seen NFL films documentary about that game where Miss Smith did get his shoulder kind of put back into place, and he just toked the rock the rest of the game. - Didn't give two shits about it. - And the fact that he ran for damn near 230, caught 10 balls. Like, man-- - Team's only touched down. - I don't know who the hell the offensive coordinator was on this team, but I mean, I get it, you know? I mean, Miss Smith was an MVP that you're clearly the best player in football. - Right. - You're gonna dance with the person that got you there, right? - I don't feed the beast. - But, man, dude, if your guy is a separated shoulder, I mean, yeah, you want to get to the playoffs, which is the number one seed, but what good's it gonna do? You get into the playoffs if you don't have the MVP. - Yeah. I think this was in that era too, or, you know, is one of those rubbed some dirt on it, goddamn it, let's get you back out there. Is it completely broke? No, all right, let's get the fuck out there, let's play. - Yeah, no doubt. The Cowboys defense was anchored by such pro bowlers, such as linebackers, Russell Maryland and Ken Norton Jr. and defensive backs Thomas Everett and Kevin Smith, who intercepted six passes during the season. Defensive in, Tony Tolbert led the team with seven and a half sacks while Charles Haley added four and Chad Hinnings had five and a half. Let's go and talk about the Buffalo Bills, the AFC champion, the defending AFC champion here. The Bills finished at the top of the AFC by clinching the conference's best regular season record, winning seven of their first eight games and finished the season at 12 and four. Quarterback Jim Kelly once again led Buffalo to no huddle offense by passing for 288 out of 470 regular season completions and 3,382 yards, 18 touchdowns, but also 18 interceptions. I can't help but think that I wouldn't be a believer of that team because of that reason. - Yeah. - Like 18 touchdowns at 18 picks. Yeah, you have no huddle, whoopty fucking do. Like good Lord, man, how about you not turn the ball over whenever you break the huddle or whenever you freaking line up on the snap? You know, maybe if you did huddle up, you could maybe think of a play that'll win you a Super Bowl or at least - Get the job done. - Not turn the ball over so much. Like man, and you look back and you wonder why this team lost and lost and lost. At the end of this, you could tell that we're about billsed out whenever you talk about this. Like we're tired of hearing about - All the bills out, good. - Shitting on themselves, but hey, what kind of, what kind of talk about that? Because I actually think that, you know, whenever we, you know, as I'm doing my research about this, we're not the only people that felt this way. In real time, people were fucking tired of the bills getting there and we'll, you know, obviously we'll talk about that here in just a little bit. But Kelly was joining an elite class by starting his fourth Super Bowl. The only quarterbacks to start for were Roger Starback, Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana, with John Elway, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Patrick Mahomes later doing so. Shout out to Mahomes for already being mentioned in that, you know, like, - God dang. - He's already started four Super Bowls, man. - Baby goat. - That's insane. - But Kelly is the only one to start four consecutive Super Bowl games ever. No one's ever done it. No one's ever going to do it again. Most likely, Brady did get really close whenever he started Super Bowl 49, 51, 52, and 53. He went to three straight, - Yeah. - But he missed Super Bowl 50. If he would have done Super Bowl 50, he could have went to five straight. - Fuck. - Geez, that would have been wild, but anyway, running back Thurman Thomas led the AFC with 1,300 rushing yards and six touchdowns while also catching 48 passes for 387 yards. Running back Kenneth Davis rushed for 391 yards and six touchdowns while also recording 21 receptions for 95 yards. Pro Bowl wide receiver Andre Reed caught 52 receptions for a team leading 854 yards and six touchdowns. Wide receiver Bill Brooks, 60 receptions for 714 yards and five touchdowns, and wide receiver Don Beebe recorded 31 receptions for 500 yards and three touchdowns. Also, they're tied in. So glad we don't got to hear about this guy anymore either. He led the team with 68 receptions a higher amount than his last four seasons combined for 609 yards, four touchdowns, and obviously guys, you know, Pete Metzalars, whatever, I cannot pronounce it. That's the only reason why we're not saying his name. - Zalars. - Very tough to say. I'm not going to click on it to learn the pronunciation. That is again on me, but he's pretty much that's the only time he's mentioned. So there's really no reason to elaborate unless you know who knows. You make it an NFL Immortals episode sometimes. You never know. Buffalo's defense was the team's weakness. Per usual, wash, rinse, repeat. Seems like we talk about that every year. They ranked 27th, which is second to last. In an NFL that only featured 28 teams, they gave up 5,554 total yards. They did have a few good contributors though. Hall of Fame, defensive lineman, Bruce Smith, 14 sacks, one fumble recovery. Pro Bowl linebacker Cornelius Bennett, who had five sacks, two fumble recoveries. Darryl Talley, another linebacker, 101 tackles, two sacks, two fumble recoveries and three interceptions. And then Nate Odom, he led the NFL with nine interceptions. So it's like, and he also had a fumble recovery, but it's like, you see all these, you know, all these bad ass players with these crazy stat lines. How was their defense ranked? If you lead the league in 26 interceptions, if you have a player that had nine, you had a linebacker that had like three, you know, and fumble recoveries, 100 tackles from one of your linebackers, 14 sacks from another guy. How were you ranked second to last? - That's fucking crazy. - They might, well, I mean, they did give up 5,504 yards, but hey, I mean, secondary is a boo-boo. - Yeah, that must be it outside of their corner who led the league in pick. So I mean, they must have been going at other people. - Yeah. - But anywho, let's go ahead and move on here. Let's talk about the playoffs. - Play-off! - In the NFC, Dallas' first opponent in the playoffs was the Green Bay Packers, who were coming off of a thrilling 28-24 win over the Detroit Lions in the wildcard game, in which quarterback Brett Favre had thrown the winning touchdown pass, the Sterling Sharp with only 55 seconds left in the game. In this game, the Packers scored first with a field goal, but Dallas scoring back with 17 consecutive points in the second quarter. First, Aigman threw a six-yard touchdown pass to Harper. Then with time running out of the period, Dallas scored again on an Eddie Murray field goal. Green Bay then fumbled the ensuing kickoff, allowing the Cowboys to score again with Aigman's six-yard pass to Nova Check. The Cowboys went on to, I guess, stop. I think that might be another typo there. The Cowboys went on to stop, and attempted Packers come back in the second half. And when the game, 27 to 17, Aigman finished the game with 28 of 37 completions for 300 yards and three touchdowns with two picks. Irvin recorded nine catches for 126 yards and two touchdowns, hell of a performance there, Michael Irvin. One week later, Dallas faced the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship game for the second year in a row in what was, at the time, the NFL game, or the last NFL game to ever air on CBS. Of course there is CBS games every single week now, but at the time, in 1993, this was perceived to be the very last game that would take place on CBS. - One, one, one. - The 49ers had the NFL highest scoring offense with 473 points, 97 more than the runner up to Dallas Cowboys. The last time the two teams played for the NFC title, Dallas won when Aigman thwarted an attempted 49ers comeback with a touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter. But this time, the game was extremely one-sided. The Cowboys scored touchdowns on four of their five first half possessions. By the end of the half, Dallas had a commanding 28 to seven lead. Aigman completed 14 of 18 passes for 177 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions, while also rushing for 25 yards, but was knocked out of the game of the concussion in the third quarter. Then San Francisco scored a touchdown, making the score 28 to 14 with plenty of time left for a comeback. However, their hopes were soon dashed as backup quarterback Bernie Kosar, who had already played in three conference championship games and was unable to advance to the Super Bowl each time, led the Cowboys 82 yards to go up 35-14 on his 42-yard touchdown pass to Alvin Harper. Murray then put the finishing touches on San Francisco with a 50-yard field goal, while all the 49ers could do a score a useless touchdown in garbage time to make the final score 38 to 21. Smith rushed for 88 yards, caught seven passes for 85 yards and scored two touchdowns. Meanwhile, the Dallas defense helped 49ers running back Ricky Waters, who rushed for over 100 yards and scored five touchdowns in the division around to just 37 yards on 12 carries. Really quickly, we obviously just talked about and just read that Troy Aigman got knocked out of this game with the concussion. And we talked earlier about how the bi-week between the Super Bowl and the conference championship was removed because of the extra buy-in-the-regular season. So that means Troy Aigman got concussed a week before he played in the Super Bowl. - Sure. - That wouldn't happen nowadays. - No, hell no. - Obviously, they get a bi-week, so he would have probably been ready, but still, I think they're a lot more cautious. If that concussion would have gotten reported in 2024, - Yeah. - I don't think Aigman plays in the Super Bowl. - No, hell no, especially if it's a quarterback, one of the most paid positions on the field. And nowadays, anything dealing with concussions, it's a no-go, no flight zone, you are number one priority when it comes to concussions, anything dealing with the naked head injury. - Yeah, like, I feel like the NFL, if they had an opportunity to sit a player out because of the head injury for the Super Bowl, they'd probably take advantage of it just because number one, all of the eyes that would be on the product and they would know about that storyline going into it, it would be a terrible look if they kind of just went with it, you know, and just put that player out there, let him wing it, oh, I feel great. I'm gonna be out there for my team. Of course you feel great, it's the Super Bowl, you know, you're not gonna sit out. But the NFL, if they were to kind of step in and make that decision for the player, I feel like it would maybe send a message that they give a shit, but at the same time-- - They would get a fuck ton of back on this. - There would be one fan base that would absolutely lose their shit. - Oh yeah, most definitely, they would hear it from day one. - Well, let's talk about Buffalo's playoff run. Buffalo's first opponent was the Los Angeles Raiders, led by quarterback, Jeff Hostetler, who had led the New York Giants to victory over the Bills in Super Bowl 25, three years earlier, whenever Phil Sims got injured, I'm sure that rings a bell. The Raiders had also edged out the Bills 25, 24 and week 14 of the regular season. In this game, the Raiders built up a 17 to 13 half-time lead, but Buffalo stormed back with 16 second or 16 second half points. First, they scored on Kelly's 25-yard touchdown pass to Brooks. Then on their next drive, kicker Steve Christie kicked a 29-yard field goal to give the Bills a 23 to 17 lead. - Why'd? - Los Angeles managed to respond with an 86-yard scoring strike from Hostetler to receiver Tim Brown. But Buffalo stormed right back with Brooks's 22-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter. The Bills ended up winning the game 29 to 23, having scored 16 points in the span of 16 or six minutes and 18 seconds in the second half. Kelly threw for 287 yards, two touchdowns with no interceptions, holy shit. No interceptions for old Jim Bob. - What a fucking miracle. - One week later, the Bills took on the Kansas City Chiefs for the AFC title, led by four-time Super Bowl quarterback, Joe Montana. - Come on, Tania. - Kansas City Chiefs had defeated the Bills 23 to 7 during the regular season and were coming off thrilling, narrow wins against the Pittsburgh Steelers and Houston Oilers in the playoffs. In the days leading up to the game, many sports writers and fans were eager for the possibility of a Super Bowl in which Montana took on the San Francisco 49ers, led by Steve Young, who had replaced Montana as their starting quarterback, or the Dallas Cowboys, who had displaced the 49ers to become the most dominant team in the NFC. However, Buffalo quickly crushed this prospect, destroying Kansas City with a dominating 13 victory in the AFC Championship game. Thomas rushed for 186 yards and three touchdowns and caught two balls for 22 yards. On defense, the Bills limited Montana to just nine completions out of 23 attempts for 125 yards and no touchdowns with one interception. In addition, Kansas City's future Hall of Fame running back Marcus Allen, was held to just 50 rushing yards on 18 carries, so they really tried to get him going, just was not effective, surprisingly. - You tried. - With the last defensive, last ranked defense in the league, they stepped their shit up on that game. - playoffs, baby. - Both Dallas and Buffalo were the top seeded teams in their respective conferences, earning home-filled advantage throughout the playoffs. Until the New Orleans Saints in Indianapolis Colts qualified for Super Bowl 44, this was the last time that both No. 1 seeds advanced to the Super Bowl. It's very rare, teams usually get upset. When the Falcons went to the Super Bowl, they were the No. 2 seed. - Yeah, teams normally find their footing no matter what seating they are. - Yeah, but let's talk about it. We talked earlier, you know, we were kind of fed up with the Bills being here, we're kind of over it. Many sports writers and fans were a bit upset to the Bills advanced to their fourth consecutive Super Bowl. They were distressed with Buffalo having lost the three previous Super Bowl games and didn't want to see them lose again. - Some Bills fans appeared to be defensive about their team's presence in the game during Buffalo's victory in the AFC Championship game. One fan displayed a banner defiantly proclaiming, "We're back, deal with it, America." Therefore, the Super Bowl hype was more focused onto Cowboys owner/general manager Jerry Jones and head coach Jimmy Johnson. Although the two rebuilt the team with young talent that eventually won the previous year's Super Bowl, both men had huge egos that conflicted with each other. Both had different ideas on the future personnel plans for the Cowboys and both wanted equal credit for the team's recent success. The dispute became so ugly that Super Bowl 28 became Johnson's final game coaching the Cowboys after his feud with Jones boiled over. Johnson would join Vince Lombardi, Bill Walsh, and Bill Parcells on the short list of coaches who won a Super Bowl in what turned out to be their last game with the winning franchise. Like Lombardi and Parcells, but unlike Walsh, Johnson would later return to coach another team, homing the Miami Dolphins between 1996 and 1999 before retiring from coaching for good. This was the fourth rematch in Super Bowl history and the first time that both teams met in consecutive years. Both the Bills as the designated home team in the AFC/NFC annual rotation and the Cowboys were the same uniforms as the previous year with the Bills donning the home blue jerseys and their white pants and the Cowboys wearing the white jersey with silver pants. Before the game, the Super Bowl became the target of protests over the Georgia state flag, which at the time included the Confederate battle flag and was seen as offensive by the African American community. Several high profile Georgia politicians got involved, including state Senator Ralph D. Abernathy. The NFL tried to duck the issue with spokesman Greg Ieyo, stating, "We're not a political advocacy group. Advocacy group. It's not our role to get involved in the political issues that have nothing to do with the Super Bowl. However, the NFL had canceled plans to hold the Super Bowl in Phoenix three years earlier after a referendum to make Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Arizona State holiday was defeated. Ultimately, the flag was not flown inside the Georgia Dome but was mounted on a pole outside the stadium. Of course, you know? Racists get a racist, you know, it is what it is. You think the Super Bowl is going to stop them from doing that? Yeah, I'm not. But anyways, let's get into the game. Dallas wide receiver Kevin Williams returned the opening kickoff 50 yards to the Buffalo 48 yard line, opening kick. The Cowboys began to drive the quarterback treatments 20 yard pass to wide receiver Michael Irvin, but the Cowboys could only pick up four yards on their next three plays, forcing them to settle for kicker Eddie Murray's 41 yard fill goal. Giving them a three to nothing lead. We all have somewhere we're trying to get to. As the largest energy producer in Colorado, Chevron is helping meet rising demand and we're working to do it responsibly. Our next gen tankless facilities reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of our operations by more than 90% compared to our older designs. Working to provide Colorado with energy that's affordable, reliable and ever cleaner. So everyone can get to where they want to be. You've arrived. That's energy and progress. Visit chevron.com/tankless. The bills then responded with an eight play, 43 yard scoring drive. Quarterback Jim Kelly's two passes to wide receiver Andre Reed and running back Thurman Thomas for 11 and 24 yards, respectively. Specifically. Advanced the ball across the Dallas 40 yard line. After a three yard run by running back Kenneth Davis, however, Kelly then threw two straight incompletions. The bills then tied the game, three to three, with kicker Steve Christie's 40 or 54 yard field goal. The then longest field goal in Super Bowl history. Christie's record stood for 30 years until it was broken in Super Bowl 58 by San Francisco 49ers kicker Jake Moody's 55 yard field goal, which was subsequently broken by Kansas City Cheesecake Harrison Buckers 57 yard field goal in the same Super Bowl. Let's go. Buffalo then forced Dallas to punt, but on the first play of the bills ensuing possession. Cowboy safety James Washington stripped the ball from Thurman Thomas and safety Darren Woodson recovered the fumble at midfield. Aided by wide receiver Alvin Harper's 24 yard reception, the Cowboys drove to the Buffalo seven yard line, but had to settle for Murray's 24 yard field goal to regain the lead six to three. Went, went, went. After receiving Murray's kickoff, the bills could only reach their own 41 yard line before being forced to punt. However, they were given a new set of downs whenever Cowboys cornerback Dave Thomas was flagged for running into punter Chris Moore on the play. - Well, that's one of the most demoralizing penalties in the world. - Absolutely. Taking advantage of their second chance, the Cowboys allowed the bills to extend their drive to 80 yards and 17 plays and all those awarded kind of weird, which featured three short passes from Kelly to wide receiver Don Beebe for 22 yards and six runs by Thomas for 18 yards. The last one being a four yard touchdown run, giving the bills their first lead of the game 10 to six, early in the second quarter. Dallas started out there and suing drive with a 15 yard reception by Irvin and a 13 yard run by running back in a Smith to reach midfield. They were eventually forced to punt, but Cowboys linebacker Matt Vanderbeek, down John Jett's 43 yard punt at the bills one yard line. - Let's go. - A 19 yards completion from Kelly to Reed, moved Buffalo out of their shadow of their own end zone, and they eventually reached the Cowboys 46 yard line, but they too were forced to punt. However, more match Jett's feet with a 45 yard punt that was down to the Dallas one yard line by Buffalo wide receiver, Steve Tasker. As the bills had done, the Cowboys managed to get out of their own territory and advance to the Buffalo 37 yard line. However, bills quarterback Nate Odom's intercepted a pass, intended for Irvin. And returned at 41 yards to the Dallas 47 yard line with one minute and three seconds left in the half. Kelly completed a pair of passes to Thomas and Reed for gains of 12 and 22 yards, respectfully. - Respectively. - Respectively. - Ah, that's a good respect. - I got it wrong the first time and I knew it. And the second time I was like, no, we ain't letting this slide again, respectively. To move the ball to the Dallas's 12 yard line, the Cowboys defense tightened up on the next three plays. So Christie kicked a 23 or 28 yard field goal. - Yeah, what are those? - To increase Buffalo's lead to 13 to six to end the half. So they got a lead and hopefully we can finish the second half or me, I should say. I'm gonna speak for myself. - You got it, pal. - Hopefully I can finish the second half like the Cowboys do and not like the Bills. So we'll kind of see if I can turn it on here into the second half. Buffalo's command over the game proved short-lived as they began to face a red hot Dallas defense in the second half. Three plays into the quarter. Defensive tackle Leon let forced a fumble on Thomas and Washington returned the ball 46 yards for a touchdown to tie the game, 13 to 13. - You got a tie ball game. - Bills wide receiver Russell Copeland then returned the ensuing kickoff 22 yards to the Buffalo 37 yard line, but on third down, Cowboys defensive ends Jim Jeff coat and Charles Haley shared a 13 yard sack on Kelly to force the Bills to punt. The Cowboys then scored on an eight play, 64 yard drive in which Smith carried the ball on seven of the eight plays, gaining all but three of the 64 yards himself. And he finished the drive with a 15 yard touchdown run his longest of the game to give Dallas a 20 to 13 lead both teams then exchanged punts twice before the quarter ended. The Dallas defense continued to stop the Buffalo offense throughout the second half. Washington intercepted a pass from Kelly on the first play of the fourth quarter and returned it 12 yards to the Bills 34 yard line. A fall start penalty on offensive tackle Eric Williams on the next play moved the ball back to the 39. But on the next three plays, Smith ran twice for 10 yards and caught a screen pass for nine. Akeman then completed a 16 yard pass to Harper on third and eight setting up first and goal on the Bills six yard line. Buffalo managed to keep Dallas out of the end zone on the next three plays, but on fourth and goal, Dallas pulled the ultimate dick move, went for it and MSM scored a second rushing touchdown in the game on a one yard run, increasing the lead to 27 to 13 is a dick move. The Bills started their ensuing drive from their own 22 yard line and managed to reach their own 36. Cowboys defensive tackle Jimmy Jones made two key plays. However, a second down tackle on Thomas for a one yard loss and a 13 yard sack on Kelly on third down to push the ball back to the 22 yard line and forced Buffalo to punt, leading to a very poor 29 yard kick by Moore, which the Cowboys recovered at their own 49 yard line. Dallas then submitted their second consecutive Super Bowl title with a nine play, 49 yard scoring drive that took four minutes and 10 seconds off the clock on the sixth play of the drive. Akeman completed a 35 yard pass to Harper to the Bills one yard line. After a false start penalty against center Frank Cornish, pushed them back to the six yard line. The Cowboys ran the ball on their next three plays to force the Bills to use up all their time outs. Murray then kicked a 20 yard field goal with two minutes and 50 seconds left in the game, capping off the scoring at 30 to 13. Buffalo then reached to Dallas 22 yard line on their final possession, only to turn the ball over on downs in the game's closing seconds. This one is the worst. Reed said after the game referring to the Bills streak of four consecutive Super Bowl losses, we should have won. Then they come up with 24 unanswered points. That last fumble was once in a million. These things always happen to the Bills. It rips the heart out of you. Dallas didn't wear us down in the second half. Added Thomas, I fumbled, I cost us the game. However, center can't hold manage to find some consolation. In the immediate future, he'll be thought of as losers, he said, but one day down the road, when I'm no longer playing, they'll say wow. They went, or they won four straight AFC championships. They must have been good. For the Cowboys, Troy Eggman completed 19 out of 27 for 207 yards with one interception, while Alvin Harper was the team's top receiver with three catches for 75 yards. Emmett Smith, still suffering the effects of a shoulder injury during the regular season finale, became just the second player in Super Bowl history to rush for 100 yards, and back to back Super Bowls, the other being Larry Zonka in Super Bowl seven and Super Bowl eight. He also became the fourth player to rush. For touchdowns in back to back Super Bowls, joining Franco Harris and John Riggins, and also Thurman Thomas. Emmett Smith also became the first player to lead the league in rushing yards, win the NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP on the same season. He was also the fourth player after Bart Starr in 1966, Terry Bradshaw in '78, Joe Montana in '89, to win both the NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP during the same season. Defensively, James Washington, who began as the nickelback to counter Buffalo's no huddle and frequent use of the three wide receiver offense, had a phenomenal game with his 46-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown and interception, forcing a Thurman Thomas fumble that Darren Woodson recovered and collecting 11 tackles. Washington had only started in one game for the Cowboys during the season, but finished just one vote away from earning the NFL or the Super Bowl MVP. Like, that's crazy. Let me just reread that stat line real quickly. He had a 46-yard scoop tuck score, an interception, a forced fumble, and he had 11 tackles. - That 11 tackle is the one, it's amazing. - Like two, you could add on all that. - And then he won that Super Bowl for them. - No doubt. - Created two turnovers, he was all over the field with those 11 tackles, you have to get that guy credit, man. - Put it in the position two, stop that offense, what he did. - Exactly. For the Bills, wide receiver Andre Reed finished a game with six catches for 75 yards to lead Buffalo with Don BB catching six for 60 and returning two kick-offs for 63 yards. Thomas was limited to just 37 rushing yards, but he also caught seven passes for 52 yards. Thomas became the first player in Super Bowl history to score touchdowns in four Super Bowls. He scored one touchdown in each of the Bills four straight Super Bowl appearances, 25, 26, 27, and 28. Kenneth Davis was the Bills top rusher with 38 yards. Kelly finished the game, completing 31 of 50 for 260 yards and one pick. His 31 completions was a then a Super Bowl record. Kelly became the only player ever to throw 50 passes in two Super Bowls. In addition to his 50 passes in the game, he threw a Super Bowl record 58, and Super Bowl 26 just two years earlier, so man, he has thrown a lot of balls. - Well he's got some wear and tear on the shoulder. - In the Super Bowl, man, shout out to the Cowboys, they go back to back. They won 92 and they won 93. - Man, I love what Center Can't Hold did say though. You know, down the, well now I guess, we are talking about how they did make it to four straight ASC championships, Super Bowls, and all that. That's super fucking impressive. That's nothing to hang the hat on. Nonetheless, you do want to win those, but hey, at least you made it there. - Yeah, no doubt, no doubt. Shout out to them. I mean, you know, Super Bowl was in Atlanta, and it was the first year that I was alive. You can say there was a little bit of a connection there. I just feel like that was the Super Bowl gods who are saying, hey, a football addict, football junkie, whatever you want to call it. - Oh, real fan. - Just came into the, you know, the earth. I think we need to start it off right here. We're going to have the Super Bowl with Atlanta and, you know, a local team is going to win this bad boy. Because, you know, they can't just, they can't. Not even the Super Bowl gods, and the football gods are going to allow the Falcons to win the Super Bowl the year I'm born, you know? So. - That wouldn't happen. - They're like, are you kidding me, dog? Come on, let's be real here, all right? But nonetheless, that does it for us on this episode. I do want to thank you guys so much for tuning in here. Terry and I both have a weekend ahead of us. So this is going to drop after the weekend. But, you know, Terry and I have planned this weekend. I am going to Rudoso, it's my girlfriend's birthday, so we're going to go visit her mom. - Oh, dang. - Have a great day. - Yes, and well, tomorrow's her birthday. - Yeah, yeah. - So, yeah. But nonetheless, thank you for that. I'm sure she appreciates it. And Terry is a golf tournament, as he just mentioned. He's got to wake up super early. We planned on recording two episodes tonight, but I think we're going to save the last one, which is part two of the draft of the decades for a later date. - Be on the lookout, Funky. - But yeah, that one's going to be fun. I already have my strategy planned. I was telling Terry, you better watch out. - Yeah, he's been texting me all day already for us. - He does. Guess what? - He got the first pick in, you know, the offensive one. So I think it's only right. - Yeah, you get first pick on D. And then on defense, you know, I started us off here and I'm looking forward to that. But nonetheless, guys, thank you so much. - Damn right. - If you haven't already, you can subscribe on Patreon. Great way to support the show. It's one of the best ways. If you are not a patron subscriber and you listen on one of the audio apps, you know, Spotify, Apple Podcast, the list goes on and on, there is a way that you can help us out there too. Just leave us a five star rating. Give us a nice little decent review. That's free and it helps us out a lot. So we definitely appreciate that. Another way you can help us out is by listening to the college football function. Been talking to one of our good buddies here who is gonna have his voice on the show a lot more this season, looking forward to breaking the news on that at some point. But yeah, the football function is going to have another show. And I feel like it's the missing link that we do not have here on the rotation. But yeah, shout out to all the people that contribute. Obviously shot to see him. He's got some episodes coming to the college football function. So definitely check that out. He's making his second and third waves through these schedule predictions through all these conferences. He started out doing like three or four per, you know, per conference and he goes through each one. He doesn't want to just preview all of the SEC team schedules. He doesn't want to just do the big 12, just do the big 10. He wants to do a few teams out of each and then go back through, have a second wave. Okay, I did these three teams in the, you know, the big 10. I'm going to do these three teams now. He's got a nice little cycle that he's got going on. I listened to the most recent episode that just dropped today on Friday, which was the big 12 edition. I think the second wave of the big 12 teams. He featured Texas Tech. So we'll see how many, I know in the beginning of the show, he was talking about, you know, being real about predicting Texas Tech schedule, you know, being a realist, not sipping on the Kool-A like he did last year. I'm not really sure. I can't remember if he actually stayed true to that. Or if he, you know, once he started going, the homerism kind of started to, well, if I noticed, you know, flood out a little bit, but he does have, you know, high expectations, especially at home. He knows Texas Tech's really hard to beat at home. They have some really greater blood, runs deep. Some new stadium renovations, new uniforms as well. Tech's going to look a lot different this year. I'm not a team member. And I know seeing is excited about that. But thank you guys so much for joining us here. We will be back very, very soon with some more content, some more NFL Immortals, more team of Destiny, and obviously the regular football function, college football function, we are here. And we're always going to be free and available on whatever podcasting platform app you prefer. But thank you guys so much. Have a damn good weekend. Walk passionately in the direction of your dreams. We'll talk to you soon. [MUSIC PLAYING] [ Silence ]