Super Bowl XXVIII

Wow. You might be asking yourself right now, Is it possible to lose four Super Bowls in a row? Well, let me tell you, it is, and the Buffalo Bills proved it in Super Bowl XXVIII. This game was played in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia on January 30, 1994 in front of 72,817 people. The Buffalo Bills lost, yet again, to the Dallas Cowboys, by a score of 30-13.

The first half consisted of Buffalo taking a 13-6 halftime lead on a 4-yard Thurman Thomas (Buffalo's running back) touchdown run, and a couple of field goals by kicker Steve Christie (including a 54-yarder, the longest in Super Bowl history).

OK, that's enough of the first half. The first half is basically just a warm-up for the second half. Just 55 seconds into the second half, the Bills' running back, Thurman Thomas, was stripped of the ball by Dallas' defensive tackle, Leon Lett. The Cowboys' safety James Washington recovered the fumble, returning it 46 yards for a touchdown and a tie game at 13-13.

Then, the Bills had a chance to regain the lead, but the Cowboys' defense forced a punt. On the Cowboys' next 8-play, 64-yard drive, running back Emmitt Smith carried the ball seven times for 61 of those yards, ending it with a 15-yard touchdown run to give Dallas the 20-13 lead with 8:42 seconds left in the third quarter.

Early in the fourt quarter, Dallas' Washington intercepted Buffalo's quarterback, Jim Kelly's, pass, returning it 12 yards into Buffalo territory. Thanks to Emmitt Smith's play and a 16-yard pass from Dallas quarterback Troy Aikman to receiver Alvin Harper, the Cowboys had the ball at the six-yard line, with a first-and-goal. Eventually, it was a fourth-and-goal from the one yard line. What would Dallas coach Jimmy Johnson do? Would he play it safe and kick the field goal? Or would he gamble and try to end almost all hopes of Buffalo coming back by going for the touchdown? Well, he gambled, and it payed off as Emmitt Smith ran the ball in for the 27-13 lead with just under ten minutes to play in the game. About seven minutes later, with 2:50 left, the Cowboys put the game away by having their kicker, Eddie Murray, kick his third field goal of the game, for a 30-13 lead.

The Cowboys' Troy Aikman completed 19 out of 27 passes for 207 yards. On the other side, Buffalo's Jim Kelly completed a Super Bowl record 31 passes in 50 attempts for 260 yards. Cowboys' safety James Washington, who usually plays as a reserve, was brought in to play most of the game, because the Cowboys needed five defensive backs to counter the Bills' fast-paced No-Huddle offense. He had 11 tackles, forced a fumble, returned it for a touchdown, and intercepted one pass. Pretty nice stats for a reserve.

But the real star of the game was Dallas running back Emmitt Smith, who earned MVP Honors. Although relatively quiet in the first half, he came out roaring in the second half with 19 rushing attempts (he had 30 in total) for 92 yards (132 yards in total) and two touchdowns. Dallas became the first team in NFL history to begin the regular season 0-2 and to go on and win the Super Bowl. They also became the fifth team to repeat as Super Bowl champs (the Green Bay Packers did it, then the Miami Dolphins, then the Pittsburgh Steelers accomplished this twice, and finally the San Fracisco 49ers did it twice as well). Dallas tied an NFL record of four Super Bowl victories (a feat shared with San Francisco and Pittsburgh). In the loser's corner, Buffalo became the third team to lose four Super Bowls (the others being the Minnesota Vikings and the Denver Broncos). But Buffalo is the only team to lose four in succession. The NFC continued to exert its dominance over those poor helpless AFC teams, by winning its tenth straight Super Bowl.