Barry vs. Emmitt! Detroit Lions vs. Dallas Cowboys FULL GAME | NFL 1994 Season Week 3
The Detroit Lions are visiting Dallas for the first time since 1977. It’s been 17 years since the Lions have appeared in Dallas. Jason Hansen, one of the best in the league, but last week he missed two field goal attempts against Minnesota and that was the difference in the game. And he’ll be kicking off with Kevin Williams hurt. He will not play tonight. There he is, their runback specialist. He was injured last week, but with the by-week next week, we’ll play against Washington in two weeks. They’ve got Clayton Holmes and Brock Marian back to receive. That’s Holmes number 47. And here we go from Texas Stadium. The kick is an angled kick that appeared to be headed out of bounds and then comes back the other way, much like a a baseball screw ball for the touchback. Troy Aman, MVP of the Super Bowl. Well, he’s just gotten better and better. The number one pick in the 1989 draft out of UCLA. Began his college career under Barry Switzer at Oklahoma. At the very top of his game, EMTT Smith seeks another rushing title. The Moose Daryl Johnston there with him. Harper and Irvin, the great wide outs. Novachek, the tight end. And up front, the great line. Two and a Newton. Steenoski looking good back from surgery last season. Canard the exaint and Williams on the right side. Aman will put it up on first down. tries to set up the screen, but he got pressure that time from Pat Swilling, who’s been taking a little bit of heat in Detroit. He has not been very active, has not been picking up the sacks. The ex Saint puts the pressure on. Let’s take a look at that Detroit defense. A base 34. Porche Owens in the middle and Pritchette. And then the strength, the linebacking, Broadick Thomas, the Xbuck, he’s been real good. Spielman’s terrific. Michael Johnson used to play at Cleveland and the aforementioned swinging. McNeel and Massie are the corners. Clay and Blades are the safeties. In motion on second and 10. Good protection this time and Aman’s passes off the fingertips of Alvin Harper. So a stuttering start for the Cowboys. It is third down and 10. Kind of a surprising start for me, Dan, considering the fact that Dallas can run the ball so well. They’re going up against a three- four defense and they have destroyed three, four defenses over the last couple of years and they come out throwing the football. And the way Dallas wins so often, Frank, you’re right, is by pounding that huge offensive line at you over and over and it’s been the Dallas Motus operendi for a long time. Just hammer away at you with those 300lb wide bodies. Now almost a certain passing situation. And on third down and 10, Bernie Kar is the referee and will get his first call of the night. Detroit. And that is a timeout. Team timeout Detroit. So on third and 10, they didn’t like the defensive alignment. Did the Lions and have to eat a timeout. Just 15 seconds into the game. Third down and 10 as play resumes at Texas Stadium. Cowboys and the Detroit Lions wrapping up the third week of the season. Wayne Fox and he has been the man who has guided this team through thick and thin and the whipsawed decade of the ’90s. His team opening with that overtime win against Atlanta and then last week no offense, good defense against Minnesota with a loss at the Metro. On third and 10, it’s a four-man rush. And a great job by the Cowboy line. And that enables Aman to find Novach for a 14 yd gain and a first down. One of the best tight ends in the business. And that time getting the respect of the Detroit Lions. They covered him with Greg Jeff. And S Novach, who can split out, be a wide receiver, be a slot man, anything he wants to be. Good receiver, and he just gets away from Jeff, opens up a little distance, and Aman is right there. Look at the look over the right shoulder. That froze Jeff for a moment and Aman was right there. But that made two out of three times, Frank, that Aman Aman got hit and thrown to the ground. He took a great shot that time from Pritchette. Emit Smith’s first parry of the game. There’s a nice 8 yd pickup out to the 41 yd line. Robert Forchier makes a tackle. By the way, if you’re if this is the first football game you’ve seen this weekend, I’m sure you’re wondering what’s going on with the uniforms these guys are wearing. This is one of the NFL’s throwback weekends. I guess the Cowboys uniforms are the 1960 version and the Lions go all the way back to 1933. And some of the people are going way back, too. There’s the menster Randy White on the Dallas side. I thought I was watching an old color movie. Here’s Daryl Johnston to a chorus of Moose picking up the first down up to the 46 yd line. The Cowboys I see might have gone back to the old uniforms, but they kept the new helmet. That is uh that’s the 1990s version of the cowboy helmet. And of course that’s the 1990s version of an NFL quarterback inside that helmet. Troy, you saw Aman looking over to the sidelines. He does not have a helmet speaker. He gets the play signaled in from the sidelines. They are called by Ernie Zampe, the new offensive coordinator, and signal in. He does not want that speaker in his helmet. First down at the 46 yd line. Again, a great job by the line and the pass is right there. caught on the near side by Michael Irving. Very close to a first down. He’s a little short of it. It’ll be second and one. Boy, you saw one of the strong arms in the history of this game with just a beautiful touch right over Brick Thomas who’s 6’4 in front of the defender to get the completion. Just a great pass. This is pure touch. Aman takes a little off over Thomas and right in front of Ryan McNeel, the cornerback. Beautifully executed. second and a short yard. Then they give it to Johnston and Moose gets the short yard and about two and a half more. That’s the third successive first down as Dallas has moved to the Detroit 43 yd line. Frank, I know you and I think a lot alike in this respect. I’ve never been a big fan of second and six in just handing it to the fullback and and pick up two or three yards. That’s to me that’s the best down in football. If you’ve got an explosive offensive team, you got a chance for a big play. Big play. And of course, if you have that offensive line like the Dallas Cowboys, I agree totally. Can’t knock their success though, can you? Quick count. And EMTT Smith piled up after he reaches the 40 yd line, a gain of a couple. Emtt Smith seeking yet another rushing title last year, winning his third straight despite the fact he’d missed the first two games of the season because of a contract hold out. One of the well on his way to becoming one of the all-time greats. It’s tough to anoint somebody. an all-time great in his fifth year, but a couple of more seasons uh like he’s had in the past two or three and there’s no question he will be in camp. Well, if he just plays the rest of the year the way he’s played the first two games, he will win it again. On second and eight, a little razledazzle, a double play fake and a screen to EMTT Smith. He’s inside the 30 takes it to the 29 on a first down. Stopped by Woody Clay. Tom Landry would be so proud. There’s a page out of the old Cowboys playbook. Nobody ran razledazzle better than Landry’s Cowboys. And Barry Switzer adds his touch. Little fake reverse. A little fake pass to the right and a flip back the other direction. Coming around is Harper. There is the fake. And look, Tory will go over there and then come back to Emtt Smith. The screen is set up beautifully in front of him. I was surprised he didn’t get a lot more out of it. Good reaction on the part of the Detroit defense. Four first downs now for the Dallas Cowboys. The fake to Smith. Aman rolling, throwing, and the catch is not in bounds. He was out of bounds. Michael Irvin was out of bounds. He was covered by Ryan McNeel and covered well by Ryan McNeel. Irving took a what looked like a fly route against McNeel and Aman rolled out on it. Then he angled it back to the sidelines and McNeel was right with him. One hurricane covering another. Both played at Miami. Neil read this beautifully. Forced Aman to throw the ball where Irvin was going to come down out of bounds. They weren’t teammates at Miami, but I’m sure that Ryan McNeel knows all about Michael Irvvin. Yep. McNeel was a freshman when Jimmy Johnson was wrapping up his career there in 88. EMTT swings to the outside and picks up close to eight. Massie and Willie Clay combined to knock him out of bounds. Go back to what we said at the very top of the telecast. Detroit plays a three four defense. Wayne F brought that from Tampa Bay six years ago. Installed it into the defense. It’s Wayne F’s type of defense. And Dallas has really thrived on it over the past two or three years. The thing that makes the 34 for Detroit work so well, they have two great tackling middle linebackers in Mike Johnson and Chris Spaleman in the middle. And they are real fine run defending linebackers. But with that big offensive line, you can really hurt a 3-4. Third down and two on the game’s opening drive. Aman throws. There’s another first down. That’s five first downs. Another catch for Jay Novichek. And so they’ve gone from their own 20 to the Detroit 17 on a 12 play and still going drive. How many times have we watched Jay Novichek come up with the first down reception? I mean, he’s twice on this particular drive, but over the years, it’s just been he’s been the third down man. Never ceases to amaze me that he’s here in Dallas because he didn’t fit in to the Cardinals plans and they didn’t protect him. He was a plan B free agent. Came here to Dallas and has enjoyed remarkable success. Aman on first down, going for six. He’s got it. Alvin Harper. Oh boy. It was either Harper or Novate. They were both wide open. Aman didn’t know quite who whom he was going to go to. That was an execution that drive. A lot of guys in the Detroit huddle going to be looking at each other trying to figure out what was that that just happened to us. Harper will be open. Middle of your screen. Novichek is wide open. But look at Harper. That’s about as poorly as you can play a zone back in the back in the secondary. So the defense got shredded on an 80 yd drive after the drive began on a third and 10 and Detroit had to take a timeout. The rookie kicker Chris Bone sends it through. Game’s opening drive consumes 5 minutes and 49 seconds. It’s Dallas 7 Detroit nothing. Troy Aman masterfully guiding them down the field. Perfect pass hits Alvin Harper on the 13th play of the drive. The clock shows 911 left in the first quarter and that’s what the Detroit defense is calling right now. They may not get an answer. Bone kicks off to the three yd line. This is Derek Moore and Derek Mo is going to hand the ball off and this is Johnny Morton their number one draft choice the wide receiver from Southern Cal out to the 41 and Wayne Font said to us last night when we met with him a lot of razledazzle guys tonight and he wasn’t kidding I’ll tell you that was back to 1935 I haven’t seen that in a long time but that’s what they used to do only appropriate in these uniforms they give us a little show tonight Scott Mitchell backed up Marino last year and got a good chance to play when Dan went down with the Achilles injury. Sanders the great one. Perman Matthews and Moore the wide outs. And the tight end is Ron Hall, the former Buck. Lomus Brown’s been there a long time. A good one. Balance. Glover has been there a long time. The center Widel X Bronco and David Loots on the right side. There was a marker that moved the ball out to the 41 yd line. Offside was the call and it was declined. and they pick the flag up after the run back takes it to the 41. Mitchell, the 6’6 left-hander, gives it to Barry Sanders, who dives and darts and moves his way out to the 45. Let’s take a look now at the Cowboy defense. With their tremendous offense, you tend to overlook this group. Tolbert, Maryland, Leon, let Charles Haley with five and a half sacks already this year. Edwards, Robert Jones now in the middle with Norton in San Francisco and Smith. Kevin Smith and Larry Brown. Good cover corners. James Washington had that fabulous Super Bowl and Darren Woodson free safety. Second down and six at the 45 yd line. Barry Sanders again darts to the outside, seeks the first down and borrows his way down to the 45 yd line for a first tackle by James Washington. What is so important for Barry Sanders and his Lion offensive teammates tonight is that Barry can’t be making his first move behind his own line of scrimmage. In last week’s game against the Vikings, there was somebody in the backfield and you see what happened. 12 carries for 16 yds. The Detroit offensive line has somehow got to move Dallas off the ball and give Sanders a chance. Don’t make him juke in his own backfield. Here’s the upback. This is Derek Moore and he goes nowhere. Tackled by Darren Smith. It’s not that the Lions are a little short in the back field, but you have just seen their only two running backs in uniform tonight. Barry Sanders and Derek Moore. That’s it, folks. Yeah, you have two running backs and no socks. I’m I’m not sure you can play football in uniforms that often. I hope it’s not a distraction for Detroit. Their 1935 variety, a year in which the Lions were the NFL champions. Second down and 10 at the 46 yd line. Mitchell’s first pass of the night is right on the mark to the 35 yd line. Brett Pman pulls it in. And with Anthony Carter hurt, they pick Carter up from Minnesota. He’s out for about two months. They’re going to look for Brett Pman a lot more. And well, they should. B Pman a fine receiver came from New Orleans a couple of years ago. He’s a good runner after he catches the ball, but they’ve taken him out of the slot, moved him to the outside where Carter ordinarily would have been. He is not as familiar with that spot. He’s more effective on the inside, but they’ll be looking for him tonight. First down at the 35 yd line. Sanders nowhere tackled back at the line of scrimmage. They converge on him. Darren Woodson the first man to get to him. Number 28. If you haven’t seen Detroit in a while, you notice that they are now using a tight end. That time they use Ron Hall as an Hback. You saw him come across principally to get in the face of Charles Haley for the pass block and also for the run block. One thing about playing Dallas though, Frank, they went to the tight end like you talked about, but I’m not so sure that this is a team that the Lions are going to have a lot of success with Sanders taking the ball parallel to the line of scrimmage. Quick hitters straight at the Dallas Cowboys try to negate some of their tremendous team speed. Second and 11. They line up Hock in the back field. He’s really a tight end. And Mitchell showing some movement. He’s 6’6 but uh relatively nimble. And out of bounds he goes at the 36 yd line. He was chased out by Darren Smith. Don’t really realize how big Scott Mitchell is at 6600. till he gets them all moving at the same time and then it’s hard to stop it. 230 lbs. That is a large hunk of man playing quarterback for the Detroit Lions. When you see the quarterback stand in his own huddle the way players are in this day and age in the NFL and he’s looking them in the eye, you know, you know you got yourselves a big quarterback. Third down and 12. Dallas leading 7 nothing. 5 and 1/2 minutes to go in the opening quarter. It’s a fourman rush. Mitchell and the catch is made by Moore. Herman Moore developing into one of the best in the league. Pretty good coverage that time. Able to hold on and enough for the first down. Well, I thought it was Kevin Smith, I believe. I thought he got a finger on it, but it good concentration by Herman Moore. And you’re right, Al, he is becoming one of the fine outside receivers. He has great height, 6’3, great leaping ability, a former high jumper. And it was Kevin Smith that he didn’t touch it. And Moore had the concentration, looked it right into the hands for the first down. Beautifully thrown. First and 10 at the 23 yd line. And the whistle, I believe, sounded before the snap. It’s fumbled. Mitchell recovers it. There is a flag down. Bernie Kart is the referee. False start on the offense. priv snap the that’ll be a 5 yd penalty. He’ll first down. Okay, first and 15. You know, you never want to make too much of an opening drive in a game, but when Dallas goes through the Detroit defense like that and you’re on the road, this is a pretty important opening drive for Detroit. Yes. And it got kickstarted by the kickoff return. What a what a way to get things started in the sense that you’re not starting from back at your own 20 or side. If this was three and out, you might have been looking at a a long route. Sanders bottled up just about at the line of scrimmage. It’ll be second and 15. Darren Smith is there to make the tackle. Again, Barry Sanders tries to take it outside against the Dallas Cowboys. And that is hard to do even for Barry Sanders. Well, they’re noted for their speed and their quickness. As we take a look at very interesting graphic, but Dallas goes strictly with speed. They’re not big. their linebackers. None of them over 235 lbs, but they are very quick. Tough for a Barry Sanders who likes to bounce to the outside because they’re going to be right in his face. Graphic indicating the Cowboys have not given up a touchdown pass in the last five regular season games. Will it come here? No, it would have if the ball would have been thrown a little bit shorter. Prairieman was open. Got past A D A D A D A D A D A D A D A D A D A D Aaron Woodson just a bit overthrown. One advantage, I guess is an advantage, is that Scott Mitchell being a left-hander, is able to see Charles Haley, the best pass rusher for the Cowboys. And again, right off the fingertips of Pamman and that was one that could have been laid in there. Darren Woodson on the coverage, the safety man, trying to stay with the speedy Pam. But Scott Mitchell will be at least have a good view of where the best pass rusher is coming from. Charles Haley. Third and 14. 348 to go first quarter. 7 nothing Cowboys. They have to get to the 13. They give it to Sanders. Barry inside the 20 and Barry is rushed out of bounds at the 15. Vintage Sanders. Oh man, that’s something. That’s good stuff, isn’t it? I’ll tell you, you’re watching two of the best that ever played this game. And Emma Smith and uh and Barry Sanders. And I hope nobody asks us which one we think is the best. It’d be hard to pinpoint. And Emma’s got one of the great lines ever put together in front of him. Barry doesn’t. This guy is electricity. No, but I sure like the fact that he took the ball going forward. Look, he’s going to take this thing and go straight up the field, then make his move to the outside. Those are instinct moves there. He just I mean, that’s in his mind. He doesn’t think anything about it. His body’s been doing that for years and years. 32 yd field goal attempt coming here for Jason Hansen. Dave Craig to put it down and Hansen puts it through. So kick started on that drive by the Wharton return. Hansen picks up three and with 307 to go in the quarter, it’s Dallas 7, Detroit three. Texas Stadium, it’s a unique site. No other stadium looks like that. Holding the roof, home of the Cowboys. Guess they’re having serious talk down here in Dallas about enclosing this all the way and turning it into a uh a legitimate dome, an aironditioned stadium. to open it up all the way down there. That would not be an inexpensive proposition. I think uh that’s not a window air conditioner to keep this place cool. Manson’s kick. A flag is down on the kickoff. It’s taken by Clayton Holmes who is running back kicks tonight in place of the injured Kevin Williams. He comes out to the 28 yd line and there’s a marker down. 28. Tackle is made by Scott Kowokowski. Offside on the kicking team. Offside Detroit. Wayne F took over for Daryl Rogers at the end of the 1988 season. I guess you might say the the folks in the Motor City have had sort of a lovehate relationship with him. Not you hate him. I’m saying it it’s reflective of the way the team has played through the decade. I guess you have to take a look at what it was like before Wayne F took over the head coaching duties of the Detroit Lions and they were dismal. They were not in good shape. That’s Joe Azano, the special teams coach of the Dallas Cowboys. But the Lions were pretty far down on the kickoff number 94. The penalty is declined. First down. That’s one of those things you really you have to think about the the call that they just made and they uh they opted to take it at the 28. will step away for a moment. 258 to go first quarter. The Goodyear blimp. Spirit of Akran floating high above Texas Stadium. Irving, Texas. Little more difficult for the blimp man, I think, down here. Got to get right over the top of the stadium looking down that hole. Real nice night for flying though. Just a very light breeze. Temperature in the low 80s. And from the 28 yd line on first and 10, Aman dumps it over the middle. It’s Daryl Johnston to the typical chorus of booths out to the 34. ABC’s Monday Night Football is brought to you by Southwest Airlines flying lowair airline is just playing smart. Ice Brood Ice House. Ice Brood so there’s never any watered down taste. And Saturn, a different kind of company, a different kind of car. Second and four at the 34. 220 to go first quarter. 73 Cowboys. EMTT Smith slices his way out to the 40 yd line on a first down for Dallas. Kelvin Pritchette makes takes the tackle. I keep looking at these Dallas uniforms and I’m looking for Don Meredith and Bob Lily and some of the oldtime Dallas Cowboys. They were really attractive uniforms. uh for just getting on the scene. And there is the number 74 that struck fear in the heart of every offensive lineman in the National Football League. 17 in your program, number one in your heart. From the 39 yd line, Emtt Smith, just another pickup of five yards. Just another pickup. Next week, we go to Orchard Park, New York. And this is a game all of a sudden of great significance to the Denver Broncos who have begun the year 0 and3. So John Elway will try to write them against the Bills who started with a loss to the Jets but have now won two straight. Buffalo and Denver Kelly and Elway next Monday. What kind of a week do you think it is on the talk shows in Denver on second and five? We’ve got a whistle before the snap. Detroit signaling that we’ve got some sort of a Dallas fall start. I would assume if Wade Phillips could jam the signals and Denver he would. A blackout I think would be more like it. Radio free Denver. False start number 84 on the offense prior to the snap. 5 yd penalty. Still second down. Well, you don’t see the false start called on a tight end very often, but Novichek was staying into pass block that time and rocked back in his stance before the snap of the ball. Pat Swilling is the man to that side and uh a lot of times in this league he ends up being double team. Second and 10. Flip to EMTT Smith and it’s a minimal game for Mr. Smith out to the 42 yd line and then Final minute of the first quarter. Spielman out there from his inside backer position along with Pat Smilling. Spielman one of the I guess you would say underrated comared to what he provides for this football team. Is he from Canton, Ohio or he’s from Mason, Ohio, right next door to Canton. One thing about Chris Felman is here’s a guy that you know take the 30s, the 40s, the 50s, the 60s, he would have been right at home in any one of those decades. Even the 1800s on third and seven. Moose Johnson dives for the first down. Flushes the 50 yd line. Steelman downfield on the tackle. Now standing alongside of Moose Johnson tonight. This is one big man. He has a lot bigger than his program. I can tell you that. And that’s the end of the first quarter. Dallas lead seven-3. And back we come with Monday Night Football. Second quarter, Texas Stadium, Irving, Texas. Al Michaels, Frankford, Dan Deerorf. Week three of Monday Night Football in our 25th season. 73 Cowboys on top. They marched 80 yardds to the game’s opening drive. Detroit countered with the Jason Hansen field goal. Now Dallas starts quarter number two at the Detroit 49. First and 10 and Troy Aman to put it up to the far side and the catch is made by Alvin Harper and he reaches for a first down and has it. Alvin Harper. How must Brian McNeel feel. Can’t cover any better than that. I don’t know how you can cover any better than that. I don’t know how you can tackle any better than that. I don’t know how you could be more aggressive, more tenacious and still what’s Alvin Harper do? He catches the ball and then after the catch picks up a first down. You know when he plants his foot right here, the ball is in the air. Aman and Harper work on this by the hour and there’s no way that McNeel with great position, great time. He could do anything about it. No, that’s just tremendous football by Alvin Harper. On first down, Ev Smith looking for room. Well, he’s going to try a Barry Sanders there. Uh-uh. Just a a handful of blue shirts led by Tracy Scoggins. It’s a loss of three. Boy, and credit that play to Pat Swilling. Pat Swilling gets out in front of that thing. Scragggins as well. And this I’ll tell you something. These guys strung that play out beautifully. It’s not very often you see EMTT Smith lose yardage. And now uh I think almost certainly what we’ll see is no reluctance by Troy Aman to put the football in the hand. How do you cover 80, 88, and 84? On second and 13, fake draw. Look at that time. The secondary did a very nice job and the pass is caught at the 40 yd line by Emtt Smith, but credit that one to the secondary. Tackle made by Tracy Hayworth. They answer my question. They went into his zone. Good coverage. Pretty good pressure on Troy Aman. Forced him out of the pocket and he had to check off to him and Smith. Good catch by Smith, but they were all over him. And in the arms of Pritchette. Troy Aman gets it to Smith, but he could do nothing with it. Third and 11. The Cowboys have converted all three third downs tonight. Aman trying to get him to the 28 for the first and it’s incomplete because it’s off the hands of Michael Irvin. Betty Blades provides the coverage. Well, if you’re going to Minnie Blades provides a little more than that back there. Also, when you’re a receiver, you’re thinking about where is Vinnie Blades? And I think that might have been on the mind of Michael Irvin a little bit. Well, the ball was thrown high. Yeah, it was high, but he knew that Benny Blades was lurking back there somewhere. Irvin got those arms back in in a hurry, but that was uncharacteristic by Troy Aman. That ball sailed on him and and was high, really too high for Irvin to catch. Now John Jet to punt and he’ll probably angle it here. Line of scrimmage is the 39. He floats it up and he sends it down to the 11 yd line and Mel Gray, one of the very best, has the fair catches there. So Detroit has it. They’re down by four. 1252 left in the half. The Monday night lineup has the Lions trailing seven to three and Detroit with the ball at the 13 yd line. First down, Barry Sanders. Not much room to roam there and Tony Tolbert gets credit for the tackle. A yard or two pickup. Second down, let’s call it nine. And Barry shows no ill effects from that knee injury of a year ago. He was went down in the 11th game. He got over,00 yardds rushing when he missed the last five games of the season, but he has so has no effects from any knee injury whatsoever. Look at those quick moves. Everything’s so instinctive with him. He’s a human pinball is what he is. He just seems to just car him off of if off of space, off of tacklers. It’s wonderful lateral movement. Second and nine. They fake it to Sanders and that opens it up on the far side. The catch is made by Aubrey Matthews and he has a first down up at the 30 yd line. 16 yd pickup for the fella from Delta State, Aubrey Matthews. Whether this drive goes any farther or not, it’s been successful for Detroit. Inside your own 20 yd line, inside your own 15, you need to get a first down against a team like the Dallas Cowboys. Three and out is a backb breakaker, a key first down pickup for the Detroit Lions. Let’s see if they can keep it going from the 30 yd line. Sanders. Oh, great. Juking, picks up nine yds on the play up to the 39 yd line. James Washington is one of the best tackling safety men you’re going to find in football. You just can’t get into Barry’s legs. You no way. Washington brought him down, but not until he had spun and twisted for about another three yards. Now look at him peck along looking for the hole. Tony Tolbert misses right there. Plants the left foot and now Washington takes a shot at him. He misses and close to a first down. Nine yd pick up. A guy that’s got to stay home, Frank, cuz Robert Jones the middle linebacker. He wants to overrun plays. Here’s Barry again and that’s a first down. It’s a gain of six. Well, it’s throwback weekend. I guess we could call him a scatback. A scatback indeed. Lot of fun this weekend. They sent me a jersey from the ‘ 50s and Dan won from what ‘7s I guess. Dan, mine fit yours a little. No, actually uh the jersey I have is from the Cardinals back in the 30s. Oh, really? Yeah. One of the old franchises. Uh in fact, I think the oldest continuous franchise in the NFL is the St. Louis Phoenix Arizona Cardinals. And there’s Billy Sims on the Detroit sideline. Talk about throwbacks from the 45 yd line. And it’s off the right fingertip of Aubrey Matthews. Billy Sims uh making some old acquaintances tonight. Not only in terms of the Lions, but his college coach on the other side of the field, Barry Switzer. Boy, did he put out a lot of outstanding players. Barry Switzer over the years. Somebody offered him a job professionally. Who was it? And then he said, “Look, I got no more number one draft picks than you’ve got.” Kansas City talked to him in the in the mid70s. Why should I leave this? So I’ve got no more more number ones than you have. Second and 10 at the 45. Think he was telling the truth. Sanders turns no gain into about a three yd pickup. It’s a shame Barry Sanders doesn’t have much in the way of body control. Can you believe a guy is going at that rate to the outside and then realizes he has nowhere to go and can change direction and just get back up field and just pick up three yards. Look at this move right here. That’s an extra two just out of that move. Oh, I know. That’s that’s good work by Sanders. Third down and seven. Detroit at the 48. Dallas ahead 73. 945 left in the half. Scott Mitchell loses the football and they’re going to say incomplete. Incomplete. His arm was coming forward. Well, there seemed to be a little indecision there at first. It It looked like the officials were considering ruling it a fumble. Jeff Coat forced the issue. Well, what’s new? Jim Jeff Coat, a guy that you probably thought was going to be out of this league four or five years ago. Every year Dallas makes plans to go on without him. And every year it seems all he does is just make plays like this. The reason his arm was going forward was because Jeff Coat knocked it forward. Greg Montgomery, the former Oiler, one of the very best in the league. Clayton Holmes is back to receive the kick and he sends it down to the 14 and Holmes out past the 20 and Clayton Holmes was out of bounds back at the at the 32 yd line. Everybody fine move by Holmes. Kevin Williams, as we mentioned earlier, not able to go. Jerry Sornne and Clayton Holmes puts on a show right there. 924 left in the half. 924 remaining in the first half at Texas Stadium. The Cowboys coming in with a mark of 2 and 0. And Detroit is one and one. Week three coming to a conclusion. 73 Dallas on top. It is such a kick to look at those uniforms. A lot brings back a lot of memories for me when Detroit was ruling the roost in the 50s. World champions 57 234 Lane in company. EMTT Smith, the pickup of eight. Well, we we take a look at one great running back of the present. How about one from the past, Lyn Swan? Billy Sims, over 5100 yards with Detroit Lions. Billy, could you play in this one back set for Detroit? Well, maybe, but I like the two back set with the fullback in front of me giving me some help. Yeah. Now, you’re a good friend of Barry Richards. You won the Heisman Trophy at Oklahoma when he was there. When he became the head coach of the Cowboys, your friends came to talk to you about what kind of coach he’d be. What’ you tell him? Hey, it’s a guy that’ll go to battle for you. you know, he respects his players. He’s a he’s a he’s a player’s coach and with the coaches, he let his coaches coach and that’s a good thing about it. You think all the criticism was unfair when he came in to take that job? Very much so. But you know what? He used to that criticism coming to Texas because every OU and Texas weekend, we had that criticism because of him recruiting so heavily the players from Texas going to U. So, you think you’ll do a good job here? Yeah, without a doubt. Great supporting cast. I love the guy. I wish I could play for him, you know. I I saw you at the training camp the other day, Billy Ven. About 14 years too late, though. Okay, Al. All right, Lynn. And well, the man he’s talking about, Barry Switcher, undefeated right now. Yeah, but he makes the point about people in Texas don’t like him. You got to leave right after the game when you were coaching Oklahoma. Here’s Evan Smith who had picked up the prior first down, gets three here. Second secret was to leave the cotton ball and looked like you were leading them on to bigger things. That’s exactly right. You were being chased out. Benny Blades is shaken up and Blae, who missed a good part of last year and still has a little bit of a limp, is now has another problem. Benny broke his leg last year and had an ankle that was still bothering him during training camp and not all the way back. One of the most ferocious hitters in the National Football League at free safety, Benny Blades of the Lions. On second and seven, Johnston was falling down. And I’ll tell you, had that one been deflected and then picked off, it would have been a an easy touchdown for Willie Clay. Detroit hasn’t done much of it, but what you saw right there with the blitz is what troubled Dallas last week against Houston. And they really struggled in picking up the Houston Oilers blitz, finally winning that one 2017. But this was a a full blitz on the part of the Detroit Lions. And Troy rushed the pass a little bit to the usually sureanded Daryl Johnson. Billy talked about Billy Sims talked about that two back set liking that fullback in front of him. I think EMTT Smith would be the first guy to agree with him. Third down and seven. Aman deep drop. Good out and a flag goes down. Michael Irvin takes it to the 34 yd line. Well, the flag came down right in the vicinity. And you got to wonder how did Michael Irvin get that wide open? He’s a big physical receiver. Well, he Novichek is also tied up with Spielman. Offensive interference. This is going to go against Michael Irvvin. He loves to get right up there chestto chest with a defender and then subtly push off. Well, every now and then that push off is a little less than subtle. Pass interference number 88 on the offense. 10 yd penalty. Repeat third down. Not even questioning that call. It works both ways. 18 yd gain negated. It’s now third and 17. Michael Irvin, you can see the result of his push, already had the Detroit defender on the ground, Robert Maty, and he did it right in front of the official. Third down 17 from the 38 yd line. They have to get to the Detroit 45. It’s thrown underneath and EMTT Smith will be tackled at the 42. It will be fourth and long and then Matt Swilling makes the stop and we have 645 remaining in the half. Cowboys on top by four. A fine stop it was too outing in the open field against him and Smith. That’s a mismatch and he was able to make the tackle. Yeah, Patilling really made his reputation as a as a pass rusher. 17 sacks back in 91, but he’s a complete linebacker. He can drop off. He can cover and he can tackle in the open field and he tackled one of the best. John Jet to putt. Mel Gray, one of the very best of all time. Tremendous kick. Wa and Gray will field it at the four and takes it back to the 13. He’s one of the few who would have license to take a kick like that inside the 5 yd line. 54 yd punt and a 9 yd return. Couple of bills. They may take the license away though. Yeah. And Bernie Kar with a little pushing and shoving going on. I don’t see a flag, but there’s a little bit of a conference here. So, that is clearly indicative of a an upcoming penalty. Mel Gray took that ball almost at the three-yd line. I I’m sure he would have liked to have done that over again. I don’t see a flag anywhere on the field. That’s why we had the music and we’re ready to go to commercial and the whole thing. But uh there a that’s why it’s off the field. Our vision obviously only restricted to the green part. We we only talk about what happens between the lines. Right. There it is. I say it’s all the way across at the far 20. Oo. Personal foul against Detroit. So their bad field position now becomes even worse. They’re hanging in there. 610 left in the first half and they only trail by four points. Now, this is where mistakes can absolutely drive a stake through your heart. Number 21 on the return team on the run back the man out of bounds half the distance to the goal. First down Harry Coen. So they’ll start from the six. 610 to go in the half. 73 Dallas. Al Michaels, Frank Gford, and Dan Deedorf. Texas Stadium in Irving. 73 Dallas. They moved 80 yardds with the opening kickoff. An impressive drive. Detroit counted with a field goal. And now the Lions begin this drive back at their own sixyd line. Scott Mitchell the quarterback. Barry Sanders is the setback on first down. and Sanders up to the 10. The Cowboys the greatest story in sports this year with the the coaching change. Nobody really knew what to expect from from Barry Switzer, but he’s been, I think, real smart about it. He’s just let it kind of roll along and so far so good. I think he’s handled it well as he ever could handle anything. I mean, it was a difficult situation when you come in and replace a winner like that. And we asked him about it last night. He said, “Look,” he said, “That’s just me. That’s how I am.” And I believe him. Well, he said, he’s right. He said, “I would have been incredibly stupid to come in here and and think that I could tell them how to do their business when they won two consecutive Super Bowls.” Play fake catches made. That is Brett Perman. You know, I think a lot of people may have been confused in that opening press conference. Remember when he carried on a little bit, he was very excited and hugging. People didn’t know what to expect, but that’s really not indicative of the way he is. What’ll be interesting will be when the first real crisis happens. the first time that some real player discipline is necessary. The first time that he really has to assert himself maybe among his coaching staff or among the team or when or when he puts the wishbone in. That’s right. Well, now that would be asserting himself. He got fired up when we mentioned it last night. First wishbone. That’ll tell the tale of Barry Switzer. The first crisis and how he handles it. From the 17 yd line, Barry Sanders breaks one out past the 30. Barry Sanders to near midfield. I tell you, I’d pay to watch this. He is remarkable. Well, now we’ve got a a very upset Kevin Smith pushing everybody in sight. Well, this makes the second time today that Detroit had really poor field position and has worked their way out of it. Again, straight up the field goes Barry Sanders and then he starts to make his moves. If you just let this guy go three or four yards and then begin the creative process, you’re going to have an exciting night running the football. So far so good for the Detroit offensive line. They better hurry. 28 yd pickup. They’re down to one on the play clock. The fake to Derek Moore. The catch is made by Herman Moore. Gain of eight to the Dallas 47 yd line. It’ll be second down and two. Herman Moore, you have to respect his speed there. He was going against Larry Brown. one of the fine defensive quarterbacks in the league. And Dave Levy, the offensive level, former USC offensive coordinator, and has come in and now assistant head coach and offensive coordinator for Wayne Pots. Sanders now up and over 7,000 yards in his career. He’s on the sideline as well, though. Second and two. And they give it to Derek Moore and he bangs his way inside the 45. And that’s a first down for the Lions who are hanging right in there. And I think I’d run Mr. Sanders back out just like that. Six year out of Oklahoma State. Look at the average. There’s the impressive number. 4.7 yds per carry. Ladies and gentlemen, that is awesome. Few games required to reach that mark. Dickerson, Brown, Campbell, those pretty good names. Payton Anderson and Barry Sanders from the 43. He’ll pick up a few more. Will Barry as he takes it to the 37 yd line. So important to have that cast around you as a running back. Barry Sanders has put together those numbers with not one of the great offensive lines of all time either. He’s done much of it on his own. He has the style that can do it on his own. And you think about what do you think about Eric Dickerson? Had he stayed with the Los Angeles Rams and not got himself in trouble with weaker offensive lines, what he might have done in terms of numbers. But I’ll tell you, Barry Sanders has done a lot on his own also. Scott Mitchell buys time and then guns one. And Herman Moore, is it taken away from him? Yes, it is because Kevin Smith was right there. Well, I can’t believe that didn’t draw a flag though. Kevin Smith pumping into Herman. They’ve been calling calling it so closely against the defensive box and that time there was jostling on the part of Kevin Smith. Well, Herman Moore got away with a shot there as he gave Smith a poke right in the chops. This ball is in play for a while. It’s off the ground after that point. It’s a mood issue as to what happens. But this crowd in Texas Stadium saw Kevin Smith get wrapped in the face by Herman Moore and but he got away with a face mask after it as Sanders picks up a first down. He run out of bounds by Woodson and Brett Perman, little Brett Perman through the block to Spring. How many running backs do you give the ball to on a third down and a long four? He is your best percentage play and then that is that pays a tremendous tribute to one Barry Sanders. No blocking on that one. It’s a dead play if it’s not for the hit by Perryman. I think he hits Brock Marion. Let’s see who it’s on. There it is. Right there is Brock Marion. He puts Marion on his shoulder blades. They’re the first thing that hit the ground. First and 10. 28 yd line. 218 left in the half. Moore to the 25. Rapidly played game and uh just getting a blow on the Detroit bench is the great one. You got Barry Sanders on one side of the line, Emtt Smith on the other, you’re going to have a fast game. Keep the ticker moving under an hour. Two-minute warning for the first half. Dallas 7, Detroit three. Barry Sanders still breathing heavily. 13 carries tonight. this far. He had only 12 last week at Minnesota. Emtt Smith appearing none the worst for wear. It is second down and seven at the 25 yd line. 2 minutes to go in the half. Cowboys seven Lions three. Crowd and the Dallas D to get with it. Metro to the end zone. Touchdown. wide open Brett Pman. So with Carter Herd, Perman getting a chance. He throws a beautiful block on the preceding play, catches the touchdown here and the Lions have the lead. Perman right downfield gave it a move to the inside, froze the Dallas zone and Mitchell was right on stride with it. Well, one of the two Dallas safeties to that side just got spun all the way around by that inside move you referred to by Brett Perryman. He was wide open and what well James Washington number 37 appeared to be the guy. But what a drive when you consider this thing started on the six yd line. 94 yds on the road against the world champions by the Detroit Lions. Jason Hansen the point after. Well, we talked about what Lion team turns up on any given night. The good Lions so far in the first half. Oh, and Washington get got himself caught with that in move on the part of Pamman. A good move and a fine pass by Mitchell. Well, the Lions 94 yd drive lead 10-7. Jason Hansen will kick off. Clayton Holmes and Brock Marion are back to receive for the Cowboys. And things are a little quieter in Irving considerably at the goal line. It’s dropped. It is dropped again. It is picked up in the six by Clayton Holmes and he is smothered at the 11 yd line. Cowboys start deep in their own territory. They have three timeouts. Van Malone made the tackle on the last play and we have 150 to go in the half football. A minute and 50 seconds remaining in the first half. The skyline of Big D, Dallas, Texas, just to the east of Texas Stadium here in Irving. We have college football coming your way Saturday at 3:30 Eastern. They’re the National Dan Michigan Wolverines host Colorado. Washington against Miami. Arizona, Stanford, New Mexico, BYU, Alcorn State, and Sam Houston State. Check your local listening to the game in your area. What were you saying today about the Wolverine and the Buffalo? Nip their heels along. The Wolverine needs to nip at the Buffalo. A lot of little bites before going to get a lot of Wolverines. Colorado’s awful good. Screen from the 11. It is Emtt Smith. He has the first down and EMTT Smith gets all the way out to the 30 yd line. That deep drop as Apen went back into the end zone. Set it up. Rodri Thomas finally corrals him. 19 yd gain. Almost like him was saying, “I’ve seen enough of Barry Sanders. Give me that football.” Well, the Cowboys still have all three of their timeouts remaining and a minute and 25 seconds. So, a lot of time to make something happen. Aman started to stumble and then Emtt Smith started to look up field. Oh, look out. He might have hurt his leg. A collision in EMTT Smith. This place turns uh very silent. Yes, that was number 51. Brick Thomas sailing through the air and their legs collided. And EMTT Smith is hobbling off. Now hopefully that’s just a blow to the shin or you hope it wasn’t actually a joint either the knee or the ankle that took like might have kicked a shin bone. Boy, we know how was that. Oh, does that hurt. That’s smarts for a little bit. EMTT’s going to drop the ball and then do a forward roll and watch his leg when it’s in the air. Oh, right there. Right on the left ankle. He took the shot on the left ankle from Thomas. Lincoln Coleman is his backup. And Troy is going to take off and he gets tackled by Spielman and calls a timeout with 108. is short of the first down and there is a lump in the Cowboys throat right now as the medical staff looks at EMTT Smith. Well, they work on Emtt Smith. First report we’re getting from the bench, it’s the ankle. And we’ll await further information from the Dallas sideline. And uh in fact the word we’re now getting is that he may have done it before the hit itself. He may have sprained the ankle before he was there. Thought it caught it in the turf and twisted it. We didn’t see that. Third and one now for the 39. You’ve got Lincoln Coleman in there. But they give it to the upback Moose who runs right into one of his blockers up front. He ran right into Steoski, but then thrust forward to the 41. Go back and take a look now at the EMTT Smith play after Dallas picks up the first down. All right, we looked at the collision after the somersault. Let’s look at his ankle before. Oh, there’s the right ankle. You’re right. Look at the right ankle as he rolls out. And that’s really what precipitated the uh the forward roll. And back to live action. Lincoln Coleman Smith back up takes him out to the 48 yd line. With that much time, the clock ticking down 33 seconds. Two timeouts for the Cowboys. or they’re burning an awful lot of time here. Using a lot of time here. Second and third. Look out from behind Patilling. And how often did he do that in the Super Dome with the New Orleans Saints year after year? Well, it helps to try to block him. Troy Aman looking downfield with his back turned and nobody bothers to even block Patill. That is how you end up playing the season without your quarterback. And EMTT Smith is back in the ball game. Third and 11. Meanwhile, with two timeouts left, we’re almost out of time at the half. And that’s knocked down at the 43 yd line. Good coverage on Novachek with 4 seconds left. Jeff and Spielman converge on the tackle. That choice by Troy Aman. He does not make choices like that. Spielman back right in front of Novate. and an expression of dissatisfaction by the crowd here at Texas Stadium. Brent Musberger, Peter King in the studio. Jerry Rice and Dion Sanders will be interviewed at halftime. And then Tim Allen will come along and he’s here. The star of home improvement will visit with us from Texas Stadium. And this will be the final play barring a penalty of the first half. And it’s a John Jet boot. of all things though. Well, that’s wonderful except the half is over. Oh, that’ll look great on the stat sheet though. Lyn Swan checking things out with Emtt Smith. So, we’ll hear it right from the horses now when we start the third quarter. Aman and the Cowboys go off the field trailing 10-7. And back we come after this message and a word for ABC stations. Okay, so we start the second half at Texas Stadium and Chris Bono will send it down to Detroit. The Lions have a three-point lead and they’re going to get the football as it bounces out of bounds and this year it will come out to the 40 yd line on an infraction of that sort and that’s where Detroit will begin the initial drive of the second half. Lions a two touchdown underdog coming into the game are on top by three 10 to seven. Start to say Olive, a lot of people just came home and tuned in. I’m sure they’re a little bit shocked, a little bit surprised. Detroit has played good solid football this not been because of turnovers but because of mistakes. They have just played good solid football. First and 10 at the 40 yd line. Scott Mitchell, the new 11 million man, 11 mil over three. Hands the ball to Barry Sanders. Last year, the Lions had three quarterbacks. And as um somebody put it very aptly, when you have three quarterbacks, you really don’t have any. That’s true. Quarterback by committee. But now they have one. And there’s one of those three quarterbacks who’s playing for the Dallas Cowboys. Rodney B started 57 games for Detroit over his time when he was there five years. Won a lot of games for them for an Achilles tendon in 91 and never regained the mobility that he had for them. Second and seven at the 43 yd line. Sanders stopped about three yds shy of the first down. is forced out of bounds by Marian and Woodson. It’ll be third down and three. Sanders now 99 yds after being limited to 16 last week at the Metrodome. And he has been such a difference here tonight. He’s dominated this game. Of course, the touchdown to Kerman putting the Detroit Lions ahead right before the half, but it has been the concern on the part of the Dallas defense of stopping Barry Sanders that has started to get the Detroit Lion receivers open. Third down and three from the 47. And it’s a little low intended for Sanders and incomplete. They would have had a good play going if they could have got that pass to Barry, but it was low and away and there’s no way even with Sanders body control that he’s going to be able to stop, catch it, and then do anything with it. Greg Montgomery to punt. Back to receive is Clayton Holmes again. Kevin Williams, their runback specialist, was shaken last week. They’ll have a by-week upcoming will the Cowboys. And then they say Williams is ready for action the following week. Washington. Good deep kick. It’s dropped at the nine yd line and loose there. Rolling and it’s going to go out of bounds just about at the pylon. Detroit never controlled it. So it’s going to be a Dallas football. Derek Moore was there. Oh boy. It went right through the arms of Holmes. It was hard to tell whether he touched it or not. If he does touch it, it’s a muff. Yes, he appeared to touch the football. So, that baby is free. Oh, and it was in and out of the arms. And that is that is so tough. Moore had it. Just couldn’t control it. Two guys upset on this play. Moore and Holmes both at the two yd line. EMTT Smith starts in his familiar tailback spot here as the second half first drive for Dallas commences and EMTT takes it out to the 5 yd line. Michael Johnson makes the tackle. All right, Lynn, let’s get an update. Okay, Al, I talked with Emtt Smith when he came off the field. You’re right about when he turned his ankle. I asked him if he was coming back. He said, “Of course, he acted as if the sprained ankle was more no more than a cold and he had to be in this ball game.” Barry Switzer also said at halftime told his team just to stay poised. He said they’ve been playing pretty good. A couple of mistakes. He thinks they’ll stay in this ball game and come out on top. Al, well, they’re down by three early in the third quarter and it’s dropped by Daryl Johnston. It’ll be third down and seven. Well, Detroit made an awful lot with the for the poor field position that they had in the first half. They were able to drive out of the shadow of the goal post and now the real onus is on the Dallas Cowboys. Can they do it? That was not a very pretty pass play that they just attempted trying to get it out to Daryl Johnston. Well, and look at that. Keep in mind what a winning team that is. 0 and5 trailing at halftime are the Dallas Cowboys. Who would have thought it? Third down and seven and Aman throws and that’s incomplete. The pass intended for Michael Urban. He was falling down as it got there and his fourth down and Detroit is going to get the ball in pretty good position. Urban actually slipped as he tried to make his stop and move to the outside. A little sprint trying to get McNeil’s attention. He did that but he slipped and then when he tried to go back with the ball he lost it all together. The Cowboys are just out of sync. They’re just little things, but they’re compounding themselves and and when that starts to happen, the wheels can come off very quickly. They pounded Pittsburgh in the opener, but they have been sporadic since. Here’s John Jets kick. It is a 51 yd kick. It is fielded by Mel Gray and he takes it back to the 44 yd line. So, we had 12:30 to go in the third and the Lions up by a field goal. What the Dallas Cowboys have is a real game on their hands. Cowboys prohibited favorites tonight against a Detroit Lion team that was no way to sugarcoat it. Plain manhandled last week by the Minnesota Vikings. Embarrassed by the Vikings. They certainly are not embarrassing themselves tonight. 10-7 Detroit Lions have it at the Cowboy 43 first down. And here’s Sanders and he’s up at over 100 yardds as he takes it to the 40 yd line. Barry Sanders. Barry Sanders just changes the game the way it’s played and so many backs would have been stopped at the line of scrimmage. But what he does to a defensive player and one of the Cowboys a little slow getting up. It was Dixon Edwards. Now he’s on his feet. so he makes you hesitate before you take a shot at him. And when you hesitate defensively against the Barry Sanders, he’s gone. He is so slippery, so quick, so instinctive. And even the Cowboys, as quick as they are, they have been missing tackle after tackle. Always missing the first one. Second and seven. Mitchell throws a duck, throws it away. That was a very smart duck. He was about to go down. He knew it. He knew it out of bounds. Tolbert and Russell Merland as he got rid of it. I’ll tell you guys playing a whale of a game tonight. We haven’t called him out yet, but Lis Brown, the left tackle of the Lions. He’s the guy that’s matched up with Charles Haley. Lis Brown, a Pro Bowler. Doesn’t surprise you, does it? No. No. Certainly the Lions best offensive lineman, but Charles Haley’s been kind of quiet since couple big hits at the very beginning of the ball game. And the Detroit offensive line has really come on. Third down and seven. And Sanders is stopped at the 37. Oh boy. Decision time here. Well, this is the staple of the Detroit Lion running game. The delayed handoff, the draw, whatever you want to call it to Barry Sanders. And Detroit played that one awful well. Well, earlier we saw third down and four. They went to Barry Sanders. Not the short pass. Now we’re going to have a fourth for three. I They’re going to get football to Sanders somewhere at the 36. Fourth down and three. Play clock down to two. Here come the Cowboys. Mitchell gets it away and the fingertip catch is made by Herman Moore. One-on-one coverage that time and a good call by Scott Mitchell. He saw the single coverage and the coverage by Kevin Smith. Now Kevin Smith only goes about 510 5’11. Herman Moore 63. He’s a high jumper. Has jumped over 72 in his collegiate career. And it was a good change at the line of scrimmage by Mitchell. And a perfect throw by Mitchell. Oh yes. An absolutely perfectly thrown football. Well, that could have drawn a couple of flags. Mitchell for Smith’s play against Moore. 25 yd gain on a fourth and three. First down at the 11 yd line. Missed to Sanders. Angles his way down to the nine yd line. It’ll be second down and eight. You know what you like? You have got to like about Scott Mitchell changing that play at the line of scrimmage. And that was on a fourth down and he took a great chance. If he had changed that play at the line of scrimmage, come off the field after having turned the ball over. It would have been a tough tough thing for him to do. made the right change, got the play, got the first down. You can see him holding his helmet. They’ve been having some trouble with the communication from the sideline, and it’s almost as if he was having a little bit of an audio problem trying to hold the the speaker a little closer to his ear. Second down and eight. And he just flings that one out of the end zone. Nobody open, nobody home. Retool. Third and eight. Another good move by Scott Mitchell. Get rid of it. Don’t take the sack. You got a third down coming. You’re well within field goal range. Don’t turn it over down here. He learned a lot under, of course, Don Schula and those years with the Miami Dolphins and playing behind Dan Marino. How could you not? Mitchell appears to be struggling again to get the call from the sidelines. The play clock is inside 10 seconds. He has no choice but to take a timeout. And remember they turned that speaker off at 15 seconds so it was dead anyway. Big play coming up. He takes the to0. 948 left in the third. Lions up by three. So it’s third down and eight after the timeout. The Lions have it at the 9 yd line. 9 minutes and 48 seconds remaining in the third quarter. Detroit leading 107 and the crowd exhorting and imploring their defense to stiffen here. Big play. Mitchell has shown a real propensity to go to Herman Moore. Moore split far to the right. Fake to Sanders. He looks over the middle and it’s caught for the touchdown. There it is. Herman Moore to the right. Ran a little slam. Touchdown again. Kev Kevin Smith primarily, but the help would not come from the inside. Woodson was there, but this is a big man. 6’3, 210 lbs, and he can really go up. Good call, Dan. Well, they went for him when they needed it on the fourth down. And here they go on the long third down. And you know what? That ball was high and behind Herman Moore and he went back and got it. And Frank, you called it during the play. Where was the safety for the Dallas Cowboys? You can’t let a big man run the middle of the end zone like that without being physically challenged. Jason Hansen for the point after and he just does boot it through. Herman Moore with a lot of great receivers in this league. The Irvin and the Rices and the rest. Sterling Sharp. Remember the name Herman Moore. The Dallas Cowboys wearing their 1960 uniforms. In 1960, they were 01 and1. Well, they haven’t lost a game since last Thanksgiving, regular or postseason. And that was the famous Leon Let on the ice covering the kick, losing it. Stolanovich winning it for Miami. It’s been that long since Dallas has lost. They’re down by 10. Hansen to put it in the air for Detroit. kick fielded at the 8 yd line. Clayton Holmes has had some problems. Not this time though. Good run back. Clayton Holmes brings it all the way back out to the 40 yd line. Greg Jeff makes the tackle. It’s a 32 yd run back. Let’s go back to the touchdown. Well, first of all, it starts with a play fake to Sanders, which means something because of the over 100 yards. But look at Herman Moore go back for that football, folks. That is a Pro Bowl catch. You cannot overestimate how difficult that catch was. And look at the reaction here by Scott Mitchell. No way he saw the touchdown grab by Moore. And look at that. They haven’t had a Pro Bowl receiver since Pat Still in 1966. More than any other team in the NFL. A longer ground. Here’s EMTT Smith up to the 47 yd line. Think about Dallas not having lost his last Thanksgiving. The last team to beat them in the playoffs, the Detroit Lions in 92. They beat him 38-6. That game at the Silver Dome in Lontiac. The Lions haven’t been here. Well, no member of this Lion squad has been here as a member of the Lions. 1977 was the last time they made a visit to Texas. Second and three. Harper in motion. EMTT Smith, the ball carrier, runs into a file at the 49. It’s going to be third and one with 850 to play in the third quarter and Detroit leading 17-7. Remember Dallas on the opening drive went 80 yardds for the touchdown. Looked invincible since then. Punt, punt, punt, punt. The one that really hurt them was that drive that started on their own two-yd line, their last possession where they did a three and out. That gave Detroit outstanding field position and they converted it into a touchdown. Third and one double tight end set and it’s to Smith through the 50. That that stick is just about dead on the 50. Herman Moore out of Virginia. His quarterback in college was Shawn Moore, who spent some time backing up Elway in Denver. Remember, we had him in the Sugar Bowl his senior year. Yep. Against Tennessee. Very close here. Clock stopped here for the measurement. 806 to go in the third quarter. Timeout for measurement. Certainly a 10-point deficit for a Cowboy team that has the offensive weapons they have is really not that big a deal. Oo and about two inches it appears to be the difference for a first down and go for it everybody say simple as that those three words fourth and an inch not a no-brainer decision by any stretch of the imagination at this stage of the ball game eight minutes left in the third quarter Right. There’s a lot of coaches in this league that would automatically punt that ball away. Mhm. This is This is aggressive coaching here by Barry Switzer. Very aggressive. Will they mate? Will he give it to Johnston? Will he give it to Smith? No provides leverage on the left side. And moving that way is in Smith and he breaks it. EMTT. One man to beat and the angle of out of bounds. The flag goes down at the 10 yd line. Ryan McNeel the face mask. Who got the face mask? Oh, Ryan McNeel definitely has the face. And for a minute I thought that was John Rigggins coming around the corner. That’s what happens in short yardage and we’re being Detroit says it’s going to work against the Cowboys. And you get everybody up there in short yardage and you pop that gap like this. You’ll see right on the left side and following behind the big fullback Johnson. All of a sudden, you’re into the opening so quickly. Well, Steenowski leads that way. Newton has a fine block at left guard, but the big block was two and a at left tackle. And that’ll that should be the 15 yd variety there on on McNeel. There’s one face mask. Dueling face mask. I think Em got his own in there. You know, there were three flags that were dropped. So, we could have a pair of face masks. EMTT’s face mask came as a retaliation. I don’t know whether that’s going to affect it or not. Well, McNeel’s definitely would be the what they might be discussing is whether or not McNeels was a 15 yer and Smith is a 5 y in which case the 5 y would get thrown out and they do a half half the distance to the goal line. Boy, Wayne F didn’t need this. Another gutsy call. Set that up. Short yardage defense. Good block by Johnson. That looks like an old Rder Cup meeting, doesn’t it? Those caps. It’s against Detroit. And then a personal foul against Dallas. Well, now the 15yd variety of face mask is a personal foul as well. So, will they offset? I don’t know how you could call McNeel’s face mask an inadvertent face mask. He held on to it for a long time. Yeah. Offset. Yeah. Offsetting. And this thing, the key part of this is it comes back because that was not a dead ball foul. Offsetting penalties negates the money. They ne it negates the entire play. It’s fourth and inches again. And you got to go for it now. Establish a precedence to see first on the part of McNeel. There’s no question about this one. And then in retaliation, I think EMTT Smith after a couple of strides, he hooks. I never saw EMTT Smith’s face mask. It looked his first one was a straight arm. It looked like it was under unless that one clipped the face mask, but I didn’t I didn’t see a personal foul committed by EMTT Smith. Real close call, but here it goes. It’s academic right now. The play comes back. It’s fourth and an inch. Try it again. Does it again. First down. 39 yd line. Going back to those offsetting penalties. The official on the scene must have ruled had to rule that EMTT Smith that’s that straight arm must have been to the face. All right, let’s see. This ought to give us a look. All right, this ought to tell us. No, it’s right in the chest. That is right in the chest. That’s a perfectly legal play. I did not see anywhere on that play where EMTT Smith commits a personal foul. Ball at the 39 yd line. Aman under pressure throws low. One hopper incomplete intended for Johnston. Oh, and Aman got rolled up, sandwiched. He got hit from both sides simultaneously. Thomas coming from the outside, former number one draft pick for Tampa Bay. And he too, like Cass Fulling, has had some problems, but not at Detroit. They have been very happy since he came as a free agent from Tampa Bay. Model citizen, I think, was the term that Wayne F used to describe Rodri Thomas. Sixth player taken in the draft back in 1989. Very productive citizen for the Lions. Second and 10 at the 39 yd line and EMTT Smith picks up three. Takes it to the 37. We have 6 and 12 minutes to go in the third quarter. Detroit leading 17-7. If you’re just tuning in, I’ll repeat that. Detroit leading 17-7. Again, the Cowboys just a little out of sync, just a little bit behind in their passing. Just missing a block here, running into each other like you saw that Derek Canard colliding with him and Smith. taking a few yards off the play. It’s been that way for him all night. Third and seven at the 37. Send Johnston in motion and there’s all kinds of action before the snap and makes the catch, but that’s going to be academic. Troy Hickman got one of those real fine hard counts. Detroit anticipating pass. Set in the pass rush mode and Aman gave him that hard count. Offside against Dis. Take a look at Troy Aquin. You see, he throws a little head into it, too. You got to be a little careful. You can draw a flag, but you see it right there. Dan Owens, number 90, well into the neutral zone. He was uh he did a nice job to avoid contact, which would have meant it was a dead play and just the automatic 5 yd. Dallas went ahead and accepted the penalty, which brings up now a third and two. Third and two at the 32. 550 to go. Third quarter flying 17 Cowboys seven. Troy and he’s got Novac the tight end and it’s a first down to the 21 yd line. Spielman makes the stop and another first down reception for Novichek. The king of the first down receptions. You have outside receivers like Harper and Irvin that are going to draw the double coverage. you’re a good smart tight end like Novachek that can move around and find that opening spot, he’s the guy you’re going to go to on third down and they do it all the time. First and 10 at the 22 yd line and then Smith splits the hole and he gets hit hard well by Penny Blades at the 15. We talked about Benny Blades and his ability to deliver a shot. That is a textbook look at a free safety and how he drives through. That is a textbook look. Yeah, he that was that was such a crucial shot. Knocked out our monitors, I think. Watch this. He weighs 220 lbs and he really unloads on Smith. He altered the direction that EMTT Smith was going. Scott Golth in the game. He’s in motion on second and three. Smith takes it to the 12. Very close to a first down. He’s written down by Kelvin Pritchette. Boy, was there a big time lead block that time by Daryl Johnston. That’s that’s how a guy gets a nickname Moose. Shy by a yard. It’s going to be third and one. They got him listed at 238 or something like that. He if he’s not 250, I I miss my mark. He is a big man. Third and one at the 13 yd line. 10th play of this drive. Moose going to be close. If he got it, it was by an antler. And I’m not sure he did. Might be the fuzz on that antler. He uh there was a wall of Detroit Lions there. Now we got the sticks in. I don’t think he got it. Not where they spotted it. That was an excellent job by the front wall to the Lions. Lions had the original fearsome forom, didn’t they? Was it? I believe it was the Detroit Lions back in uh Roger Brown and Carris. Is he Daryus McCord? McCord. Yeah. Yeah. And the Rams stole it or I’m trying. Well, here we go again. They have converted one fourth down on this drive. And remember Detroit on its last drive converted a fourth and made it pay off. So the fourth down play has become huge. And here’s a situation. The Cowboys going for it. You still you’re down by 10. You’re going to need a field goal somewhere along the line. But with fourth and an 6 minutes and 24 seconds old at this point, they’ll go for it. Not a great time for play action. Short count. And it’s EMTT Smith leaping to the 8 yd line on a first down. First and goal. Dallas. I’ve seen guys jump over the pile. That’s an unusual look at a guy running over the P. He just scaled it. He started to leap over and found a little footing up at the top of it. Got himself an extra yard out of it. Watch this. Somebody’s going Somebody’s going to have tire tracks on the back of his jersey there. Edwin Moses move. I’m going to leap right here. Oops. Got a place to come down. A convincing first down pickup for the Cowboys. First and goal at the nine yd line. Rolling is Aman. He throws. Scott Galbreth makes the catch and he’s rolled out of bounds at the one and a half by Rodrik Thomas who saves the touchdown. First catch of the night for Scott Galbreth. Much traveled fifth year veteran out of USC. Well, they ran this play in the first half. and he’ll get a hold against against Detroit. And that that’s significant in the sense that it’s an automatic first down. Well, when you have your running game going like the Cowboys have and Detroit, you can use play action so effectively. Little bootleg. We saw it earlier as Dan mentioned in the first half. Very effective once again. And now they’re going to check out the options. Well, the option is do you want to have it second and goal at the 1 and a half or first and goal at the 4 and 1/2? That’s the option right there. As many times as they have picked up one yard on short yardage on this drive, I think you’d want to take it for one. I I agree with you, Frank. I’d rather I’d rather be inside the two yd line. They haven’t stopped him yet on short yardage, so why not? It’s an interesting little call here. Oh, yeah. Hey mine. So they they they’ll give up the couple of yards, three to be uh specific, to take the extra play. Send him and then over top. The ball’s all the way down at the one. In fact, the nose of it appears to be even inside the oneyd line. That’s a That’s a pretty sweet spot on the football field. Tough to give it up. He declines it here as it’s second down and goal at the one yd line. And EMTT Smith does not get in. Chrisman stood him up. Yes, sir. Boy, what a play by Chris Spielman. Boy, he starts about four yards back in the end zone and comes right over the top. Times it beautifully. That’s a perfect play by the middle linebacker on a goal line situation. Well, that was right at the line of scrimmage. Maybe picked up a couple of inches out of it. There comes Spielman right in the middle of your screen. Watch him come up and over. Beautiful. Oh, that’s just that’s perfect. There’s no other way to describe it. Perfect. Third and goal. Little toss. Damage Smith. No, he doesn’t get in. It’s going to be fourth and goal. And that’s Broadick Thomas leading that charge. Boy, now this is a decision time cuz there’s a loss of about a yard on that. And you’re going to need you’re going to need a field goal somewhere along the line. Little over a minute to play in the third quarter. Lions leading 17-7. You need a field goal anyway. Yep. And Bone’s come in. Yep. It’s back to the two and a half. Well, that’s good defense. Spielman again, number 54 getting help from Thomas. I think part of Barry Switzer’s decision here is made by the way the Lions play. Now, I know what you’re getting ready to say about not taking the penalty, getting the extra down. We we we had pointed it out. There’s Bone just putting it through the right upright. I think Mary Switcher’s going to say, “Hey, two waxed at it from inside the oneyd line. If we don’t get it, we don’t deserve it.” Mhm. They settle the three. There’s Chris Spielman, the heart and soul of this Lion defensive team. And boy, he can he’s not much for patting himself on the back. But his his play on second down at the one yd line, but stopped them at Smith. That got his team going and they stiffened and help kick. This is taken by Mel Gray and he brings it back out to the 30 yd line. You know, I talked to Ernie Zampe earlier about those two guys in the middle, the two linebackers. He said, “Those are the guys I’m worried about with our running game.” He was absolutely right. Zampezy, longtime uh NFL offensive coordinator, now in his first year with Dallas, taking over when North Turner, his pupil, went to Washington as the head coach. His offense is centered around Aman and that man, EMTT Smith. It is 17-10 Detroit. Lions Abbott at the 30 yd line. Sanders for a clear up one thing. You remember Bernie Kar on what appeared to be the double face mask and we were wondering how he could call it on EMTT Smith. He said personal foul against Dallas. We now get word the personal foul was on Eric Williams the tackle away from the play. And that’s uh the reason that that play came back that fourth and one the 40 yard what would have been the 40-yard game by Emtt. But the only flags that we could see and there’s Eric Williams. The only flags that we can see were all sprinkled around the confrontation between EMTT Smith and Ryan McNeel. But it certainly answers our question because we could not see any potential foul committed by that guy, Evan Smith. End of three, Detroit leads it 17-10. And back we come with Monday Night Football after this from our ABC stations. I can’t read it anymore. I can’t either. Yeah. Texas Stadium in Irving, Texas. Start the fourth quarter. Al Michaels, Frank Gford, Dan Deerdorf, and Swan patrolling the sidelines. 17-10 Lions. It is second down and a yard and a half at the 39 yd line. Scott Mitchell gives the ball to Barry Sanders and he has a first down up at the 42. 45 minutes of action and let’s take a look at the numbers. Two or three quarters of play. I think the remarkable one will be no turnovers by either team. Very even in a lot of games since we’ve gone three quarters without a turnover. Dallas Dallas still not over the 100 yd mark in in rushing. Unusual for them, but they dominate in the time of possession. But these guys lead on the scoreboard by seven at the 42 yd line. Scott Mitchell play fake going deep looking for more incomplete. Good coverage. Kevin Smith one of the finest in the league right there with him and getting help from the inside again. Dallas plays it so loose back there but they cover each other so well. Kevin Smith knows he’s got outside responsibility. Turn to the outside. Look, he has help on the inside from Washington. But again, Kevin Smith, one of the best in the business when he slides into the man coverage. He’s good. Well, that was brilliant by Smith. But I’ll tell you something, James Washington was a good four steps behind him. Sanders cuts it back again. Vintage Barry first down to the 45 of Dallas. Kevin Smith made the tackle. He just doesn’t plant the foot and cut. He plants the foot and explodes into the cut. It’s almost impossible to judge the tackle. And he is so low, you just never get under it. 633. 6.3 per carry though. Look at that average. 6.3 against the Super Bowl champions, folks. Year in year out, it’s around 4.0. This year, it’s down to 3.7 at this point the season. I think it was a great shot. EMTT Smith looking at that stat on the board. That 6.3 just went to about six. Yeah, it did. Thanks to Dixon Edwards. Well, Barry Sanders takes chances. you know, if if somebody is is in a mood to knock his running style is that on a lot of occasions he gives yardage in the attempt to get the big play. And if there is a difference between Sanders and EMTT Smith, it’s that Sanders has more runs that lose yardage than EMTT Smith. And Emtt said, “Hey, this guy is making me look bad in my own house now. How about some support?” Second and 14. Russell throws and the catch is made and rolled out of bounds is Curry at the 42 yd line. Perman have scored a touchdown earlier tonight. Good call. Good delivery by Scott Mitchell. They have 42. Second. Third down. A lot of yards with a second down and about 15. They get half of it. Put themselves into good third down position. There’s Lis Brown right there. Look at this work here at the bottom of your screen against Haley. Boy, that’s that’s really controlling your guy and taking him clear out of the picture. Well, since the early going, Haley’s been a non-factor tonight. And this guy is off to a great start. Five and a half sacks coming into tonight. Off to the best start of any defensive end in the league. Lis Brown tonight. He’s neutralized. Timeout Detroit. Troy Aman temporarily spectating his team down by seven. Michael Irvin waiting to get back in. But right now the defense and EMTT Smith as well looks on as it’s third down and seven for Detroit at the Dallas 42. 1230 to go fourth quarter. Lions up 17-10. They need a pass rush. The Cowboys need to put pressure on Mitchell. They rush four and he throws for Perryman and he drops the ball at the 13 yd line. Perman was beyond Brown and in between Brown and the safety man coming over Washington and Scott Mitchell put it in there beautifully. It would have been a tough catch but one you should have caught. Take a look again. He’s got it the only place where it could have been completed. What a fine delivery and they rapidly line up the punt and Montgomery floats one that bounces inside the 10 and is knocked down at the one yd line and covered at the two. Derek Moore got down there. Derek Moore number 31 got down there to keep it from going into the end zone and pinned Dallas deep. 40 yd punt a beauty. 1214 left in regulation. 7-10 Detroit. They’re not want to they’re not going to want to give these uniforms up. 12 minutes and 14 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Improbably Detroit leading 17- 10 and Dallas backed up at its own two first and 10. Aman throw out of the end zone and the catch is made at the 19 yd line. That’s an 18 yd pick up. Michael to the 20. That’s all pro stuff there. Remember, you’re deep in your own end zone throwing a deep out over a linebacker into the hands of the receiver. That’s pretty special. Oh, you talk about needing it. Remember the last time Dallas was in this position, they went three and out, punted away, and Detroit got a touchdown as a result. This was a big play. Aman to Irvin. This this gives Dallas a lot of room to get things going now. They can use their entire offense now from the 20 yd line. Great protection. Slings one out to Loose Johnston. Carol runs over Mcneel except the first down to the 33 yd line. This is what the Cowboys need to get the crowd back in it. Everybody needed it except McNeel. He’s the only guy that didn’t need it. Here you got a 235lb guy and McNeel was not in the classic tackling position and paid the price for it. He was in the catching position and rightfully so. That’s position he has to take. First down Dallas at the 33. 1055 to play. Aman looking deep for Irving. It’s a little underthrown and dropped at the 36 yd line. Look who was all the way back on the coverage. Same man that stopped Emtt Smith short of a touchdown in the goal line defense. Spielman. Spielman. Spielman’s just running his butt off downfield. Has no idea where the football is. Has no idea. There’s Spielman in the middle of your screen at the bottom. He’s got his eye on 80 though. He has no idea where the ball is. First of all, I’ve never been down here before. Now that’s that’s that’s running an awful long way. and just by happen stance finding yourself in the middle of the play. That is a throwback football player. I’ll tell you that enough to distract him. Second and 10 and EMTT Smith bustered out to the 39 yd line. It’s going to set up a third and four. Em Smith is known for his big fourth quarters. He can certainly provide a lot of boost to the Cowboys offense if he can pull it together. There you are right there. Those stats show a lot. Well, those numbers, I think, are also indicative of this is about the time of the game where the pressure of that huge offensive line begins to take a toll on the defensive line. This is a pretty small group for for Detroit and a rather large one for Dallas. Third and four and alliance came across. It’s going to be a free play and a first down. Any way you want to look at it. Makes the catch. Robert Porsche came across. Well, that’s fatigue. That’s when you make a mistake like that. When you get a little tired, the concentration waines and you make a you make a dumbbell play like that and and and come across the line off on the defense 91. And again, a little bit of a hard count by Troy Aman. But if I’m correct, that was a fourth first down reception for the tight end, Jay Novichek. A little head bob. Here they come. This is where Detroit has to really somehow summon up some concentration focus because they’ve got the world champions coming at them. They’ve been behind before. They know how to do it. The 49. Aman throws over the middle. Moose Johnson fumbles at the 50 yd line and the Detroit Lions have the football. First turnover of this game. And that’s a result of a guy putting his helmet right on the football. Right on the football. Kelvin Pritchette recovered it. It’s It takes a helmet on the football to get it to pop out like that. Let’s take a look at that. Just perfect. Mike Johnson. And that is how it is done. The plastic of the helmet is right on the pig skin and away it goes. Former Cleveland Brown. Who could hold on to the football when it gets hit like that with a helmet? Barry Ser somehow escapes. Unbelievable. Daryl Johnston. You talk about man biting dog in the last four years. It’s only his second fumble. I just marvel at what Barry Sanders can do that no one I’ve ever seen play this game can do. He’s just like a spider going down the sidelines. How he kept his balance, I’ll never know. Take a look at the fumble again. The helmet. Bang. Johnson right on that ball. I don’t know that anybody could. Roocop couldn’t have held on to that football. Here’s Sanders again to the 33 yd line. Under nine minutes now to play in regulation. 17-10 Detroit. for5 Jones. Boy, and then Daryl is really unhappy with himself. He’s a money player, an offensive leader, but that happens every now and then. That was just just an absolutely pinpoint strike by Mike Johnson. Second down and six. Sanders stopped at the 34. Minimal loss. Good play there by Tony Tolbert. He honored his responsibilities playing the outside. If Barry Sanders is going to come his way, he’s going to turn him back in. And that’s exactly what Tolbert did. He can make a minimal loss exciting. Look at the spin. Yeah. Barry wanted to go outside and that that’s just really well done by Tolbert. Third and eight at the 34. Lions up by seven. Big man Moore. Top of your screen in motion. He slants across the middle. Mitchell looks that way. Throws it off the hands of Moore. Gunned it in there in the blade. Tell you one thing, the Dallas pass rush has disappeared. They’re fortunate that that ended up an incompletion by the Lions, but Scott Mitchell had all the time he wanted and had the whole field right in front of him. Frank, one of the few bad passes he’s thrown tonight. He had too much on that. It was behind Moore. Very tough to handle. 52 yd field goal attempt is coming up here. Jason Hansen, one of the very best. This is having a lot of confidence in your kicker. Craig sets it down. No question. And it is no good. Had plenty of distance. Oh yeah. But off to the left. He had a 62 y back in college. So no question about the distance. He can get there. And here’s where it costs you an extra seven yds now because that ball comes back to the spot of the kick instead of the line of scrimmage, the 42 yd line. Texas Stadium in Irving, Texas. Al Michaels, Frank Gford, and Dan Deer are a beauty. Monday Night Football week three. Next week we go to Buffalo. Bills host the Broncos here. Detroit on top by seven. 17-10. Dallas has it first. 10 at the 42 yd line. Aman checks off to EMTT Smith. He’s rolled out of bounds by Tracy Scoggins up at the 46 yd line. And next Monday, it’s a marquee matchup at quarterback because we’ve got Jim Kelly and the Buffalo Bills coming off a pair of wins after the opening day loss to the Jets and John Elway and the Denver Broncos 0 and3 right now. Critical game for them. Talk about desperate. Yeah. Second and eight. Emtt Smith plows ahead. Stopped just shy of the 49 yd line. It’ll be third and about three. Chris Spielman makes the tackle. Oh, look at Spielman trying to get his guys fired up, slapping heads and everything. Hits Robert Porsche right on the helmet trying to get him going. A rock in the middle. A real rock. Remember the Allstar County football team a long time ago. Three members here in attendance tonight. Up here in the booth, Wayne F over on the sideline. Mhm. Detroit better account for Novichek. Third down and three. And it’s over middle. But there’s a flag. And accounted for Novichek illegally. Here comes another flag. Willie Clay had him wrapped up. Novichek again with that little move. Head fake to the outside. Broke away from Clay. Klay had nothing nothing else he could do. Wrapped his arms around and drew the flag. First down. Well, one thing about it, if you’re going to mug him, mug him good. He did. Not much in dispute about that call. First down at the 45. Johnston and he takes Mcneel with him to the 36 yd line shy of a first down by a half a yard or so. Mcneel saying to himself now what are the odds of getting a linebacker out here to give me a little help? I’ll tell he has hammered McNeel a couple of times tonight. McNeel about 175 lbs. Not a not a big fan of this matchup that he keeps finding himself in out in the flat with Daryl Johnson. He looks up. Here comes 48. Looks like about a 21- second and inches at the 35 yd line. And on second and inches. Why not? Well, it’s deflected and it’s incomplete. Irvin was the intended receiver. That ball was uncatchable. That’s not going to draw any kind of a flag. Well, some of the people here in attendance started booing. I’m not sure that they saw the ball tipped at the line of scrimmage. Robert Porche got a hand on it. There’s Porsche. 91. It goes right off his right hand. Wasn’t close, but did his job. Well, you can see the sweat on. It’s not terribly hot, but it is certainly warm out on that field in the 80s when the game began. And you just don’t get any air movement. The air is perfectly still at the base of this stadium. Here’s Smith with a first down on the left inside the 20. And Mcel rides him down at the four. Well, they campaigned him for a long time and all of a sudden he got the gap. Well, he loved that. He’s saying I’m still the man. Well, Mark Tu, Nate Newton, they’ve been doing a strong job of blocking tonight. Boy, they did it again. Got another good block at the line of scrimmage at the point of attack. Is that Gre Larry Allen? Larry Allen comes in at tight end number 73. And Johnson again with that big block in front. Yeah, Allen caves in that whole left side from the tight end position. And Aman says, “I need a timeout.” They were down to two seconds on the play clock. 455 remaining. Now, it’s too early really to talk about do you go for the win or do you go for the tie, but just as a point of information, we discussed it last night with Barry Switzer and he said his inclination if he has a situation where he goes down to let’s say, and I specifically said the final minute of the game, he said he would kick and go into overtime. So, clearly here in this situation with a lot of time left, you’re looking at one point. How did he put it? He said, “Am I going to take give my quarterback one shot at it or am I going to give somebody like a Troy Aman eight shots at it?” Well, of course, if you if you with that philosophy though, you’re basically saying, “I better win the coin flip or I got a defense that’s going to get the ball back for me.” And Detroit’s been able to move that football tonight. And I think being at home is a big uh, you know, weighs heavily in that decision as well. Jerry Jones has made his way to the field. Well, the last time that Dallas was in this position, they were party to a quite a fine goal line stand by the Detroit Lions. Let’s see what they can muster up this time. Here we go. EMTT Smith, as we said before, just comes on in the second half. A combination of many things, not the least of which is he’s a wonderful player. I think we might see him go right to the air from out here out on first down. First and goal. They split Irvin wide to the right. Double tight end set. Johnson the fullback and Smith is the tail back and we’ve got a whistle before the snap. A lot of fingerpointing going on by the boys in the Honolulu and Silver. That’s what it’s called. Honolulu blue. I know it’s what it’s called. I’m just I’m just reiterating first. That’s what a good playby-play guy does. He just repeats what the analyst says, right? I’m glad you finally figured it out. I’m glad it has finally been an awakening for you, Al. Four years in Michigan, then I moved to my sophomore year. Arts and Crafts known as Honolulu Blue. That’s first and goal at the nine. And it’s made. The catch made underneath by Novachek. That takes it all into the seven. It’ll be second down and goal. Well, but absolutely no pressure on Troy Aman. He checked off on about three receivers. Got good coverage as you might suspect with no pass rush. But you can’t do that very often. He’ll find somebody. Oh, you’re right about that, Frank. But I’ll say this about Detroit. They’re putting some hats on the ball carrier. They are swarming to the football. But if the your point is well made, they better find some way to alter Aman’s rhythm or they’ll pay a big price for it. Second and goal at the six. Dallas down by seven. EMTT Smith to the outside. Touchdown. Nate Newton with the big assist on that one. Now, you wonder how does a guy 330 lbs run like that? Nate Newton from left guard comes all the way across the formation out in front and makes the block making that man the check rider in this organization. Very happy. That was a great block. It just wasn’t your mediocre block. Now watch N all 330 lbs of him and then he cuts him. has blades he puts on the ground, but it’s how far the big man had to run. Chris Bono out of Novichek’s hole loops it through with 409 left the regulation and we’re locked at 17. Boy, that was a good drive by the Dallas Cowboys again. Look at Newton. He’s on the right part of the screen. Here he comes all the way around the corner looking for the support. That’s his job to pick up the support guy. And look what he does. He not only drives Penny Blaze a couple yards back, but then puts him on the ground. Boy, that’s a big motor scooter coming out of there, Frank. I tell that’s almost amazing. And we know how good he is. He’s certainly a great drive blocker, great pass protection. You don’t get that many times to look at somebody that big doing that superb a job as a pulling guard. Think he doesn’t play with a little emotion. EMTT Smith, that man loves to win and that man loves to eat. Well, this crowd’s back in the game. Chris Bono sends it deep. Ray from the two and a nice tackle at the 22 yd line. Barack Marian. Well, if nothing else, what we’re about to see, whether it’s a positive or a negative, will certainly be a quality learning experience for Scott Mitchell on the road against the Dallas Cowboys. Tie ball game. Four minutes left. Hostile, noisy crowd. Oh, if you were going to grade him thus far, Dan, you would have to say certainly BB B+. Let’s see if he can step up to a at the 22 yd line. Barry Sanders. Just another Charles Bronson move, huh? The great escape right out to the 37 yd line. He gets more yards than Smith. He gets more yards on the sidelines than any back I’ve ever seen. They keep going out of bounds and he has that little scurry to stay in bounds. Almost impossible to get under him to make the contact. I just marvel at him. I really do. Now watch this. He gets to the outside. Those are all instinctive moves. Nothing is thought out about it. He just his body just flows and it’s just an amazing thing to watch. Got a good block by Hick and Hullman there at the point of attack. 160 yds tonight for Barry Sanders. He seeks a few more. He can make it 165 out to the 41 yd line. It’ll be second down and five. The best performance of the weekend by a ball carrier Barry Foster. the Steelers yesterday 179 yds against Indianapolis and EMTT Smith. Well, this one in terms of that individual matchup lived up to advanced billing and the game was a hell of a lot better than anybody ever thought it would be. Emtt Smith is staying in in the early going. If you weren’t with us, he went out of the ball game on three different occasions after having carried the football on the run. Second and six. Mitchell tipped, batted, incomplete. Darren Smith got his hands on it. Darren Smith really wasn’t rushing the quarterback. He’s really just floating as a spy, hovering a couple yards off of the line of scrimmage. Stayed in it and got up in the air when he sensed it was Mitchell’s time to throw. Boy, and you got to be looking for your big wide receiver now, Herman Moore. Third down. Passing situation about six. Darren going high in the air. Third down and six. Play clock is down to one. And they just do get it off. And it’s thrown complete to the 49 yd line to Aubrey Matthews for a very critical first down conversion. Well, they were late getting up to the line. They had to go right at the point where the clock went from one to zero and they hit Matthews for a first down. What an unlikely call and to get it off without drawing the penalty. First of all, look at the pocket. Really solid. Sidearming the ball to avoid the pile up in front of him. 11 yd gain of first down. Twoinute warning in Dallas. Great game. Well, the Detroit Lions, I guess they’re just like a stock that whipsaw, as we talked about it at the very beginning, the way they’ve played through the 90s. Here’s a game in which they really didn’t figure to be in it on the road at Dallas coming off that performance last week against the Minnesota Vikings. And here they are tied at 17 at the two-minute warning. Well, you said that, D. In 1989 they were 7-9. Then they went 6 and 10. They were 12 and four, 5 and 11, 10 and six. Back and forth. They haven’t really found an identity yet. What’s really impressed me is the way they held in there after Dallas took the opening drive, stuffed it right down their throat and didn’t lose it. And here’s Barry Sanders. And right now, what Detroit would love to do is keep the ball, set Hansen up for a field goal, and just take as much time off the clock as they can. And the Lions have one timeout left and the Cowboys have two. And the one timeout obviously is very critical for Detroit because uh this is an opportunity. They’d like to have their full complement of three still at their disposal. The fact that they only have one a real disadvantage. This guy though, one of the fine young legs in the national football. We saw how far he could kick it a while ago. And I mentioned that he had a 62 y when he was a collegiate. Second and a yard at the 39 yd line. And it’s Sanders going well just just past the line of scrimmage. And uh I think he shouldn’t have enough for the first. Oh, the ball came back. Barry did a pretty good job of laying it out a little bit farther after he hit the ground, but I think he’s got it. Well, they’re going to stop for a measurement here. 103. Dallas Dallas is in a a very tenuous position here in terms of taking its timeouts defensively. They’ve got two. You know, you reach the point when you’re almost in field goal range. You need to conserve a little bit of time. Well, if I’m Dallas, I don’t stop the clock for anything. Not Well, not right here. Not yet. No, not there. They’ve got to be a lot closer before I do that. Well, this is going to bring up this will bring up a little fun. Oh, yeah. Well, you’re going to have to uh get some ticks off the clock unless you want to try and pick up big yardage on second and short. We talked about it earlier in the game. Well, you go for it on second and short. What that means is you got 20 people on the pile. That takes a long time to get everybody off. The Dallas folks will be in no hurry to get back up on their feet. this short yardage play if it is just a buck up the middle to try to get the yard. Well, it’s hard to say. You got to take this down the field. Third and inch is and they will start the clock. They wind the clock now. Under a minute to play and straight ahead very close again. Now the only thing that’s going to help him is it’s so close. There you go. They’re going to stop it for a measurement. Scott Mitchell holding on. They should get their play called. get ready to make the snap. See, if they’d have picked up a full yard or two yards where it was apparent that they pick it up, you know, that clock keeps on going that they’re this close. And if they pick it up, this will be a big advantage, a big help to Detroit. Obviously, if they don’t make it, it brings up a fourth down. Well, they measure here. It enables Mitchell also to go over and talk to Dave Levy. Right. There’s a lot of slack in that chain there. Oh, they got it. Now it is a first down. The clock is stopped temporarily. 51 seconds. They have a timeout. Do the Lions. They will wind the clock as soon as the ball is ready for play. And there it is. They send Herman Moore off to the right. Sanders is the sole set back. Double slot right. Give it to Barry. Oh, great play by Dixon Edwards. on Barry Sanders. You have got to seal off the perimeters. Dixon Ed Dixon Edwards rather sealed off the left side of the offensive formation. And what a hit on Sanders. And Detroit does not take a timeout. They’re saving their last time out, but they’re using almost all of the clock here. We’re down to 15 seconds. I can’t believe it’s taking them this long. Oh, yeah. Second down and 12. Oh, I That’s That’s very bad clock management. Real bad. Oh, wide open. Mitchell throwing nearly picked off at the 15 yd line. There was 9 seconds left in the game. What What are they doing? Well, that was terrible clock. Even with one timeout left, you have to take it. There are other ways to stop the clock. Scott Mitchell did not see Brett Perman. Coverage was blown. He was wide open, screaming for the football down the sidelines. You know, timeouts don’t carry over to the next week. You don’t get to take them with you. That’s so You don’t put them up on the wall. No, you do not put him up on the wall. They’re going to let Hansen go for it. I mentioned that in college he kicked one 62 yards. Well, this one is going to be 57 yards. You know, the worst thing that happens is you go to overtime. Best thing that happens, you win the game. Craig holds 57 yds. It’s deflected. Don’t touch it. Leon, you’re a bad boy. Oh, no. You know, you’re a bad bad boy. Overtime. Oh, and we’ve got Well, we’re got one of the Dallas Cowboys. That’s James Washington who brings the ball out of the end zone. And you got Barry Switzer taking Robert Jones and shoving him back toward the bench. Somebody got a hand on it. The kick was low. Time has expired. We go to overtime. 17 all back after this for our ABC stations. Good year of one spirit of Akran providing the overhead shot. We’ve got overtime. The toss was won by Detroit. The Lions will get the ball and Chris Bono will kick off. Officially, they are saying it’s not a block kick even though it was deflected. And on our replays, as as close as we can tell, of all guys, it was Leon Let who got his hand on the missed field goal by Hansen, which appeared to be too low anyway, even had it not been touched. Leon goes about 66 and he had a big hand up there. Why do you say of all guys? Well, means everybody remembers the story, the Leon L story. It’s a shame in a way. He’s noted for two things with two gas and he’s a hell of a player. Is it announc, you know, it doesn’t wipe away Detroit’s really poor clock management in the last 30 seconds of that of the fourth quarter. Let’s see if they can overcome it here now as Bell Gray brings it out to the 32 yd line. We now have a definitive shot. There it is from behind. Big Leon number 78. The left hand up in the air and he gets it. They don’t call that a deflection. His left hand made sure that Hansen’s kick wasn’t going to go through the upright. Of course, Hansen has got to get a very low trajectory to cover that distance. So, again, led another opportunity. Here’s one of the big pluses of winning the toss in overtime with the new kicking rules. Look at this field position. An ordinary return. You’re at the 32. Barry Sanders swings to the outside. His big night continues. He picks up about six. Takes it to the 38 yd line. One of the fine defensive tackles in the NFL. That’s what Leon led has become. Can play anywhere really down that defensive line. He might make an outstanding defensive end. may have played him there. Second and four. It’s the Lions second overtime game in three games. They beat Atlanta on opening day. Sanders exploits the hole. Barry to the Dallas 47 yd line. Boy, he is playing like he is possessed tonight. It was a great stage and of course the man who stands between him and probably the recognition that he feels he should have is sitting on the bench watching him, Emtt Smith. He’s putting on a show tonight. How many changes of direction do you make in one run? This is this is a special night folks with 22 and 20 going at it. First and 10. That’s 191 yards for Barry Sanders and about two or three more D. Well, Derek Moore picks up two or three more right there. You said two or three. Four more. Four more. Four more. Exactly. That’s exactly what I meant. I just forgot the the preposition. There we go again. Al said 191 yds. Almost a sixyd per carry average. 5.7 per. He had 220 yards, did Sanders in a 1991 game against Minnesota, his career best stopped. Robert Jones right there. Third and eight. Barry Sanders after a couple of big runs has been coming to the Detroit sideline. Moore has been coming in for a couple of plays. Here comes Sanders back out. Obviously, the heat and the amount of yardage that he’s covered tonight taking a physical toll on Barry Sanders. Well, he covers when he gains about eight yards, he covers about 20 yards. Well, there’s this will be an interesting call. Charles Haley was across the line and then Lis Brown came out of his stance. Three flags are down. Paul going to make it third and 13. Llis leaning a little bit. It looked like Well, this is Here we go. There’s Lis standing up. Haley with his hand on the ground. Well, actually, yeah, there was a twitch in at the left guard. Shawn Bowens moved his left arm and then Brown went and Haley the opportunist. Third and 13. Mitchell throws. Herman Moore makes the catch on first down at the 33 yd line. Well, we’ve seen a lot of Herman Moore tonight. You’ll never see a more aggressive move by Herman Moore going up knowing he was going to get hit. He did get hit. concentrating completely on the ball and coming down with it. Well, if Detroit should win this game tonight, the five guys up front get a game ball. Scott Mitchell stands in the pocket for a good five seconds getting a good look at the field. And boy, it’s hard to look at the field and not see Herman Moore as big as he is. And either Moore or Pman blew that pattern because they most certainly were not supposed to be three to four yards apart. And Perryman is injured. He’s still down on the field in the Detroit medical staff. But look at this. Look at Scott Mitchell and look at the time he has finally from behind. He gets hit by Russell Maryland, but he had just seconds upon seconds to stand there and survey the field. You know, we talked about we talked about Barry Sanders and how the weather and everything has affected him. Well, here we are in overtime. Dallas doesn’t have the depth that they used to have on their defensive line. You know, they lost Casillas, Jimmy Jones is gone. They used to shuttle these guys in and out of there and the Dallas defensive lineman having to play a lot more snaps than they used to in the past. Continuing to look at Brett Perman who now he’s on his feet, but again, what a terrific effort on the part of Herman Moore and the young quarterback Scott Mitchell just to get it there. Well, the problem with Perryman leaving the game here is I think this is going to change whatever coverages that Dallas is going to use with remember Anthony Carter’s out with a broken collarbone. Perryman’s off the field. You can count on the fact that Herman Moore is going to be double covered. Connie Morton, the number one pick from USC. We have not seen much of him tonight. Aubrey Matthews has had a couple big catches tonight. Couple of fine first down catches by Matthews. First down Detroit at the Dallas 33. Sanders two 31. That is 33 carries tonight. Boy, that’s a lot of work. Oh boy. Perman is coming back into the game. And that is a careerhigh. That’s the the most carries for Barry ever. Save him a spot in the hot tub. He’s earned it. Second and eight. Another carry. And there’s Leon. Let who won’t let go. And all of these yards down here hurt because they are within field goal range. And that is just going to extend that distance. Those were precious yards. You’re right. Frank Hansen has made one from 32 and missed from 51 and 57. He’s looking at about a 52 y right now. Well, that’s a miscommunication between Kevin Glover, the center, and Shawn Bowens, the left guard. One of those two guys should have been responsible for stamping Leon Le and stopping him at the line. 4 and 1/2 minutes into overtime. Third and 11 and flags are down. That was Jim Jeffcoat. Well, this play this play never happened. false start. Well, third Detroit because of the play of Leon Let and now the false start of Shawn Bowens has cost themselves close to 10 yardds. 10 very very critical yards when you’re talking about being in overtime and in field goal rage. They have now put the put themselves back to a 57 yd field goal from what was about a 47 yd field goal. Perman back in the game. He split left more to the right. Third down 16 at the 40. Sanders and he takes it to the 34 12. So you’re looking at a 52 yd field goal now. Well within Hansen’s range. The Cowboys shake up. But when you see a soccer kicker, when he puts too much into it, you have a tendency to pull it to the left. That’s what we saw with Hansen trying the the winning attempt at a field goal at the end of regulation. James Washington, the cowboy that was shaken up on that tackle of Barry Sanders. Give Hansen a little bit of time to think about it. Switzer and the special teams coach Joe Amazano Wayne Font. I think uh we’ve got a Mocks moment going on here on both sides. You know, in a way you would you would think, well, no matter what happens to Detroit, they can come away feeling pretty good taking Dallas this this far on the road. But not at no not with with this many chances to win the game. This would be a bad ride home for Detroit. They’re they’re not they don’t view themselves as uh a lower level team that can come away from a game like this and and draw any consolation from just being able to say, “Ah, we played pretty good. You know, we really gave Dallas a scare.” Uh the Lions think they’re better than that. They think that they’re a team that is good enough to come down here and be expected to beat the Dallas Cowboys. Now, we’ll find out and we’ll know a little more after Hansen’s kick. his best in a couple of years. Detroit 53 yards and I mentioned earlier he has to take it much further at the collegiate level. He’s able to reach it again. He’s made one from 32, missed from 51 to 57. This is 52 yds. Dave Craig to put it down. There has not been a 50 yd field goal in the league this season. blocked. It might be le again. He’s building a new legacy. Letter Hennings. Hennings is acting like he got it. Both are 66. Well, there was penetration up front, but that ball that ball really looked low again. And I think it was just Hansen trying to reach for more distance, lowering the trajectory and making it vulnerable. All right, let’s take a look. Right in the middle, Leon Le is right over the center now. They are definitely getting some penetration. It is Leon. The left hand. The left hand should inspire the offense of the Cowboys. Boy, they they did a great job of driving Detroit back. Talk about a guy that finds the spotlight. Leon L. The pass for Johnston is low. Second and 10. You know, this Detroit offense, they got to be a little cool. They haven’t played any football in a long time. Well, that’s several times tonight that Aken has been short on that little out pass to his fullback. The little check pass. He’s thrown that very poorly tonight. Well, Detroit had the ball at the end of regulation. They’ve had the ball for 5 and 1/2 minutes of overtime. There’s been a few ticks off the old clock since Dallas has played any offense. Second and 10, Dallas at the 42. Game tied at 17. 5 and 1/2 minutes into overtime. EMTT Smith up to the 44. Gain of a third down and eight. Later tonight on Night Line, former President Carter, Senator Sam Nun, General Colin Powell will be featured following your late local news. Third down and seven at the 45 yd line. Troy throws. Novichek was held on to interference. Spielman grabbed Novatek once again. Yeah, Spielman was all over him and he knew it. That’s that was brought about by a great move by Jay Novachek. He he faked Chris Spielman into having to grab him. I think he’s picked up four first downs on receptions and a couple tonight on penalties. Man, Novichek runs good patterns. Watch this guy come off the ball. That little hitch to the outside and then coming back and there he tries to go outside again and Spielman hooks him. That that’s just brought about by the quality of the pattern run by Jay Novichek. Spielman knows he’s been had and just reaches out with the left hand and grabs it. Well, that was a good look at Aman and Novichek working together. That pass designed to go over the middle. They both read that he had to go to the outside. Smith. Oh boy. Runs right into who else? Oh, what a game he’s played. Isn’t that Hasn’t that always been the hallmark of the game’s great players that after something negative happens, they always seem to come back with a positive. Look at Chris Spielman read it come right through the hole and put a stamp right in the chest of EMTT Smith. Robert Porche was on the bottom around Smith’s ankle. Well, I’ll tell you they’re asking him an awful lot to cover Novachek. Period. Second and 11 at the 49 yd line. Aman throws. Johnson makes the catch. He rolls down at the 45 yd line. He’s about 5 yd shy of the first down. Damassie makes the tackle. Key third down coming up. Third and five. Well, the two wide outs the first quarter. Calvin Harper and Michael Irvin have been pretty much taken out of this game. They have been very quiet. Most of the third down action has been left to Novichek as you might suspect if you’re getting double coverage on the two outstanding wide outs. They’re going to free up the tight end. Well, this is the part of the game where the confidence of a world champion is a big plus. Third down and five and they give it to Emtt Smith and he has the first down. He gets seven. Oh, that’s believing in your big man. Third and five. You go with the draw and IT Smith gets the first down and he’s hurt. Smith riding. Harry was the man who made that very hard tackle at the end. I think he jammed his shoulder, his head right into the buttocks of his own man. That was his 27th carry of the night. There was a It was a pretty jarring hit by Harry Coen at the conclusion of the play. Michael Irvin is a cowboy out in front blocking and and there’s contact here, but watch how hard right there that hit by Coen hits the helmet of of EMTT Smith and kind of pushes his head off to the right side right there. that that collision with Coen Emtt Smith still down on the field and what you have to hope for and is that is a stinger that it’s a little scary if you haven’t experienced them in many of them and Lex is know that’s what it’s going to be and if that numbness goes down your arms down your legs and all of a sudden you’re wonder what has happened to me and it’s it’s not a wonderful thing is in a situation like that you have to come out for one play. So it’s an injury timeout. You take at least one play off. The ball is at the 37 yd line. 655 left in overtime against sudden death overtime but it winds up as a tie if you run out to 15 minutes. Each team with two timeouts in OT. Keep in mind the Cowboys have a rookie kicker in Bono. It is deflected and it is caught by a lineman at the 38. It’s Derek. He loses the football and Pat Swilling has it. All right. How How strange does it get? Michael Johnson tipped it to start things. Canard wound up with it. He loses the football. Swelling gets it. Canard gets it and then Canardly hold on to it. He juggles the ball. Watch. Watch Derek Canard. He has it. Oh, and then just can’t put it away. I think it was Owens who knocked it out of there and Swilling just caught it in the air. Violated a canard. 90 gets a hand in. Watch this. He come up from behind. Eric has the ball. He puts it away. It is a legitimate fumble. He had possession, put it away, and then had it knocked out by Owens. What a weird football game. Weird. Wacky. Former Saint is a center at the moment. The ball is at the 45 yd line. And this is Barry Sanders going nowhere. We are eight and a half minutes into overtime. Made the tackle. When you played the game, coaches had a had an expression that they always loved. I don’t care what level you played. Coaches called it a gut check, a fortitude check, a toughness check, whatever you want to call it. Well, that’s at the 6 minute and 10 second mark of overtime. That’s what every player on the field here for Detroit and Dallas is going through right now. These guys are fatigued beyond belief. They’re on autopilot and they’re playing their hearts out. That’s to go. This is now the 70th minute of the game. Under six minutes to play in overtime and Mitchell throws and it’s caught at the 50 yd line by Herman Moore who takes it down to the 47. It’s going to be third and two. on the board. Robert Jones. One thing about the Cowboys, in contrast to the Lions, at least Dallas has a week off and what better time than after a Monday night overtime. Yep. The NFC East is it’s their by week next week and you’re right, this will come at a good time. Detroit, meanwhile, goes home and they’ll face the Patriots and Bledsoe. Third and two at the 47 yd line. Sanders. He’s real close. He’s real close. Depends on where they mark it. They did not give him a good mark. Well, Robert Jones saved a big play. The Cowboys came with an inside linebacker blitz. What that means if Barry Sanders gets past that first wave, there’s nobody left. That’ll just go down as one tackle on the game summary. But this is a biggie by Robert Jones, number 55. Look at that. He fights off the block of Tai Hack, falls back to the inside, and that’s a biggie. A first down. It’s a It’s a first down, but it could have been a whole lot worse. Barry Sanders could have gone right up the tunnel. We talked about the heat. We talked about the exhaustion that these players are going through at the moment. Barry Sanders has carried it a record number of times for what is it now in times of carries 197 yards 37 carries boy that’s a night first down at the 45 carry number 38 is a loss 37 though he long ago surpassed his personal high and it’s now a new Detroit Lion team record with four and a half left in overtime time. That was 38. And uh I think it’s time for Scott Mitchell to test the uh test the airwaves. I think we’ve got to uh if Detroit’s going to get in position here, I think they’ve got to got to make something happen through the air. Second and 12 at the 47. Again, each team two timeouts. And he throws and he under throws Perryman who was curling outside and was open. He had it and he just seemed to hurry it. He didn’t look like he stepped into it. Threw off his back. He turned Woodson right around. Little move to the inside. Woodson gets turned around. He’s wide open and he should have stepped into this. He had time to step into it and he didn’t do it. No bad. He threw completely off his heels falling backward actually as he threw the ball. Third and 12 at the 47. Detroit and Dallas tied at 17. Mitchell rolling, directing, throwing back across his incomplete at the 34. Perman couldn’t hold it. He was blanketed. Risky. Boy, how risky that was for the youngster. We saw the inexperience a few moments ago when he didn’t get the ball to Pamman and that one could have been very costly. The problem is he ends up having to roll out and he didn’t hardly have a receiver anywhere near the sideline. Perman’s the closest one, but he’s clear inside by the hash marks. Washington in there doing battle. Yep. And amazingly Mitchell delivered the ball. Now Montgomery to punt. They’re out of field goal range, so he’ll have to send it down to Clayton Holmes. Bounces sideways inside the 15 and it will be down at the 16 yd line. Pretty good bounce for Dallas. Dan Malone downs it there. 347 left in overtime. Dallas with two timeouts. And uh well, the score is 17 all and 362 yds for Detroit and 345 for Dallas. And the Cowboys have the football. Those are lofty rushing numbers by both clubs. You get over 150 yards and you’re doing quality work. These two teams at 156 and what 206. Pretty good numbers for two guys. No kidding. And two pretty good offensive lines tonight. That’s Johnston in the slot. Bakeman throws underneath to EMTT and he gets out to the 23 yd line. So Detroit couldn’t get Hansen into position. Now the question is, can Dallas get the rookie Bono into position for a game-winning field goal? Don’t you feel somewhere you we’re going to have an Iran? We’re going to have a a Harper and something deep. Detroit thus far just closed down these two outstanding wide receivers. You get two timeouts in overtime. That’s what both of these clubs still have on the board. 3 minutes and 10 seconds for Dallas. Second and three. And they’re going to give it to EMTT again. and he’s going to pick up the first down. He takes it out to the 32 yd line. Not only do you have the two time, you get the two-minute warning. It’s the same. The rules are now the same as they would be at the end of any regular fourth quarter. Saw some missed tackles there by Detroit. Again, these players are physically exhausted and that’s one of the first things that begins to crop up are missed tackles. Aman good play fake Irvin open 49 yd line and it’s a first down in Detroit territory Robert Mashie was there and Irvin is shaken at that time Irvin with full concentration he knew he was going to get hammered he did held on to the football and got the first down he got the wind knocked out of him that’s that’s a shoulder right in the midsection and watch him concentrate on this and come down with it. He hugs it to his chest. He knows he’s going to get hit. He pulls it right in and he almost loses it as Massie puts his shoulder right on the ball. Great effort by outstanding wide receiver. This a tough game, folks. It’s a tough game played by really tough people. Mentally, Frank, this is mentally tough on the part of a wide receiver. He knew he was going to get it and he did get it. Some oxygen starting to return to Michael Irvin’s lungs. First thing is you feel like you’re going to die. The second you hope you do and the third it starts to come back into your lungs. He’s fine. Yeah. 222 left in overtime plus the two-minute warning. It’s been uh almost 5 years since the NFL has seen a tie. Chiefs Browns 10-10 in November of ‘ 89. We We almost saw one on a Monday night about 3 years ago. Remember that game in Chicago? The Jets and the Bears. That was one of the great games. Were you in that one with the Cards? Yes. Years ago on a Monday night. It was on a Monday night. 1983. The Cardinals and the Giants. It was like a field goal kicker that night. It might have been one of the ugliest games ever played on this planet. Smith is sent back into Dallas territory back at the 48 yd line. And now we come to the two-minute warning. So they have that much time and two timeouts as Dallas tries to set up for a game-winning field goal for the rookie Chris Bono. You asked me if I played that game. I almost denied it. I knew you did. At 9:00 Eastern, next Monday night. Great match up with two great quarterbacks. Gold Clip came into the league in 82 and outstanding careers. Well, this has been his this has been outstanding here. Jerry Jones exhorting his team from the sidelines. So many good football players. So many alternatives for Troy Aman here and so much time left. Two minutes, two timeouts. Second and 12. Irvin is back in the game. Aman, look out. Oh, he’s hit from behind. The 43 and Detroit has the football. Veronic Thomas stripped it. Boy, Troy took a long time looking downfield. You know, after that much time, you got to worry somebody’s coming up from behind. Well, he was trying to step back into the pocket. He knew he was in trouble and he just held on to it too long. But Thomas coming around the horn. Got the hand in there. Rodri Thomas talked earlier about how they have been so happy with his performance. Here he comes. Number 51 getting around Eric Williams and coming back in slapping at the ball and slapping it out. There’s a limit to how long a quarterback can stand in the pocket with the football and Troy Aman exceeded that limit. Ball at the 43 yd line. One first down and they’re back in field goal range and there is your one first down as Brett Pman with a flag down takes it to the 25 yd line. Now the flag’s not at the line of scrimmage. A flag’s downfield. I got him. Oh, and this is against the Dallas Cowboys. The contact may be on the five yds allowed. He was number 24 riding, riding, riding. That’s Larry Brown. You can’t take over four yards. Five yards. It’s a penalty that doesn’t come into play because of the completion. It’s declined by Detroit. 76 is an eligible receiver. Number 76. And number 76 an eligible receiver downfield. Scott Conover. No, he’s Scott Conover is an eligible receiver now in this formation. Yeah. Coming up. Bernie Kar announcing it. Bernie Kar now says Detroit takes a timeout. 147 remaining in overtime. They’re in field goal range for Hansen. Jason Hansen in his career, which is now in its third year, has never missed from less than 40. He’s perfect. 42 of 42. Right now, if they didn’t gain another yard, he’s looking at about a 43 yd field goal. Well, his last two have been the equivalent of hitting one irons. Mhm. Low. I think he needs to strike a pitching wedge this time. He missed the 42 y last week. Yeah. get a little immediate elevation. On opening day, he won a game on a 37 y in overtime against Atlanta in the dome. And I’d put two guys on Leon Let try to keep him from getting some penetration. If Detroit wins, a big assist to Brick Thomas. He pulled off the hattick. That was a sack, a forced fumble, and a recovered fumble to set Detroit up. I congratulate both of these clubs. They have played hard. They have fought. They have hit and they did not give up under really hot, humid conditions down on the field. Well, this could be a very defining moment for Detroit. They go on to win this game tonight. Game like this is the reason a lot of people like this game. First down of the 26. Barry Sanders goes nowhere. And you see Barry not doing what he is prone to do and that is the take the risk bounce to the outside. He’s not going to lose any yardage down at this point. He knows where he is in field position. I don’t think Detroit should be afraid to put the ball in the air here. Lions have one timeout remaining. That much time left in overtime. As long as Mitchell doesn’t take a sack, as long as he’s extremely careful to get rid of the football, I wouldn’t be afraid to run some high percentage passes here. Well, they’re not going to do it. Not in that formation. Second and nine. They give it to Barry. Oh, he’s back to the 28. So now you’re looking at a 45 yd field goal tackled by Jeff Co. with the calls that are coming in. He jumped up and down, stomped his feet. He wants to put the ball downfield. You can be conservative to a fault. Barry a little tempted to try to get to the outside. Maybe cost a yard. Third down and 12 and Dallas takes a timeout with 39 seconds remaining in overtime and third and long when we come back. Third down and 11 for the Detroit Lions. The game tied at 17 deep into overtime. If they do not pick up a yard here, it’s about a 45 yd field goal attempt for Jason Hansen. All this play calling will be forgotten if Hansen drills the field goal, but it has been extremely conservative here by Detroit. One for four is those are not the kind of numbers that inspire a lot of confidence either in the coach or the kicker. This will be an interesting call. It has a lot to do with what you believe in your young quarterback. Give him a high percentage pass or where you put next to ordinary running back Barry Sanders into the line one more time. Herman Morris standing on the sideline. So draw your own conclusions. Well Mitchell, he’s just going to set he’s going to set Hansen up right in the middle of the field. That’s all that was. That’s high percentage stuff there. And Dallas takes a timeout because if Hansen if Hansen misses this one, Dallas would get the ball at about the 34 with 32 seconds remaining. Or if they block yet another one, these guys play five quarters and it comes down to a guy who doesn’t have a matching pair of shoes. It’s all black and white right here, isn’t it? Tell you, if he makes this field goal, Detroit’s going to be hardressed to give up those uniforms. They’re going to want to play in them next week or until they lose. Dallas, on the other hand, will never wear those six again. No way. He’s not thinking about big number 78, who’s got a hand on a couple of his longer attempts tonight. Dave Craig will put it down at the 34. A 44 yd handome attempt to try to win it for Detroit. He’s got it just inside the upright. Great moment for this team. Wayne Font said last night, “This is a real measuring stick for my team.” Well, they measured up. They go to Dallas and they beat the world champions in overtime. Wayne F put a lot of stock in this game in finding out what kind of a football team he had. The Dallas Cowboys will be there. They will be there. They have too much talent to not be there. The Detroit Lions found out a great deal tonight both about Scott Mitchell and about their football team. Certainly their defensive team that took the explosive Dallas Cowboy offense and almost other than EMTT Smith with a few key runs, they just took their passing game right out of it. Well, and and you gota there’s going to be a lot of questions being asked this week here in Dallas. Jerry Jones body English didn’t work. But you know what? This is an offense that struggled last week against the hu Houston Oilers. It’s an offense that struggled tonight against the Detroit Lions. For all their talent, the Detroit the Dallas Cowboys rather the last two weeks have not been all that impressive in moving the football through the air. EMTT Smith tonight, great night. Passing wise, they just have not been clicking. Well, Hansen wins it, but the real heroes, Barry Sanders and Brick Thomas with that sack, forced fumble, and recovered fumble that set him up. And one of the fine turnarounds that we’ve seen in a long time was that Detroit offensive line embarrassed by Minnesota heroes tonight. Lions, Lyn, and OT until next Monday. Al Michaels, Frankenford, Dan Deard, Lyn Swan. Good night from Irving, Texas.
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17 comments
First and GO LIONS
Absolute cinema. Love that the NFL posting classic game
I love these full game videos
Michael Jordan era Chicago bulls
bro these dudes used to play football on straight concrete wth is this turf
I’m not asking you to believe in me.
I’m asking you to try one YouTube episode from the bio when you feel empty.
If it doesn’t calm your mind even a little, you don’t owe me your time.🚨🚨
I’ve always wanted to watch older games not just highlights of the greats. Glad to see it available so easily.
❤❤❤
Pretty cool that Al Micheal’s is call the game tn too
"Old colored movie."
I’m going to be a NFL player
DETROIT LIONS BABY
❤❤❤❤
Barry Sanders , if only he didn't retire early.
Well done thanks for share
Can’t fricken watch with these ads! 2 unskipable ads within every 2 mins
Barry Sanders is my Favorite Running Back, and I miss Texas Stadium so much.