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1993 NFL

1993 Minnesota Vikings: Solidifying A Playoff Foundation

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Dennis Green arrived in Minnesota in 1992, and promptly won a division title. The 1993 Minnesota Vikings didn’t quite match that feat. But they made it back to the playoffs and solidified what would be a perennially contending team throughout the 1990s.

The defensive front was the foundation on which this team was built. John Randle, the great Hall of Fame defensive tackle, had a 12 ½ sack season in 1993. Henry Thomas had nine more sacks at the other tackle spot and made the Pro Bowl. No combo anywhere in the league could disrupt the interior like Randle and Thomas. And that allowed another great talent, Hall of Fame defensive end Chris Doleman to pick up 12 ½ sacks of his own.

All that pressure on the quarterback enabled free safety Vencie Glenn to intercept five passes. Even with weaknesses at other spots in the back seven, the Vikings still ranked 12th in the NFL in points allowed.

The offense was the problem. Green was looking for a solution at quarterback. There were certainly good targets to throw to. Cris Carter, a future Hall of Famer, would catch 86 passes this season and make the Pro Bowl. Anthony Carter (no relation) was a veteran and caught 60 more balls. Steve Jordan’s 56 catches showed he was still as reliable a tight end as there was.

But there weren’t a lot of good options at QB. Green signed Jim McMahon. A veteran of the Super Bowl champion 1985 Chicago Bears, McMahon was colorful, a leader…and also injury-prone with a weak arm. His 5.9 yards-per-attempt in 1993 was one of the league’s worst. But his 60 percent completion rate was solid and he steered clear of mistakes. It made him a good fit for a team that wanted to win with defense.

A running game would have helped a lot, but even with another Hall of Famer, Randall McDaniel, keying the offensive line, the Vikings could not generate a consistent attack. Everyone from Scottie Graham to Barry Word to Robert Smith to Roger Craig got a chance. None maintained any consistency. So the Minnesota offense ranked just 20th in a 28-team league for points scored.

The Vikings opened the season in Los Angeles against the Raiders, another team that had the postseason in their future. The McMahon experiment didn’t begin well—he was intercepted twice, there was no running game, Minnesota was in a 21-0 hole by half and lost 24-7.

A home game with Chicago saw the Vikes play more to their identity. It was a tough defensive game and McMahon made the big throw—a 16-yard touchdown pass Carter was the difference in the 10-7 win. After a bye week, Minnesota won another physical  home game against a key division rival. They beat Green Bay 15-13 on the strength of five field goals from Fuad Reveiz and McMahon avoiding mistakes, while young Brett Favre made them on the other side.

Minnesota went back on the road to play San Francisco, one of the league’s best teams in this era, with Steve Young at quarterback. McMahon threw an early touchdown pass for a 7-0 lead, and then a fourth-quarter TD toss that had the Vikings within 24-19. But with an upset in sight, the defense collapsed and the 49ers pulled away, 38-19.

Back at home against a division rival, Minnesota got back in their comfort zone. They beat Tampa Bay (prior to the realignment of 2002, the Bucs shared the NFC Central with the four current teams of the NFC North) 15-0 thanks to five turnovers, including two picks by Glenn.

A second bye week—a concept the NFL experimented with this season and then thankfully dropped—preceded a Monday Night visit to Chicago. It was a homecoming of sorts for McMahon, even though he’d had a couple of stops since his glory days in the Windy City. The Minnesota defense stole the stage. They got nine sacks, three from Randle and two by Doleman. Audrey McMillan produced a Pick-6. The Vikes won it 19-12.

Another prime-time game against a division rival was up when Detroit came in for Sunday Night Football. McMahon was knocked out early. Sean Salisbury, last season’s primary starter, came in and showed he wanted his job back. Salisbury went 25/37 for 234 yards. Smith rushed for 115 yards. The Vikings led 27-13 in the fourth quarter. Then the defense completely fell apart and lost 30-27.

The job was still Salisbury’s for a home game with mediocre San Diego. The backup QB produced his numbers—29/47 for 347 yards, with Cris Carter catching ten balls for 164 yards. Minnesota led 17-16 after three quarters. Then the defense again came apart in the fourth quarter, the result being a 30-17 loss.

Salisbury started again at playoff-bound Denver and again had a big day. He went 19/37 for 366 yards, with both the Carters going for 100-plus yards receiving. Minnesota got a big road win over John Elway, 26-23.

At 5-4, the Vikings needed to keep it going when they went to Tampa Bay for another Sunday Night appearance. Salisbury was hot. Maybe this new revved-up attack was going to work. Actually, no.

Salisbury played poorly, the running game continued to be non-existent and Minnesota lost 23-10 in a game where they were an eight-point favorite. A 17-14 home loss to mediocre New Orleans, marked by giving up a special teams TD, pushed the Vikes under .500.

It wasn’t too much to say that the season was on the line when Minnesota went to Detroit. McMahon returned to the lineup. The Lions had taken a big blow themselves, losing their great running back, Barry Sanders, to a knee injury on Thanksgiving. Not having to key on Sanders, freed up on the Viking defensive front. And did they ever unleash. Randle had a three-sack game. Doleman added two more. Seven sacks on the day led a 13-0 shutout.

The NFC Central was jam-packed. Minnesota was 6-6, and chasing Detroit, Green Bay and Chicago, who were all 7-5. The alignment and playoff format of the time had three divisions per conference and three wild-card spots. One of the wild-cards would go to the NFC East, where the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants were having big years. But the other two were open, with only 7-5 New Orleans being in the mix outside of the NFC Central.

Unfortunately for the Vikes, the eventual Super Bowl champion Cowboys were next on the schedule. In the late afternoon window at home, both McMahon and Salisbury played. Neither particularly well. Minnesota trailed 27-6 by the third quarter and lost 37-20. Detroit and Green Bay both won and created some space in the race for the division title. The good news was that Chicago and New Orleans both lost. The Vikes were still within a game of the playoffs.

But they had to win against Green Bay. Playing in old Milwaukee County Stadium, where the Packers used to play three home games a year, the Vikings trailed 10-7 at the half. McMahon then did what proud veterans do. He played beyond what his body could still realistically do. The quarterback finished 22/31 for 207 yards. He threw three touchdown passes, two of them to Cris Carter in the second half. The 21-17 win kept Minnesota alive. Chicago and New Orleans both lost.

The Vikings were in a three-way tie for one spot, themselves, the Bears and Saints all 7-7. Minnesota would have the tiebreaker on Chicago within the division, but would lose a tiebreaker with New Orleans. And on top of all this, the Vikings were still only a game back in the NFC Central…and their 6-2 divisional record ensured they would win any tiebreaker.

The next game was a Sunday Night home date with a good Kansas City Chiefs team that had Joe Montana at quarterback. The events of that afternoon sorted a lot out. Detroit and Green Bay both won, ensuring their head-to-head game the following week would settle the division. But Chicago and New Orleans both lost. The Vikings controlled their own destiny for the playoffs. And if you wanted more good news for Minnesota, it’s that the day’s results clinched the AFC West for Kansas City and reduced the Chiefs’ urgency.

McMahon threw a 31-yard TD pass to Cris Carter for a 10-0 lead in the second quarter. At 10-3 in the third quarter, McMahon and Carter hooked up again from 29 yards out. Graham had his best night of the season, with 166 yards. The Vikings cruised to a 30-10 win.

They weren’t in yet, but they had control and the schedule would finally work in their favor. The Washington Redskins, one of the league’s best teams for the previous 12 years, were in a massive downward spiral following the retirement of head coach Joe Gibbs. That was all that was standing in the way of Minnesota and the postseason.

New Year’s Eve fell on Friday and the league decided to schedule this game for 3 PM that afternoon, so the Vikings went to D.C. on a short week. They didn’t play well up front, being outrushed 112-46. But McMahon and Cris Carter had something going together down the stretch and it continued here. The receiver caught seven balls for 113 yards and keyed a 14-9 win.

For the playoffs, Minnesota might have preferred not to be so strong in the tiebreakers. Because it meant that they would be in the 5-seed position, ahead of whomever lost the Detroit-Green Bay game. Which meant that instead of playing the winner of that game (it would be the Lions), the Vikings had to go and play the 11-5 New York Giants, who had chased Dallas to the final game of the season.

But the Giants had lost an overtime showdown with the Cowboys in that regular season finale and perhaps were a little drained. Playing in the swirling winds of the Meadowlands early the following Sunday afternoon, McMahon threw a 40-yard TD pass to Carter and put Minnesota up 10-3 at the half.

An upset was brewing, but the physical New York ground attack finally took over. The Vikings were outrushed 176-79. Not being able to run the football was fatal in a game like this, on a day when passing was difficult. Minnesota lost 17-10.

It was a second straight playoff trip, but Green and the Vikings clearly wanted more. In the ensuing offseason, they swung a trade for Warren Moon, the future Hall of Fame quarterback with the Houston Oilers. The results didn’t change dramatically, but Minnesota got back on top of the balanced NFC Central in 1994. And they continued to churn out playoff appearances all the way through 2000.

1993 Detroit Lions: A Return To The Top Of The NFC Central

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The Barry Sanders Era in Detroit had its first big breakthrough in 1991, when the Lions reached the NFC Championship Game. After a hard fall to last place in 1992, it looked like that breakout might be a fluke. The 1993 Detroit Lions answered those doubts—they won a division title, returned to the postseason and begin a string of playoff appearances that carried them through the decade.

Sanders had a Pro Bowl season. Even in a year where he missed four games due to injury, Barry rushed for over 1,110 yards, and his 36 catches were third-most on the team. He ran behind an offensive line that was keyed by future Hall of Fame tackle Lomas Brown having a Pro Bowl season of his own. Herman Moore opened up space from his wide receiver spot, catching 61 balls at better than fifteen yards a pop. Brett Perriman was a reliable second receiver and Willie Green a big play threat.

The journey at quarterback…well, that was a little more interesting. Rodney Peete had the job when the season opened and he did start ten games. His 62 percent completion rate was fourth-best among starting QBs. His 6.6 yards-per-attempt, while mediocre, could have been managed.

But what couldn’t be managed was his 6-14 TD/INT ratio. Or being intercepted on an astonishingly high 5.6 percent of his throws, easily the worst in the league. The result was the quarterback job being up for grabs and Peete ending up on the bench for the season’s biggest moments. And the offense as a whole finished 16th in a 28-team league for points scored, in spite of having a generational talent in the backfield.

Detroit made a big move in the offseason to upgrade their defense. They acquired outside linebacker Pat Swilling from New Orleans. In retrospect, the Lions lost on the trade—they gave up a draft choice that the Saints used to get a Hall of Fame offensive lineman in Willie Roaf, just at a point when Swilling’s decline from being one of the game’s best was beginning.

But in fairness, Swilling still had a Pro Bowl year in 1993. He was the only one on the defense to do so, a unit that would rank 15th in the NFL for points allowed.

The season opened at home against a subpar Atlanta Falcons team. Sanders struck first with a 26-yard touchdown jaunt in the first quarter. Linebacker George Jamison returned an interception for another TD. The Lion defense shut down the Atlanta running game and came up with six sacks. The result was an easy 30-13 win.

A visit to Foxboro was up next. The Patriots were beginning a rebuilding project under Bill Parcells and were not a good team. But they played a lot of close games and this was one of them. Sanders did his thing, going for 148 yards on 32 carries. Peete struggled and threw three interceptions. Detroit needed overtime to escape with a 19-16 win.

Swilling’s return home to New Orleans was a disaster. The Lions were crushed up front, giving up 172 yards on the ground. Barry only got 16 carries, while Peete was sacked five times and then benched for Andre Ware midway through the 14-3 loss.

Ware, a former Heisman Trophy winner at the University of Houston, who never really panned out in the pros, got the start the following week against the mediocre Phoenix Cardinals at home. Pass protection was still porous, as Ware hit the deck five times. But he steered clear of the mistakes and a 3-0 edge on turnovers was the reason Detroit won the football game, 26-20.

But a road date to face a bad Tampa Bay Buccaneers squad showed that Ware was not any kind of long-term solution. He was erratic and was pulled for Erik Kramer. Even though Barry ripped off 130 yards, including an early TD that staked the Lions to a 10-zip lead, they fell apart and lost 27-10.

Detroit went into a bye week at 3-2, but looking for answers. Particularly, looking for a quarterback. Peete got his job back when they returned to play at home against Seattle two weeks later. Moore stepped up and caught eight balls for 98 yards. Sanders ran for 101 yards. The Lions held a 14-7 lead in the third quarter when a red-zone stop on defense forced a Seahawks field goal. Mel Gray then returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown. Detroit pulled away to win 30-10.

Peete played his best game of the season the following week in Los Angeles against the Rams. He went 15/25 for 249 yards. Moore caught six of those balls for 120 yards. Detroit won 16-13.

The Lions were 5-2, but they had yet to play a team that would finish the season over .500. Of their first seven opponents, only the Saints might have even been reasonably expected to do so. So the record was nice, but in a balanced division, there were plenty of key tests ahead. And the first one came on Sunday Night in Minnesota.

With Sanders being kept in check, held to 64 yards on 14 carries, the test was being failed when Detroit trailed 27-13 in the fourth quarter. They were backed up deep in their own end. Then Peete and Moore hooked up on a 93-yard touchdown pass. Peete finished the night 20/28 for 273 yards and led a fourth-quarter flurry that produced a 30-27 win.

Tampa Bay made their return visit to Detroit a week later (prior to the realignment of 2002, the Bucs were in the NFC Central, along with the four current teams of the NFC North). The Lions got some revenge when Sanders went off for 187 yards and led a 23-0 whitewashing. Detroit was riding high at 7-2 when the second bye week (a concept the NFL thankfully dropped after just this one season) arrived.

Green Bay was in their second year with Brett Favre at quarterback and aiming for a breakthrough playoff appearance. Detroit went to Milwaukee, where the Packers used to play three home games a year, for the first meeting. Sanders was kept under control, Peete was outplayed by Favre and the Lions lost 26-17.

The stretch of big divisional games continued when contending Chicago came in for the annual Thanksgiving Day game at the old Silverdome. To call the result a disaster for the Lions understates the case. Not only did they lose 10-6, but Sanders injured his left knee. He was out for at least a few weeks.

Without the great running back to take the pressure off, Peete was completely exposed at home against Minnesota ten days later. He threw four interceptions. Ware came in threw another one. In spite of a good effort from the Detroit defense, the Lions lost 13-0.

A season that had such possibilities just a month ago was now reeling. But it was far from lost. Detroit’s 7-5 record was still tied for first in the NFC Central, along with Green Bay and Chicago. Minnesota was a game back at 6-6.

The alignment of the time had just three divisions per conference, meaning there were three wild-card berths available. While the runner-up in the NFC East (either the New York Giants or Dallas Cowboys) would clearly get one of them, the other two were wide open. And New Orleans, at 7-5, was the only other contender outside the NFC Central. So with everything still on the line, head coach Wayne Fontes gave the quarterback job to Kramer. And to further underscore his dissatisfaction, the head coach fired offensive coordinator Dan Henning.

Another scheduling quirk of the pre-2002 era was that last-place finishers in the same conference played each other twice the following year. Thus, Detroit went to Phoenix for a second game against the Cardinals. The Lions finally found a running game, with Derrick Moore gaining 107 yards. Kramer played well, going 19/25 for 257 yards and three TD passes. Detroit snapped their losing streak with a 21-14 win.

The potent San Francisco 49ers, headed for the 2-seed in the NFC, came into Motown for a late Sunday afternoon kickoff. Kramer had another good game, going 19/29 for 220 yards with no mistakes. But it was drop in the bucket compared to the offensive avalanche Steve Young’s 49ers unleashed. Detroit gave up 565 yards of total offense and got crushed, 55-17.

At least no one in the NFC Central was really good enough to step up and take the bull by the horns. Chicago was on a two-game losing streak that dropped them to 7-7. Minnesota was also 7-7. Outside the division, so was New Orleans. So Detroit and Green Bay were sitting on 8-6 records, tied for first and looking at a head-to-head showdown in the final week of the season.

Before that was  a visit to the Windy City on the day after Christmas. Kramer completely outplayed Bears’ counterpart Jim Harbaugh, going 23/31 for 223 yards. Kramer was the difference in a 20-14 win that clinched at least a wild-card spot. Green Bay held serve, clinching a wild-card berth of their own. The NFC Central would come down to one game in the Silverdome.

By the time kickoff arrived, it was known that the Lions and Packers would be the #3 and #6 seeds, depending on the outcome of this game. Meaning they were guaranteed to play each other again in the Wild-Card Round. But there was still the matter of NFC Central pride, to say nothing of homefield advantage for next week.

Detroit trailed 20-16 after three quarters. But even in his later years, Favre could be more than a little mistake-prone. As a young quarterback, the tendency was even more pronounced. The Lions picked off four passes, turned everything around in the fourth quarter and won 30-20. They were NFC Central champs.

The news kept getting better. Barry was back and healthy for the playoffs. On a late Saturday afternoon in Detroit, he and Favre put on an electrifying show. Sanders went off for 169 yards. Perriman caught 10 balls for 150 yards. Favre was having a big day of his own. But this time it was Kramer who made the biggest mistake.

Leading 17-14 and driving, late in the third quarter, Kramer threw a ball into coverage that was intercepted in the end zone and brought back all the way to the house. The Lion quarterback still led another drive and gave his team a 24-21 lead. But Favre had the last word, throwing a late touchdown pass that broke Detroit’s heart, 28-24.

Any loss like this that ends a season, especially to a division rival, is always hard to swallow. But Detroit had gotten back in the playoffs. And it continued through the decade. This was the first of three straight playoff trips, four in five years and five in seven years. All on top of the ’91 NFC Championship Game trip. The 1993 Detroit Lions were a big part of a rare run of success for this franchise.

1993 Denver Broncos: A Return To The Playoffs

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An era of John Elway’s career came to an end in 1992, when head coach Dan Reeves was fired. Elway and Reeves didn’t always see eye-to-eye, but they had reached Super Bowls together in 1986, 1987 and 1989. Wade Phillips was elevated from defensive coordinator to the head coaching job. Elway picked up where he left off and the Broncos returned to the playoffs after a one-year absence.

Now 33-years-old, Elway put together a Pro Bowl season with excellent numbers across the board. He completed 63 percent of his throws for 7.3 yards-per-attempt. He threw 25 touchdown passes and was only intercepted 1.8 percent of the time. All of those numbers ranked ninth or better among starting quarterbacks.

Elway benefitted in no small part from the emergence of Hall of Fame tight end Shannon Sharpe. With 81 catches for nearly 1,000 yards, Sharpe was 1st-team All-NFL. Derrek Russell and veteran Vance Johnson rounded out the receiving corps.

The passing attack had to carry the offense, as the lack of good talent up front led to pedestrian production from Rod Bernstine and Robert Delpino in the backfield. But with Elway and Sharpe leading the way, Denver ranked third in the NFL in points scored.

Karl Mecklenburg was the defensive equivalent of Elway—33-years-old and an important holdover from the Super Bowl years. Like Elway, the inside linebacker had a Pro Bowl campaign in 1993. Simon Fletcher, an outside linebacker in Phillips’ aggressive 3-4 scheme, rang up 13 ½ sacks. Shane Dronett provided a quality pass rush from his defensive end spot.

The secondary had a couple Pro Bowl safeties who could lay the heavy lumber. Dennis Smith was the veteran, 34-years-old at strong safety. Steve Atwater was the up-and-comer, age 25 and roaming at free safety. Smith and Atwater rounded out a defense that ranked a solid 10th in the league for points allowed.

Denver opened the season in the Meadowlands, facing a New  York Jets team that would contend deep into the season for a playoff spot. Elway was sharp, going 20/29 for 269 yards and no interceptions. The Broncos led 26-6 after three quarters and closed out a 26-20 win.

San Diego had won the AFC West a year earlier and they came to Mile High Stadium for the home opener. After a scoreless first quarter, Elway opened up. He tossed a couple second-quarter touchdowns, finished 24/34 for 297 yards and led a 34-17 win.

A big Monday Night visit to Kansas City was up next. The Chiefs had just acquired Joe Montana in the effort to make the leap from playoff team to Super Bowl contender. But neither great quarterback was the story in this game. The story was that the Broncos got pounded in the trenches, losing rush yardage 160-35. Elway’s 28/45 for 300 yards night was mostly empty numbers in a 15-7 loss.

After a bye week, Denver hosted the Indianapolis Colts. Elway carved up a bad team, going 20/30 for 230 yards, two TDs and zero mistakes. The running game advantage was 196-83. The Broncos were up 28-zip by halftime and won 35-13.

Green Bay was aiming for a breakthrough year with second-year quarterback Brett Favre. The Packers would indeed make the playoffs this season. The Broncos dug themselves a 30-7 hole on the Sunday Night stage in Lambeau Field, thanks in part to 13 penalties. Elway nearly pulled off some magic. He went 33/59 for 367 yards. Vance Johnson caught 10 balls for 148 yards. Denver closed to within 30-27, but couldn’t come all the way back.

At 3-2, the Broncos hosted the Los Angeles Raiders, another Monday Night game against a rival with designs on contending in 1993. Bernstine had a good night on the ground, rushing for 101 yards. But this time it was the passing game that failed. Elway was sacked seven times. When he did get his throws off, he was only 16/30 for 188 yards. Denver lost 23-20 and slipped to .500.

It was time for a second bye. This was the one season the  NFL experimented with a double bye. It was a concept that went over poorly with everyone, although the timing was providential for Denver, coming off two straight losses. They returned at home against Seattle with their play considerably cleaned up. Elway was 23/36 for 255 yards. The Seahawks were the team that committed the penalties. Dronett was the player getting the sacks. The Broncos were the team winning the football game, 28-17.

Denver went on to Cleveland, facing a Browns team that was improving under Bill Belichick, but a year away from being playoff-caliber. Elway went up top to Russell from 38 yards and Sharpe from 33. The Broncos controlled the game in all phases and won 29-14.

That was followed by jumping out to a 20-3 lead over playoff-bound Minnesota at home, with Elway going 30/40 for 290 yards and Sharpe going over 100 yards receiving. But there was no running game and they couldn’t hold the lead. The Broncos dropped a tough one, 26-23.

At 5-4, Denver needed to pick up the pace, especially with an AFC playoff contender in Pittsburgh coming to town next. Elway was making big plays, going 18/25 for 276 yards and no mistakes. Defensively, Mecklenburg and Fletcher picked up two sacks apiece. The Broncos crushed a good team, 37-13.

A week later they beat a bad one in Seattle (the Seahawks were an AFC West team prior to 2002) 17-9 thanks to six more sacks, with Fletcher and Mike Croel leading the way.

The Chargers were struggling through a mediocre season, but Denver could not escape San Diego with a win. Elway was erratic, he was sacked five times and there was no running game. Even though the Broncos led 10-3 after three quarters, they couldn’t close this one and lost 13-10.

At 7-5, Denver was in the middle of a jam-packed wild-card race. They were two games back of Kansas City in the AFC West. The league structure of the time had just three divisions per conference, meaning there were three wild-cards. It looked like Miami, at 9-3 and chasing Buffalo in the AFC East, had a hold on the first one. The Broncos, Raiders, Steelers and Jets were all 7-5 in the push for the final two spots.

The Chiefs came to Mile High and it was a terrific game. Elway threw two TD passes to Sharpe and Bernstine rushed for 90 yards. The Broncos still trailed 21-17 in the fourth quarter. The Elway-to-Sharpe combination came through one more. They pulled out a 27-21 win and not only strengthened their playoff hopes, but kept the division title in play.

A visit to mediocre Chicago in the early afternoon the following Saturday, saw a tough game on a cold and wet day. Bernstine rushed for 103 yards, the defense forced five turnovers and Denver won it 13-3. They still trailed KC by a game in the AFC West and the Chiefs had the tiebreaker. But the Broncos, along with the Raiders and the suddenly slumping Dolphins, were all 9-5 and had control of the wild-card spots. The Steelers and Jets continued to be in chase at 8-6, but Denver had a head-to-head win over both teams.

So maybe there was some urgency missing the following week at home against a bad Tampa Bay team. There were no big plays on either side of the ball. The Broncos fell flat as a two-touchdown favorite and lost 17-10. But everyone else in the wild-card picture also lost. It wasn’t the most inspiring way to clinch a playoff berth, but the Broncos were back in.

The season finale was in Los Angeles against the Raiders. By the time kickoff arrived, it was established that these teams would be in the 4-5 spots in the AFC bracket and playing each other in the wild-card round. The winner of this game would host the next one.

For the better part of three quarters, it looked like Denver would have one more home game. Elway threw a couple touchdown passes to Sharpe, one from 54 yards. Elway finished 25/36 for 361 yards and the Broncos led 30-13.

Then came a complete defensive collapse that didn’t stop until the season was over. Denver gave up big plays in the passing game and blew this one, 33-30 in overtime. The following week, even with Elway and Sharpe hot again, the wild-card game was in a 21-21 tie at halftime. Then the rush defense fell apart in the second half. The Raiders pulled away to a 42-24 win and sent the Broncos home.

It was a bitter end to an otherwise pretty good season. The Broncos had looked much better than a 9-7 team that lost in the first round of the playoffs. But, as the saying goes, you are what your record says you are. The Broncos followed up the late fade of 1993 with non-playoff years the next two years. Not until 1996, when Mike Shanahan was the head coach, did the last great run Elway’s career begin.

The Playoff Season Of The 1993 Los Angeles Raiders

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Art Shell’s first full season coaching the Raiders in 1990 had been a clear success, with a division title and AFC Championship Game appearance to show for it. But the next two years marked decline. A year later, the Raiders snuck into the playoffs and were quickly eliminated. In 1992, they slipped under .500. The 1993 Los Angeles Raiders got the trend reversed, returning to postseason play and advancing once they got there.

Making a change at quarterback was a priority in the offseason, and the Raiders went out and signed Jeff Hostetler. A career backup, the veteran Hostetler had made the most of his opportunity in 1990 with the New York Giants. When Phil Simms got hurt late in the year, Hostetler took over and led the Giants to a Super Bowl victory. That’s the kind of performance that will get you a shot at starting.

What’s more, Hostetler’s arm strength fit the desires of longtime Raider owner Al Davis to have his offenses built around the home run ball. Even though Hostetler’s 56 percent completion rate was low, his 7.7 yards-per-attempt ranked fourth among starting quarterbacks. And he was in the top half of the league when it came to avoiding interceptions.

Tim Brown was the heart and soul of the passing game. The future Hall of Fame receiver and return man had a Pro Bowl year in 1993, catching 80 balls for nearly 1,200 yards. Tight end Ethan Horton caught 43 more passes.

Surrounding the steady Brown and the consistent Horton were a group of speedsters who could stretch the field. James Jett averaged a stunning 23.4 yards-per-catch. Rocket Ismail and Anthony Wright were other playmakers on the outside. Having receivers with names like “Jett” and “Rocket” is a pretty apt way of capturing how explosive the Los Angeles passing game could be.

And that’s a good thing, because the running game lacked consistency. Even though guards Steve Wisniewski and Max Montoya made the Pro Bowl, the Raiders could not run the ball. Their future Hall of Fame legend, Marcus Allen, had a bad falling out with Davis and signed on with AFC West rival Kansas City. Allen was productive. His replacement in L.A., Greg Robinson, was not.

All of which is why, even with the vertical passing game, the Raider offense ranked 14th, squarely in the middle of the 28-team league, for points scored.

The defense was anchored by its strength up front. Howie Long was 33-years-old, but the future Hall of Famer had another Pro Bowl season at defensive end. Anthony Smith recorded 12 1/2 sacks. Greg Townsend added 7 ½ sacks of his own on the edge. Chester McGlockton got home seven times coming up the middle.

But the back seven was a problem. Even though Terry McDaniel was a Pro Bowler at corner, the Raiders were vulnerable and they finished 21st in the league in points allowed.

No problems of any kind showed in the season opener at home against the Minnesota Vikings. Facing a team that had made the playoffs in ’92 and would again this season, Hostetler went 23/27 for 225 yards. The defense had the Vikes under control in a 24-7 win.

A Sunday Night trip to the old Seattle Kingdome was next. In a 10-10 tie in the second quarter, Hostetler hit Brown with a 33-yard touchdown strike. The defense made it stand up. Anthony Smith had four sacks, and the Raiders won 17-13.

The Cleveland Browns, gradually improving in their third year under Bill Belichick, came to the L.A. Coliseum in Week 3. The Raider defense was playing well and intercepted four passes. They led 13-0 after three quarters. But the offensive line was having an awful afternoon. There was no running game. Hostetler was sacked five times and eventually knocked out. The lead disappeared in a 19-16 loss.

After a bye week, Los Angeles went to Kansas City for a big divisional showdown. Hostetler was still not ready to return and veteran Vince Evans got the start. But the week off didn’t help the pass protection—Evans hit the deck six times in a 24-9 loss.

Hostetler got the start the following week at home against the Jets. But an early Pick-6 showed he clearly wasn’t ready. Evans stepped in facing a 17-0 hole. In a game that would prove significant as the season came down the stretch, Evans threw a 42-yard touchdown pass to Jett and a 68-yarder to Wright. The backup rallied the Raiders to a 24-20 win.

That set the stage for a Monday Night visit to traditional AFC West rival Denver, and John Elway. Hostetler got the start and this time he was ready. He played mistake-free football and Brown caught six balls for 116 yards. Los Angeles led 13-3 in the fourth quarter. The lack of a running game gave Elway time to rally the Broncos to a 20-20 tie and force overtime. It was L.A. kicker Jeff Jaeger that ended up the hero, nailing a 53-yard field goal to win it.

In 1993, the NFL experimented with the concept of a double bye. It was an idea that mercifully ended after one year. The Raiders took their second bye week coming off the Monday Night win. When they returned, the San Diego Chargers came to town.

The Bolts had won the AFC West in 1992 and would reach the Super Bowl in 1994. This year in between was more mediocre. When Hostetler got the day started with a 71-yard TD strike to Brown, all looked well. The quarterback went on to a 20/32 for 424 yards performance.

But he also made the game’s signature mistake. In a 17-17 tie and driving for the lead in the third quarter, Hostetler was intercepted in the end zone and it came back all the way. That was the difference in what ended a tough 30-23 loss.

Not having a running game was killing the Raiders and undoubtedly galled Shell, a Hall of Fame offensive lineman in his playing days for the Silver-N-Black. That changed at Chicago on November 7. A balanced running game produced 179 yards on the ground and the Raiders got a 16-14 survival win over a team on the fringe of the NFC playoff picture.

At 5-3, the home game with the Chiefs was a big one. With Robinson rushing for 90 yards, L.A. was up 17-7 at the half. But in an inverse of what this offense normally was, Hostetler was erratic. He was only 16/35 for 187 yards. The second half was a disaster and ended in a 31-20 loss.

The return visit to San Diego was next. To look at the individual stats suggests the Raiders dominated the game. They controlled the ball over 41 minutes. Jett caught seven balls for 138 yards. Robinson gained 89 yards on the ground. But bogging down in the red zone kept it close. Even so, L.A. was able to get out of town with a 12-7 win.

At 6-4, a date with lowly Cincinnati seemed just what the doctor ordered, even if it was on the road. But the Raiders played their worst game of the season. Hostetler was awful. There was no running game. An embarrassing 16-10 loss put L.A.’s playoff hopes in serious jeopardy.

Especially with a road trip to Buffalo coming up. The Bills were the three-time defending AFC champions. Playing them on the road to begin December wasn’t exactly an ideal spot, especially in a must-win situation. The Raiders fell behind 24-16 going into the fourth quarter, with Hostetler being sacked five times. What’s more, an eight-point deficit prior to 1994 when the two-point conversion was introduced at the pro level, was a two-score deficit.

Their backs to the wall, the Raiders responded. Brown caught ten passes for 183 yards on the day and that included a 29-yard TD pass that got Los Angeles back in the game. Jaeger’s 47-yard field goal delivered L.A. the win they had to have.

Kansas City was leading the AFC West comfortably at 9-3. Prior to 2002 though, there were only three divisions per conference. Meaning that three wild-card spots were available to fill out the postseason bracket. Miami seemed a lock for one spot at 9-3 and in a race with Buffalo in the AFC East. After that, the Raiders joined the Broncos, Jets and Steelers at 7-5. It was a wide open race to the finish.

Seattle was in the AFC West prior to that ’02 realignment and their return visit to the L.A. Coliseum was up next. Hostetler hit Jett on a 56-yard touchdown pass to get the scoring started. Brown showcased his return skills with a 74-yard punt return to the house. Hostetler was 18/25 for 278 yards and no mistakes. The Raiders led 27-9 after three quarters and then hung on to win 27-23.

Meanwhile, everything else tightened up. Miami lost. Kansas City lost to Denver. The Raiders were within a game in the AFC West and within a game of the top wild-card—which, being the 4-seed, had a home game as its reward.

Business still had to get taken care of at home against lowly Tampa Bay. Hostetler and Wright got the game off to a fast start, with a 27-yard touchdown pass. Los Angeles took a quick 14-0 lead and then chiseled out a 27-20 win.

News from around the league was mostly good. The Dolphins lost again. So did the Jets and Steelers. The Raiders, Broncos and Dolphins were now 9-5 and holding down the three wild-card spots.

A road trip to Green Bay was next. The Packers were seeking their first playoff berth in the Brett Favre era. On a frigid day, the Raiders could do nothing offensively. Neither team protected their quarterback particularly well, but Los Angeles was also turning the ball over and unable to run it. They were routed 28-0.

That ended any longshot hopes of chasing down Kansas City for the division title and prevented Los Angeles from clinching a playoff spot, but it wasn’t a disaster. Every other wild-card contender had lost, so it was still Raiders, Broncos and Dolphins at 9-6 and in control, with the Steelers and Jets giving chase at 8-7.

Denver was coming to town for the season finale. The tiebreaker situation meant the Broncos had already clinched a spot. In the early afternoon out East, Miami completed their collapse with an overtime loss in New England. That result clinched a spot for the Raiders. By the time kickoff arrived, the Raiders and Broncos knew they would be playing each other the following week. This game would determine where.

When L.A. dug themselves a 30-13 hole in the third quarter, team travel agents were undoubtedly looking at flights to Denver. Then Hostetler threw a 24-yard TD pass to Brown. A field goal cut the lead to seven points. A short TD pass to Wright tied it. Hostetler finished the afternoon 25/41 for 310 yards and no interceptions. For the second time this season, Jaeger beat the Broncos in overtime. The 33-30 win ensured that Wild-Card Weekend would conclude the following Sunday at the Coliseum.

Both Hostetler and Elway were ready for the showdown. A nine-yard TD pass to Horton and a 65-yard strike to Brown gave the Raiders a 14-7 lead after one quarter. Hostetler then threw a 54-yard TD pass to Jett. But Elway was responding in kind and the game went to the locker room at 21-21.

With both quarterbacks having huge days, it would be, ironically enough, the running game that would save Los Angeles. Shell gave the ball to Napoleon McCallum and the veteran running back who had his career briefly interrupted to serve in the U.S. Navy, delivered in spades. McCallum carried 13 times for 81 yards. In the second half, he found the end zone three times. The Raiders pulled away to a 42-24 win.

Thus, at the season’s money moments, the Raiders had outscored their most hated rival 62-24 going back to the start of the fourth quarter in the regular season finale. And it earned them a ticket to Buffalo.

Shell kept giving the football to McCallum and the early Saturday afternoon television audience watched in surprise as Los Angeles jumped on Buffalo for a 17-6 lead in the second quarter. This Bills team was a veteran group though, and a year earlier had rallied from a 35-3 deficit in the third quarter to beat the Houston Oilers in the playoffs. Being down 11 in the first half wasn’t going to intimidate them.

Buffalo cut it to 17-13 by the half and took a 22-17 lead in the third quarter. Hostetler and Brown then found some more magic—an 86-yard touchdown pass that gave them a 23-22 lead. They took that lead into the fourth quarter, but the Bills got the last word—a touchdown pass that ended the Raiders’ season with a 29-23 loss.

The 1993 season was still a success. It was a 10-win season, a return to the playoffs and a win over Denver when they got there. It’s ending was a respectable loss to a team that went on to a record fourth straight AFC title.

Where the disappointment really comes in is that this was the last high point for Shell. When a 1994 team of great expectations went only 9-7 and missed the playoffs, he was fired. Mediocrity was the story for the rest of the decade, until Jon Gruden got them back into the playoffs in 2000 and reached the Super Bowl in 2002.

1993 Houston Oilers: A Big Tease & A Final Collapse

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The 1993 Houston Oilers had spent the previous six seasons as a consistent playoff team that always seemed just ready to break through to the league’s elite. But postseason success was missing. They had not even made the AFC Championship Game during this time period, much less gotten to a Super Bowl. The ’93 Oilers, after a slow start, had the look of a team ready to do just that. But instead, another playoff collapse spelled the end of the era.

1992 had ended with the collapse of all collapses, blowing a 35-3 second half lead in the wild-card round at Buffalo. Suffice it to say, Houston was looking to make some changes. They went out and hired Buddy Ryan, architect of the great 1985 Chicago Bears defense, and more recently, a modestly successful head coach in Philadelphia, to be the new coordinator.

Buddy got the defense playing well, with the trademark pressure he liked to bring. A veteran defensive line, with all the key players 31-years-old, saw William Fuller, Ray Childress and Sean Jones combine for 31 sacks. Childress and Jones made the Pro Bowl.

The pressure allowed free safety Marcus Roberts to have the year of his life, intercepting seven passes and making 1st-team All-NFL. Cris Dishman and Steve Jackson at the corners combined for 11 more picks themselves. Houston’s defense ranked fourth in the NFL In points allowed.

But the Oilers of this era were ultimately defined by Warren Moon, the future Hall of Fame quarterback, and the spread-the-field attack that was the first of its kind to consistently use four wide receivers at a time. Webster Slaughter was the prime target in 1993, catching 77 passes for over 900 yards and making the Pro Bowl. Ernest Givins and Haywood Jeffires were each in the high 60s for receptions. Curtis Duncan caught 41 more balls.

In spite of these targets, Moon did not have one of his better statistical years. His 6.7 yards-per-attempt was squarely in the middle of the league and that was his strongest area. The 58 completion rate was subpar. And the 21-21 TD/INT ratio, while not as awful as it would be today, was still poor by the standards of 1993.

Houston might have been in serious trouble offensively, but the running game picked up the slack. Gary Brown emerged as a 1,000-yard rusher. He ran behind an offensive line  that had veteran Pro Bowlers in Mike Munchak and Bruce Matthews. And it was enough for the Oilers to still rank fourth in the league in points scored.

The season started on a Sunday Night in New Orleans. The Saints had been another consistent playoff team going back to 1987, that also couldn’t advance deep in the playoffs. Even though they slipped to mediocrity this year, it didn’t start in Week 1. Houston lost four fumbles and were beaten up front to the tune of a 142-70 deficit in rush yardage. The result was a 33-21 loss.

The home opener was against Kansas City. The Chiefs were not only another consistent playoff team looking to take the proverbial next step, but they had signed the great Joe Montana as their quarterback. But Montana wasn’t ready to play yet and the Oilers had their way with the Dave Krieg-led offense. They forced five turnovers. Moon went 22/35 for 204 yards. Houston cruised to a 30-0 blowout.

A road trip to San Diego followed. The Chargers had won the AFC West a year earlier, and would slip to .500 this year. Like New Orleans though, their slippage didn’t come against Houston in September. Moon played terribly, throwing four interceptions. Some timely red zone defense and a Pick-6 by defensive back Darryl Lewis kept them in the game. But it ended an 18-17 loss.

A home date with a bad Los Angeles Rams team resulted in a passing battle between Moon and Jim Everett. But Moon was erratic in getting his 310 yards, while Everett’s 316 yards came with efficiency. The Oilers lost this one 28-13 and were 1-3 going into a bye week.

The two weeks prep time, combined with the revenge factor, didn’t help them in a return to Buffalo for Monday Night Football. Moon threw three more interceptions. Houston lost four fumbles. They lost the football game 35-7.

There was nothing in this Oiler team that looked like a contender. But a soft part of the schedule was ahead. Moon played clean football the following week in New England, where Bill Parcells was just starting on a rebuilding project. The Oilers beat the Patriots 28-14. They came back home and beat lowly Cincinnati 28-12, with Moon going 24/34 for 253 yards and spreading the ball around effectively.

1993 was the one year the NFL experimented with the concept of a double-bye, so just when Houston had some momentum, they took another week off. No matter. They were able to keep it going when they returned at home against Seattle. Moon played his best game of the year, going 36/55 for 369 yards. Slaughter caught nine balls for 135 yards and the Oilers won 24-14. They were back to .500.  

The alignment of the era had the Oilers in the AFC Central along with the Bengals, Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers. The return visit to Cincinnati was next and it marked the emergence of Brown. He rolled up 166 yards, enabling Houston to control the ball for over 36 minutes in a 38-3 rout. Brown was even better a week later in Cleveland, piling up 194 yards and leading the way to a 27-20 win.

Pittsburgh had won this division a year earlier and would make the playoffs again in ’93. So the first matchup with the Steelers got the Sunday Night stage, a couple days after Thanksgiving. Fuller put on a show and picked up four sacks. Jeffires caught seven passes for 139 yards. The Oilers rolled, 23-3.

Then they came home to face Atlanta. The Falcons weren’t very good, but they were coached by Jerry Glanville, who had guided the Oilers to their playoff trips in 1987, 1988 and 1989 before being replaced by Jack Pardee. Ryan’s defense intercepted six passes and turned a 14-6 third quarter deficit into a 33-17 win.

Houston was riding high at 9-4. Their ability to run the ball and play defense was getting noticed nationally. They were a game up on Pittsburgh in the AFC Central and already had control of the tiebreaker, even if they were to lose the second game with the Steelers in two weeks.

With Brown surging, the Oilers didn’t look like they could lose. He went for 109 yards in a 19-17 win over Cleveland, who was making great strides under Bill Belichick and would get into the playoffs a year later. Houston had the chance to clinch when they went to Pittsburgh.

Brown showed he could also catch the football, bringing in a 38-yard TD pass from Moon. Safety Bo Orlando came up with a Pick-6 and the Oilers had a quick 14-0 lead. It was 23-3 by the third quarter and with Brown delivering another 100-yard game, Houston salted away the AFC Central title with a 26-17 win.

Now it was time to focus on getting one of the two first-round byes and, hopefully, the 1-seed in the AFC bracket. The Oilers, along with the Chiefs and Bills were 10-4. Houston had the tiebreaker on KC, did not with Buffalo, but in the event of a three-way tie, Houston would end up on the top line thanks to their conference record.

On Christmas Night, they went to San Francisco. The 49ers had an explosive offense led by Steve Young and were bound for the NFC Championship Game. In this high-profile spot, the Oilers showed how far they had come. Brown rushed for 114 yards. The defense was dominant. Houston won 10-7. A defensive-oriented game on the road was exactly the kind of game that had typically been their vulnerability. Winning it seemed to send a message on who the team to beat in the AFC was.

But the Oilers didn’t control their fate, and when Kansas City lost the next day, it reduced the top of the AFC to Houston and Buffalo at 11-4. That Monday Night debacle from October would be the difference for the 1-seed and the Bills wrapped it up on the early TV window in the final week.

The Oilers were locked into the 2-seed when they took the field Sunday Night against the Jets. It was not a game that had playoff implications and in our own day, would have been flexed out of the prime-time spot. Which would have denied America some considerable entertainment.

Not because it was a noteworthy game. Even with Moon and Brown sitting out, the Oilers got three sacks from Childress, dominated on defense and won 24-0. No, what was most entertaining is that the internal tension between Ryan and offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride boiled over. What makes me say that? How about the fact that, on national television, Ryan threw a punch at Gilbride.

Even allowing the obvious dislike between the coaches, and even allowing that Buffalo was the 1-seed and three-time defending AFC champs, Houston still looked like the team to beat. Dallas, the defending Super Bowl champ and NFC 1-seed was the odds-on favorite to win it all, but this had the feel of a Lone Star State Super Bowl ahead.

After a week off, the Oilers hosted the Chiefs in the late Sunday afternoon window on Divisional Round Weekend. Montana was healthy, but for three quarters, Ryan’s defense continued to stay in control. With Moon on his way to a 32/43 for 306 yards performance, Houston led 10-0 at the half and 13-7 after three quarters.

But the offensive line was not able to keep control of the line of scrimmage. Brown was held to 17 yards. Gilbride only gave him the ball 11 times. With the season on the line, Houston was reverting to their complete dependence on Moon. And they paid the price for it. The quarterback was sacked nine times. The result was another collapse. Montana led KC to three fourth-quarter touchdowns and sent Houston packing with a 28-20 loss.

This is a franchise that endured its share of playoff disappointments—blown fourth-quarter leads against Pittsburgh in 1989 and Denver in 1991 also marked the recent landscape. This one, coming on top of the ’92 disaster in Buffalo, was the final blow.

With so many key players over the age of 30, it was time to rebuild. Moon was traded to Minnesota in the offseason. Munchak retired. And the Oilers completely collapsed in 1994. By the time the franchise started to be competitive again in the latter part of the decade, they had relocated to Tennessee. The city of Houston waited until 2002 to get pro football back. They’re still waiting for that first Super Bowl trip ever, and the first AFC Championship Game appearance since 1979.

Dan Reeves Puts The 1993 New York Giants Back In The Playoffs

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The 1993 New York Giants were looking for a fresh start. After their Super Bowl title of 1990, Bill Parcells went into temporary retirement and the Giants slipped out of the playoff picture. With Dan Reeves’ successful tenure in Denver coming to an end in 1992, he was available. It proved to be providential timing for both the coach and the franchise. The Giants hired Reeves and returned to the playoffs in 1993.

A defense led by outside linebacker Lawrence Taylor had been New York’s calling card through Parcells’ run from 1984-90. That was still the case in ’93. The great “LT” was 34-years-old, but he was still effective. Other contributors on the defensive side included veteran corner Mark Collins and outside linebacker Corey Miller.

What’s most notable about this edition of the Giants defense is that even though there were no Pro Bowlers, they were still the best unit in the NFL in terms of points allowed. It was yeoman’s work done by Mike Nolan, getting his first chance to be a defensive coordinator in the league.

Phil Simms was 38-years-old at quarterback, but the veteran stepped up with a Pro Bowl campaign. He finished with a 62% completion rate at 7.6 yards-per-attempt. He was intercepted on just 2.3% of his throws. Each stat ranked in the top 10 among starting quarterbacks.

Simms’ favorite target was Mark Jackson, who caught 58 balls for over 700 yards, but a balanced receiving corps also included Chris Calloway, Ed McCaffrey (father of current NFL star Christian) and running back Dave Meggett. Mike Sherrard at wideout and Howard Cross at tight end also figured into the passing attack.

The offensive line was anchored by two Pro Bowlers in offensive tackle Jumbo Elliot and center Bart Oates. They paved the way for Rodney Hampton to rush for just over 1,000 yards. Lewis Tillman, with nearly 600 yards on the ground was a valuable second option.

But what hindered the New York attack was the lack of a big playmakers. Hampton averaged less than four yards per carry. No one in the receiving corps could really be considered a field-stretcher. For that reason, an offense that looks pretty good on the surface was only 18th in points scored in what was then a 28-team league.

The season opened in Chicago. The Bears were another team on a fresh start, in this first year post-Mike Ditka. Simms was sharp, going 24/34 for 277 yards. He outplayed counterpart Jim Harbaugh and that was the difference in the Giants’ 26-20 win.

Hampton’s running was the story in the home opener against Tampa Bay. He gained 134 yards on 29 carries and keyed a 23-7 win. A week later at home against the Los Angeles Rams, everything worked. Simms was 21/27 for 217 yards with no mistakes. Hampton muscled his way for 134 yards on 41 carries. The defensive front picked up five sacks and the Giants held the ball for over 43 minutes. They won 20-10.

New York was going into the bye week riding high at 3-0. But none of the wins were against teams that would finish the year over .500 and none had been over .500 in 1992. So while the consistency could be appreciated, there was still something to prove.

A road trip to Buffalo was good place to start. The Bills were en route to a record fourth straight AFC title in 1993. A game that was a rematch of the Super Bowl that New York won in 1990 unfolded in much the same way that battle four years earlier had. The Giants were running the football. They were controlling the clock. But unlike that ’90 Super Bowl, they were making mistakes. The biggest came when they drove inside the red zone in the first quarter…and Simms threw an interception that came back 85 yards the other way. It was the difference in a 17-14 loss.

Another powerhouse of the 1980s was facing new beginnings in 1993, as the division rival Washington Redskins played their first season in the post-Joe Gibbs era. The Redskins were beginning a dark age of franchise history that hasn’t lifted to this day. New York was dominant. They won the rush yardage battle 199-65. Simms was an efficient 14/17 for 182 yards and no interceptions. Even Meggett got in on the act and threw a TD pass. An easy 41-7 win put the Giants back on track.

Philadelphia was a mediocre opponent and with Hampton out, it was Tillman who piled up the yardage—169 yards on 20 carries as the Giants won 21-10. They were 5-1 and headed into another week off, courtesy of the double-bye concept that the NFL adopted for 1993, and then mercifully abandoned after one year.

A crosstown battle was waiting on the far side of the bye, as the Giants met a Jets team that would contend for a playoff spot deep into December. With winds gusting at 21mph, neither offense could do much of anything. Each team made two deep drives. The difference is that the Jets got one touchdown, while the Giants settled for field goals both times. They lost 10-6.

The loss was doubly disappointing because it preceded a road trip to Dallas. The Cowboys were the defending Super Bowl champs and the heavy favorites to win it all again. When Dallas’ great running back, Emmitt Smith, held out the first two weeks and the Cowboys lost both games, it gave the Giants a head start in the NFC East race. But Dallas was starting to come on strong.

New York was a decisive ten-point underdog and they looked overmatched. Simms was sacked five times. The defense gave up big plays in the passing game. They lost 31-9. There was nothing to do but lick their wounds and hope that Dallas’ return trip to the Meadowlands for the last game of the season would be meaningful.

A home date with the Redskins was a good tonic for a team on a two-game losing streak. The Giants grabbed a quick 14-zip lead and cruised home, 20-6. Then they went to Philly and won a defensive war. Trailing 3-0 in the fourth quarter in front of the late Sunday afternoon audience, Simms found Jackson on a 26-yard touchdown pass. New York escaped 7-3.

The winning continued against the Phoenix Cardinals, although so did the tight escapes against mediocre competition. With no running game going, the Giants trailed 17-13 in the fourth quarter. They got a couple field goals, the last one a 54-yarder from Brad Daluiso to win it 19-17.

In the meantime, Dallas had stumbled. They lost two consecutive games, including a dramatic Thanksgiving Day defeat to Miami in the snow. New York was back in the NFC East lead, but now they had to play the Dolphins, who were riding high at 9-2.

New York went to South Beach and got a terrific performance from Simms, 17/24 for 257 yards. The 19-14 win triggered a Miami free-fall where they lost every remaining game and missed the playoffs. As for the Giants, they were 9-3 and the Cowboys were in hot pursuit at 8-4.

What’s more, the NFC East was shaping up as the battle that would decide the 1-seed in the NFC playoffs. Prior to 2002, the alignment in each conference had three divisions, with three wild-cards filling out the bracket. The NFC Central was balanced, but had no one that would get homefield advantage. The NFC West was owned by the San Francisco 49ers, but they were on their way to a 10-6 season. Not spectacular. It was looking like the top line in the NFC was left to the survivor of New York and Dallas.

The Giants kept churning in a 20-6 home win over lowly Indianapolis that was keyed by 173 yards from Hampton. They went to mediocre New Orleans for Monday Night Football. Simms threw TD passes to Jackson and Cross to put New York up 14-0. The running game took over, with a 133-11 edge in rush yardage salting away the 24-14 win.

Dallas was keeping pace and they had the tiebreaker. So when New York went to Phoenix (the Cardinals were in the NFC East prior to the ’02 realignment), the Giants knew that unless the Cowboys lost at home to the Redskins, everything was coming down to next week’s head-to-head showdown. Perhaps that explains New York’s flat performance in a 17-6 loss.

So both the Giants and Cowboys were 11-4 coming into January 2’s final regular season game. In today’s world, this would be a clear choice to get flexed into Sunday Night Football. In 1993, it didn’t even get the late afternoon—a 1 PM kickoff in the Meadowlands would settle the NFC East title and homefield advantage throughout the playoffs.

Oddsmakers installed New York as a 6 ½ point underdog. Factoring in homefield, it shows that the assessment of the Giants vis-à-vis the Cowboys had really not changed since their November meeting in Dallas. When New York dug themselves a 13-0 hole at halftime, the oddsmakers appeared to be right.

But Hampton was having a good day, with 114 yards on the ground. And the second half reversed the first. The Giants pulled even 13-13. It was a dead even game. Each team had to settle for one short field goal in the red zone. Each was reliant on the running game.

We went to overtime. But for as good as Hampton was, he wasn’t Emmitt Smith. The Cowboy running back put the finishing touches on his MVP season by rushing for 168 yards and pounding Dallas into field goal range. The 16-13 loss sent New York into the 4-seed for the playoffs.

The Minnesota Vikings came in for the wild card round’s early Sunday afternoon kick. At 9-7, with no real downfield passing game, the Vikings seemed a tailor-made opponent for the Giants. New York could play their slug-it-out style and they were better at it than Minnesota was.

Presuming that is, that the Giants were ready to play. And for a half, they may not have been. New York faced a 10-3 deficit. On a classic Meadowlands day with the winds over twenty miles per hour, a touchdown deficit seemed substantial.

Enter Hampton. He ripped off a 51-yard TD run that tied up the game. He ended the afternoon with 161 yards. He added another short TD run and keyed 35 minutes of possession time for Big Blue. The 17-10 win had New York moving on.

The previous day, Green Bay’s young quarterback Brett Favre had pulled off some late heroics to get a win for the 6-seed Packers. That meant New York could avoid having to go to Dallas for the divisional round. The Giants instead headed west to play the 49ers.

Even with all they had accomplished this season, the close wins still had oddsmakers skeptical. New York was an eight-point underdog. And on this late Saturday afternoon, even that proved to be too generous. The Giants ran out of steam. They were outrushed 178-41. Simms threw two interceptions and was sacked four times. By halftime, New York was in a 23-3 hole and they suffered an embarrassing 44-3 loss.

Losing in that fashion was an inappropriate ending for a season of success and overachievement. There was reason for optimism moving forward, given Reeves’ past track record. But those hopes did not pan out. A 9-7 non-playoff year in 1994 was followed by two losing seasons. Reeves would reach another Super Bowl as a head coach, but it would be in Atlanta in 1998. As for the Giants, it took Reeves’ successor, Jim Fassel, to get back on top of the NFC East in 1997 and into the Super Bowl by 2000.   

1993 New England Patriots: The Parcells/Bledsoe Era Begins

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Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, the football fans of New England knew nothing of names like Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. A mid-to-late 1980s run that included a trip to the Super Bowl in 1985 and an AFC East title in 1986 constituted a veritable golden age for Patriots fans. But by early 1993, the bloom was off the rose again. No playoff seasons since ’86, no winning seasons since 1988 and a 2-14 disaster in 1992.  The 1993 New England Patriots needed to start over. They did it by hiring Bill Parcells as head coach, drafting Drew Bledsoe at quarterback and ushering in a new era of football in Foxboro.

Bledsoe did have was a nice supporting cast developing around him. Leonard Russell rushed for over 1,000 yards. Ben Coates started to emerge at tight end and his 53 catches led the team. Vincent Brisby and Michael Timpson were young receivers and respectable at stretching the field. And even though the offense as a whole did not produce any Pro Bowl players in 1993, left tackle Bruce Armstrong had been a Pro Bowler two times previously and would achieve the honor four more times beyond this season.

Even so, Bledsoe was still just 21-years-old and he went through the expected rocky path of his rookie season. His 49.9 percent completion rate and 5.8 yards-per-attempt were near the bottom of the league. His 15-15 TD/INT ratio and 3.5 interception rate weren’t horrific by the standards of the time, but were still a little below league norms. New England’s offense finished 22nd in a 28-team league for points scored.

Parcells had carved out his reputation for defense when he led the New York Giants to Super Bowl titles in 1986 and 1990, with Belichick as his defensive coordinator. Belichick was no longer available, having taken the head job in Cleveland. But Parcells still turned this ’93 Patriots defense into a good one.

The only notable player was outside linebacker Andre Tippett—a great player and future Hall of Famer to be sure, but now 34-years-old and playing his final season. Even so, Parcells pieced together a unit that ranked 11th in the NFL for points allowed.

New England opened the season in Buffalo. The Bills had won three straight AFC titles and would win a fourth straight this season. The Patriots were within 17-14 in the third quarter, but three turnovers and giving up 114 rush yards to the great Buffalo back Thurman Thomas turned that into a 38-14 loss.

Another great running back on an eventual playoff team—Barry Sanders from the Detroit Lions came to Foxboro for New England’s home opener. The Pats stayed in the game thanks to a couple interceptions from defensive back Darryl Wren and three sacks by defensive end Chris Slade. They pushed the Lions to overtime. But Sanders ran for 148 yards and New England lost 19-16.

Seattle’s Week 3 visit represented a “sort-of” rivalry game. The Patriots and Seahawks had the first two picks in the previous spring’s draft. New England chose Bledsoe ahead of Notre Dame quarterback Rick Mirer, who went to Seattle. It was an expected decision, but the Bledsoe-Mirer comparisons were rife among NFL fans.

The real New England problem was that they couldn’t stop the run. This time it was Chris Warren carving up the Patriot defense, to the tune of 174 yards and handing them a 17-14 defeat.

New England went on the Meadowlands for Sunday Night Football against the Jets. The good news is that the Pats’ defense finally stopped getting carved up by a single running back. The bad news is the Jets simply did it with running back by committee. New England was outrushed 167-31 and suffered an embarrassing 45-7 loss. They headed into a bye week looking for answers and their first win of the new era.

When they went to Phoenix, fell behind the Cardinals and then saw Bledsoe knocked from the game with a strained knee ligament, no answers appeared to be forthcoming. But backup quarterback Scott Secules stepped in. He went 12/20 for 214 yards. Russell rushed for 116 yards. Trailing 21-16, the Pats’ executed an 82-yard hook-and-lateral pass to put them in position to win. Secules flipped a two-yard touchdown pass to Coates and the first win of the Parcells era was theirs.

Bledsoe was out again for a home date with the Houston Oilers (today’s Tennessee Titans). Maybe it was just as well. This was an excellent Oiler team, headed for the 2-seed in the AFC and on a run of seven straight playoff appearances. Secules threw three interceptions and was sacked five times in the 28-14 loss.

A road date to Seattle was next. Prior to the realignment of 2002, the Seahawks were an AFC West team. And prior to that realignment, the scheduling format called for the last-place teams in the AFC West and AFC East to play each other twice the following year. There would be no Bledsoe-Mirer discussion for this one with Secules still in the lineup.

New England played well enough to win, controlling the ground game and driving consistently. But they didn’t win. Three drives bogged down in the red zone and ended up as field goals. The Patriots lost 10-9 with Secules struggling to a 15/30 for 129 yards and two interception performance.

Another difference of the pre-2002 alignment was that the Indianapolis Colts were an AFC East rival. They were also on hard times. Secules went into Indy and made some big plays—23/37 for 279 yards. Coates caught six of those passes for 108 yards. But once again, no red zone execution and two interceptions by Secules kept the Patriots out of the end zone. They lost 9-6.

Buffalo made their return trip to Foxboro and the defense continued its strong recent play. Bledsoe played half of the game and the New England took a 10-0 lead into the fourth quarter. Buffalo rallied and won 13-10 in overtime. But as the Patriots went into their second bye week (the double-bye being a phenomena that mercifully lasted only this one season), they were showing some real signs of becoming competitive.

In that regard, the next three weeks were a mix of hope and aggravation. A visit to Miami with the Dolphins in the hunt for the playoffs, saw Bledsoe go 23/42 for 275 yards and spread the ball around…but lose 17-13. A home date with the Jets saw Russell rush for 147 yards…but Bledsoe only convert 3 of 10 third-down chances and take a 6-0 loss. And a visit to another playoff hopeful in Pittsburgh saw an early 14-0 lead disappear with five interceptions from Bledsoe. The Pats lost that one 17-14.

New England was 1-11. Eight of those losses had come by four points or loss, including the last five. Parcells is the man who coined the phrase “You are what your record says you are.” But if there were ever a team that didn’t seem to apply to, it was these 1993 New England Patriots. And over the final month of the season they would show exactly who they really were and what they were becoming.

A home game with lowly Cincinnati took place in the wind and the rain. Russell rushed for 97 yards. The Patriots led 7-0 in the fourth quarter and the only points they gave up came on an intentional safety. An odd 7-2 win ended the losing streak.

They went on to Cleveland where the Browns were 6-7 and Belichick was pushing for a breakthrough playoff appearance. Bledsoe was erratic, going 19/47, but he made those completions count for 210 yards. A 120-80 edge in rush yardage kept New England in it and Russell’s four-yard touchdown run produced a 20-17 upset.

On the day after Christmas, the Patriots gave a belated gift to their fans—a real blowout win. Russell went for 138 yards. Corey Croom, the backup running back who rushed for 93 yards, had his career day. New England crushed Indianapolis 38-0.

Miami was coming to town for the final game of the season. Everything was on the line for the Dolphins. Win, and they were in the playoffs. Lose, and they were likely going home. It was a perfect opportunity for a team in New England’s position.

Bledsoe’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Coates in the second quarter put the Pats up 10-0. At 10-10 in the third quarter, Bledsoe went 11 yards to Brisby for a touchdown. Trailing 24-20 in the fourth quarter, Bledsoe threw another 11-yard scoring pass to Coates. When the Dolphins tied it back up and sent the game to overtime at 27-27, Bledsoe did it one more time—a 36-yard strike to Timpson that won it and sent Miami home.

It was a sweet ending to a strong finish and had New England filled with optimism again for football. The Patriots would prove worthy of that optimism. By 1994, they were back in the playoffs. And by 1996, they returned to the Super Bowl. It wasn’t the stuff that Brady and Belichick would eventually give this fan base. But it was still a solid era of New England Patriots football that started in 1993.

1993 Kansas City Chiefs: Montana’s Revival & Marty’s Playoff Run

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Marty Schottenheimer had brought winning football back to Kansas City. After close to two decades of irrelevance, the Chiefs promptly posted winning seasons in each of Schottenheimer’s first four years from 1989-92. What they had not been able to do was advance past the divisional round of the playoffs. The 1993 Kansas City Chiefs made some big veteran acquisitions and made a run to the AFC Championship Game.

And when we say “big veteran acquisitions” we mean really big. Like getting Joe Montana in to play quarterback. After winning four Super Bowls in the 1980s with the San Francisco 49ers, Montana had missed the better part of 1991 and 1992 with back problems. He lost his job in San Francisco to Steve Young. Montana wanted to prove he could still play. He needed a team that was competitive, but still needed help at quarterback. The Chiefs fit the description.

If Montana wasn’t enough, Kansas City went out and bagged another Hall of Fame veteran and in this case they raided one of their key rivals. Marcus Allen, the great running back for the Los Angeles Raiders, was having a bad falling out with the front office. The 33-year-old signed on with Kansas City.

Both Montana and Allen showed they still had gas in the tank. At the age of 37, Montana’s health could still be on-again, off-again and he was only able to start eleven games. But his 61 percent completion rate and 7.2 yards-per-attempt were in the top half of the league and he avoided mistakes. That, along with his reputation and the feel-good quality of his story, got Joe a ticket to the Pro Bowl.

Allen rushed for 764 yards and also caught 34 balls. He shared backfield duties with Kimble Anders and Todd McNair, both of whom were also good pass-catchers and beneficiaries of Montana’s mastery of the precision short game.

The offensive line wasn’t as potent as some of the units Schottenheimer would coach throughout his career, but 31-year-old left tackle John Alt was still a Pro Bowler. And the Chiefs added a rookie at guard in Will Shields, who began a Hall of Fame career in 1993.

If Montana wanted to stretch the field, he had the receivers to do it with. Willie Davis caught 52 balls and averaged better than seventeen yards a catch. J.J. Birden’s 51 catches produced over 14 yards a pop.

Ultimately though, Montana was at his best when he was spreading the ball around to everyone. It was rare for one receiver to have a singularly great game in 1993, but everyone was a steady part of the offense. And that offense ended up 8th in the NFL for points scored.

The defense, often outstanding during Schottenheimer’s tenure here, was only above average in ’93, ranking 11th in points allowed. There were still some great individual performers who could change games though. Neil Smith was one of the league’s best defensive ends and recorded 15 sacks. Derrick Thomas, a future Hall of Fame outside linebacker had another Pro Bowl season. Albert Lewis, the 33-year-old veteran at corner, intercepted six passes and Charles Mincy picked off five more.

Montana’s quest to prove he could still play began in Tampa Bay on the Sunday before Labor Day. The Bucs were a lousy team and Montana picked them apart. After spotting Tampa an early field goal, Montana went 14/21 for 246 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. The final was 27-3. But the first warning sign about Joe’s health appeared—veteran backup Dave Krieg had to finish the game and would start the following week in Houston.

About that Week 2 trip to Houston—the Oilers were much like the Chiefs in this era–a playoff perennial that couldn’t get past the divisional round. And the road game in the Astrodome was an utter disaster. Krieg threw two interceptions and was sacked four times. KC lost three fumbles, was penalized eleven times and only ran for 46 yards. Other than that, the game was a total delight. They lost 30-zip.

John Elway was Marty’s consistent nemesis, both in the 1980s in Cleveland and here in Kansas City. The Broncos came in for Monday Night Football. Montana was back in the lineup, but the ultimate hero wasn’t one of the two legendary quarterbacks on the field. It was Chiefs’ kicker Nick Lowery. He nailed five field goals, including kicks from 41, 44 and 52 yards out. Kansas City won 15-7.

The Chiefs went into a bye week with some work to do. Even though they had beaten Denver, it was another penalty-ridden performance with eleven flags. Play had to be cleaned up before the Los Angeles Raiders came into town to open October.

Montana came out quickly against the Raiders and threw a pair of first-quarter touchdown passes. Kansas City played clean football and churned out a 24-9 win, although Montana again could not finish. Krieg would start the following week, a home date with lowly Cincinnati. Kansas City barely escaped, needing a late field goal from Lowery to get a 17-15 victory in a game they were favored by two touchdowns.

San Diego had won the AFC West a year earlier and then bounced Kansas City from the playoffs. The Chargers would fall back to 8-8 this year, but the mid-October trip west was still a big one. Montana was back and he threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Allen in the first quarter. The offense then bogged down until the fourth quarter when, trailing 14-10, Allen ran in for another score. The Chiefs got out of town with a 17-14 win.

1993 was the one season the NFL experimented with the concept of a double bye. It was not a popular move with fans, networks or the players and was discarded. But for now, the Chiefs had to take another week off before they went to Miami.

The Dolphins were a consistent contender in the early 1990s, either in the playoffs or on the fringe. Their own great quarterback, Dan Marino, was out for this game, but backup Scott Mitchell proved more than capable. The Chiefs secondary was lit up for 344 passing yards, they fell behind early and lost 30-10.

Another Monday Night home game with another future Hall of Fame quarterback was next. Although unlike Elway, Marino and Montana, the eventual greatness of Green Bay’s Brett Favre was only a possibility in 1993, not yet established. The KC defense was ready for him. Thomas sacked Favre twice, the Chiefs picked him off three times and Kansas City won 23-16.

The AFC West was shaping up into a three-team race between the Chiefs, Raiders and Broncos. The Chargers would linger, but never quite get over the hump. If Denver was the team that gave Kansas City fits, then the Chiefs were the team that constantly tormented the Raiders.

KC went to the LA Coliseum where the Raiders then played their home games. Krieg was in the lineup. After the Chiefs dug themselves an early 14-0 hole, Krieg went to work. He threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Anders. In the third quarter, Krieg went deep to Davis for a 66-yard touchdown strike. Krieg threw one more TD in the fourth quarter. Allen, anxious to take revenge in his old stomping grounds, ran for 85 yards. Kansas City completed a season sweep of the Silver-N-Black with a 31-20 win.

Chicago had a mediocre team in 1993 and when all is said and done, the events of November 21 at Arrowhead are the “what might have been” moment for the ’93 Chiefs. After Allen ran for two early touchdowns, the offense bogged down. Krieg was sacked five times and Kansas City was upset 19-17. In an AFC where the race for everything—the division, the byes, the #1 seed—were all jam-packed, everything added up and this was a game KC should have won.

It made Buffalo’s visit the following Sunday afternoon even more critical. The Bills were the gold standard in the AFC, having gone to three straight Super Bowls and in contention again this year. Montana returned to face future Hall of Fame counterpart Jim Kelly in a 4 PM start that would be shown to most of the country.

After the Bills took a 7-0 lead, Montana found Allen on a 18-yard touchdown pass that tied up the game. The Kansas City defense took over. They held Buffalo’s running game, led by the explosive Thurman Thomas, to 43 yards. They intercepted Kelly three times. And they cruised to a 23-7 win.

We were headed into December and Kansas City’s record stood at 8-3. They were up one game on the Broncos and two on the Raiders for the AFC West. In the joust for what were then two first-round byes for three division champs, the Chiefs also narrowly led. The Oilers led the old AFC Central with a 7-4 mark. The Bills, atop the AFC East, were also 8-3, but KC now had the tiebreaker. If the playoffs could have started today, Kansas City would have held the 1-seed.

Montana was outstanding the following week in Seattle, going 20/30 for 239 yards and no mistakes. Thomas returned a fumble 86 yards for a touchdown and the Chiefs cruised to a 31-16 win. Denver lost. So did Buffalo. Kansas City’s playoff fortunes looked even brighter.

But a road trip to Elway’s lair in the Rocky Mountains was next. Montana again played well, going 17/30 for 237 yards and two touchdowns. Birden caught five balls for 95 yards. KC led 14-3 early on. But no lead was safe against either of these quarterbacks. Elway chipped the lead down to 21-17 by the fourth quarter and then rallied Denver to win 27-21.

Kansas City still led both of their AFC West rivals by a game and if they could beat San Diego, it would give the Chiefs command of any tiebreaker situation. The Chargers were desperately trying to keep their wild-card hopes alive and jumped on KC  for a 17-0 lead. Now it was Montana’s turn to orchestrate a comeback of his own.

Montana threw touchdown passes to Davis and Birden before having to again leave with nagging injuries. Krieg came on and finished the job, extending the lead out to 28-17. KC then held off one last rally from the Bolts and won 28-24.

The Chiefs were 10-4 with both the Raiders and Broncos at 9-5. Beyond the AFC West, the Oilers and Bills were both 10-4. Kansas City, Buffalo and Houston had all played each other and all split. In a three-way tie, the Chiefs were likely to come down as the 2-seed based on conference record. That would at least earn a week off and valuable rest for Montana.

On the day after Christmas, Kansas City watched in the afternoon as both Denver and Los Angeles lost. The Chiefs took the field in prime-time up in Minnesota knowing that the AFC West was clinched. But Buffalo and Houston had held serve, so the byes and homefield were still very much on the line.

The Vikings were on the playoff fringe and had to have this game. They outrushed the Chiefs 205-37. Montana played and was off his game, throwing a couple interceptions. Kansas City was blown out of the Metrodome, 30-10.

Kansas City’s finale was at home against Seattle (an AFC West team prior to the realignment of 2002). Montana was sharp and went 18/28 for 210 yards with no mistakes. The Chiefs jumped out to a 24-3 lead, saw it whittled to 27-24 and then added a lockup touchdown to win 34-24.

They needed help if they were going to avoid playing next week, but didn’t get it. Buffalo won in the same early afternoon time slot. The Bills were the 1-seed, the Oilers were #2 and the Chiefs settled in at the 3-spot. They would play the sixth-seeded Pittsburgh Steelers, while the Broncos and Raiders played a third game in the 4-5 bracket spot.

Wild-card weekend opened on early Saturday afternoon in Arrowhead. And, as has happened far too many times to the good people of Kansas City over the years, it went downhill. The Chiefs trailed 17-7 at halftime and were still down 24-17 in the fourth quarter.

But this year they had Joe Montana. He led KC down to the Pittsburgh seven-yard line in the closing seconds. On fourth-and-goal, Montana found Tim Barnett for the tying touchdown. The Chiefs won in overtime. Montana finished the game 28/43 for 276 yards and the KC defense held a good Steeler running game to under 100 yards.

The 27-24 win got Kansas City another date in Houston. The Oilers were the hottest team in the NFL, having won eleven straight games to close the season. Between this and the disastrous results from Kansas City’s Week 2 visit here, the Chiefs came in a seven-point underdog and trailed 10-0 into the third quarter.

At that point one of the most memorable stretches of play in franchise history began. Montana threw a touchdown pass to cut the lead to 10-7. After an Oiler field goal, Montana hit Birden with an 11-yard touchdown pass. Montana went 18 yards to Davis. KC led 21-13. The two-point conversion was not an option in the NFL until 1996, so this was a two-score lead.

Houston’s great quarterback, Warren Moon, led a TD drive to cut the lead to 21-20. No problem. The KC veterans had an answer. Montana led a drive down to the Oiler 21-yard line. Allen finished it with a touchdown run. The score was 28-20 and there it stood. Kansas City was going to the AFC Championship Game.

That meant a trip to Buffalo. And this is where Kansas City runs out of steam. If we trace the season back to the Chicago loss of November—the one defeat on the schedule that there was really no excuse for—we see that it cost the Chiefs the 1-seed. Even just getting to the 2-seed and getting Montana a week off would have been exceptionally valuable. But it was obvious in this AFC Championship that both KC and their great quarterback were running on empty.

Montana was knocked out. Kansas City played from behind the entire afternoon. Even though they were within 20-13 in the third quarter, it never had the feel of a game they might win. The Chiefs were outrushed 229-52 and lost 30-13.

A special season was in the books. Montana proved he could still play. Kansas City proved they could advance in the playoffs. The downside? This would be the only time during Schottenheimer’s excellent tenure with the Chiefs that he made it this deep into the postseason.

1993 Green Bay Packers: Brett Favre’s Breakthrough Playoff Trip

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The 1993 Green Bay Packers were looking to end a drought. The franchise had not made the playoffs since 1982. They only gone to the postseason twice since the departure of the great Vince Lombardi following the 1967 season. Most of those seasons were simply hopeless. 1992 had seen some hope—the emergence of a young quarterback in Brett Favre, a winning season and contention until the final week of the regular season. It was time to take the next step.

In what was then a new era of NFL free agency, the Packer front office didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger on a big move. The biggest prize on the market was defensive tackle Reggie White. The devout Christian minister was persuaded that Green Bay was a good place for him to continue with his off-the-field religious activities. As for on the field, White was already convinced that Favre was the kind of quarterback that could get him where he had never been—to a Super Bowl.

Favre and White were future Hall of Famers. A third member of the ’93 Packers seemed on his way there as well—Sterling Sharpe was the team’s best player and had not yet suffered the neck injury that would prematurely end his career and his Canton hopes. In 1993, Sharpe was still on top of his game—a then-record 112 catches for the season and 1st-team All-NFL honors.

Edgar Bennett and Darrell Thompson shared duties in what was a pedestrian running attack. Bennett was also a pretty good pass-catcher and tight end Jackie Harris rounded out the targets. The offensive line failed to produce any Pro Bowl talent. On the surface, this offense should have been above-average at best. But with Favre, Sharpe and head coach Mike Holmgren working the Xs and Os, they ended up sixth in the NFL in points scored.

The defense was similarly top-heavy in talent, with White producing another Pro Bowl campaign and getting 13 sacks. Bryce Paup was a rising star outside linebacker, adding eleven sacks and giving offensive coordinators someone other than White to worry about blocking. LeRoy Butler was the best strong safety in football, a tough hitter and intercepting six balls. There was a big dropoff after these three, but they were enough to rank the Pack ninth in the league in points allowed.

Green Bay opened at home at old Milwaukee County Stadium, where they played three home games a year prior to 1995, and blew out a bad Los Angeles Rams team. Favre went 19/29 for 264 yards, with Sharpe catching seven balls for 120 yards. The Packers outrushed the Rams 138-53 and cruised 36-6. All was finally well with the world.

Not so fast. The Philadelphia Eagles were a perennial contender and came to town next. Green Bay took a 17-7 lead into the fourth quarter, but couldn’t run the ball and lost 20-17. After a bye week, the Packers went to Minnesota. Green Bay played some really good red-zone defense, not allowing a touchdown. But the Vikes did get five field goals and handed the Pack a 15-13 loss. After these two disappointments, no one could be surprised when they went to defending Super Bowl champion Dallas and got their clock cleaned 36-14.

After all the hype of summer, was this just the same old Packers? They were 1-3 and now a Sunday night visit from John Elway and the Denver Broncos was looming as an early must-win.

Green Bay came out with the appropriate urgency. Harris had a big game catching the football and the Packers were ahead 30-7 after three quarters. But this was a sloppily played game. Both teams ended up with 10-plus penalties. Favre threw three interceptions. And this was Elway, the master of the comeback and a team that would eventually get to the playoffs. Denver closed the gap to 30-27 and got the ball back.

Enter Reggie White. The Minister of Defense hadn’t made this move to let things get away before they even started. He sacked Elway three times on the final drive and preserved the win. All of Green Bay could exhale as they entered another bye week (1993 was a year the NFL experimented with a double-bye).

The schedule loosened up a bit on the far end of the bye. Green Bay went to lowly Tampa and blasted the Buccaneers 37-14. Favre threw four touchdowns while Thompson ran for 105 yards. The following week, the rival Chicago Bears came north. In a physical game, the Packers played it close to the vest and led 10-3 in the fourth quarter when Thompson’s 17-yard touchdown run sealed the win.

Monday Night Football wasn’t something Green Bay had seen a lot of in their two-decades long fling with irrelevance. They went to Kansas City, where Joe Montana was in the first of his two seasons with the Chiefs. The Packers did not play well. They turned the ball over six times. Two drives that got inside the KC five-yard line had to end with field goals. It’s somewhat surprising they only lost by a respectable 23-16. But they were back to .500 at the regular season’s halfway point.

Another road trip awaited, this one to New Orleans. The Saints were another team lurking on the playoff fringe and this game would be extremely significant before all was said and done. The Packer offensive line struggled on the road, allowing six sacks and only clearing room for 69 rushing yards. But the Packer defense countered with five sacks of their own, two by White. They got five turnovers. Favre, for all his youth and already developing reputation as a gunslinger, made fewer mistakes and that was the difference in a 19-17 win.  

A stretch of three straight divisional games awaited. Detroit visited Milwaukee. Green Bay first led 10-0, then trailed 17-16 in the fourth quarter. Favre was the difference, going 24/33 for 259 yards and leading another ten-point burst to close the game and the 26-17 win.

Tampa Bay was up next (the Bucs were in the old NFC Central prior to 2002 along with the NFC North’s four current teams). In a bad weather game right after Thanksgiving, the Packers trailed 10-6 in the fourth quarter until Favre flipped a two-yard TD pass to Sharpe for the win.

A road trip to Chicago saw the Packers dig an early 17-7 hole and Favre went to the air often. He threw 54 passes, completing 36 and producing over 400 yards. They were still in the game at 23-17, but in the fourth quarter Favre’s third interception of the afternoon went back to the house and sealed a 30-17 defeat.

With the playoff race still tightly packed, Green Bay went to play San Diego, a team on the AFC playoff fringe. The Packers played clean football, picked off three passes, stopped the run and won 20-13. They were sitting on an 8-5 record going into the season’s final three games, squarely in position to make the playoffs and in the midst of a three-time fight with the Vikings and Lions for the division crown.

Minnesota was coming to County Stadium. Favre played well, going 20/33 for 256 yards. Sharpe caught six balls for 106 yards. But the Packer weaknesses caught up with them. There was no running game. The more balanced Vikes ran for over 150 yards. Even though Green Bay only turned it over twice, Minnesota never did. A 21-17 loss put the Packers back on the brink.

The win over New Orleans earlier in the year loomed enormous. The Packers were 8-6 and the Saints were 7-7. That November 14 trip to the Bayou explained the flip in the standings and also gave Green Bay the tiebreaker edge. If the Packers could get another win, they would be home free.

But the schedule wasn’t easy. The playoff-bound Los Angeles Raiders were up next. A road trip to Detroit was the finale. And a different generation of Packer fans didn’t have the same confidence they might have today when facing challenging times.

One thing Green Bay and their fans did know was cold weather and the day after Christmas in Wisconsin was absolutely frigid. The Packers and Raiders were both playing cautiously. It was working for Green Bay. They led 7-0 at half. That lead nudged to 14-0 after three quarters. Then came the play that changed the Packers forever.

It was a big play on its face. Buter scooped up a fumble on the Raider 25 and raced into the end zone. The play all but sealed the win and a playoff berth. But in his excitement, Butler went racing through the end zone and leapt into the stands. It was the first instance of what today is known as “The Lambeau Leap” and is done after every Packer touchdown at home.

Going into the final week, Green Bay, Detroit and Minnesota were all going to the playoffs. The Vikings were going to finish second and be the 5-seed. The Packers and Lions were going to play each other in the 3-6 game in the NFC bracket. But where would be determined by what happened in the finale at the Silverdome.

Knowing the bigger picture took some of the steam out of this game and Detroit’s great running back Barry Sanders sat out. Although that made what happened all the more disappointing. Backup Lion running back Eric Lynch went for 115 yards. Favre threw four interceptions. A 20-16 lead after three quarters turned into a 30-20 loss. It didn’t mean elimination, but it did deny the Packers their first NFC Central title in over twenty years and denied the city of Green Bay its first home playoff game since ’82.

Six days later, everyone was back at the Silverdome for a noon kickoff that would begin wild-card weekend. Sanders was back in uniform. And oh, did Barry and Brett ever put on a show. Sanders went off for 169 yards rushing. Favre went 15/26 for 204 yards. With the future Hall of Famers meeting the moment, the game was a classic.

Detroit seemed to have the upper hand, with a 17-14 lead, having rattled Favre with a Pick-6 and on the verge of going in again. Packer safety George Teague made the second-most remembered play of this game, intercepting a pass in the end zone and going 101 yards the other way. Detroit still bounced right back and took a 24-21 lead, which set us up for the most remembered play of the game.

Green Bay had moved to the 40-yard line, getting close to field goal range and tying the game. Favre rolled to his left. Making a play that few quarterbacks could make, he stopped pivoted, and threw a beautiful pass all the way across the field. Sharpe was wide open, with the Lion secondary likely assuming that no one would try such a move when they were only ten yards from field goal range. Sharpe waltzed into the end zone untouched. Ballgame, Pack wins 28-24.

A divisional round date in Dallas awaited the following Sunday. The early afternoon kickoff got away from Green Bay in the second quarter. They led 3-0, but Dallas ripped off 17 points before half, then took a 24-3 lead in the third quarter. The game followed the same dynamic as the regular season meeting here in early October—Favre and Sharpe were doing their thing, but there was no running game and Dallas just had too many weapons. The final was deceptively respectable at 27-17.

It was still a breakthrough year for Green Bay. They were finally in the playoffs. This was the second of three straight 9-7 years, two of which ended in the postseason. This run from 1992-94 was what laid the groundwork for the greater victories this franchise would achieve by the second half of the 1990s.

The 1993 Buffalo Bills Complete An AFC Dynasty Run

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The 1993 Buffalo Bills were looking to make history. No team had ever won four straight conference championships, either before or since. These Bills were out to be the first and they did it, concluding a four-year run where they were the class of the AFC.

Thurman Thomas, the great all-purpose running back was the focal point of the offense. His 1,315 rushing yards ranked third in the league and he made the Pro Bowl. Andre Reed, the Pro Bowl wide receiver, averaged better than 16 yards-per-catch. Tight end Pete Metzelaars and wide receiver Bill Brooks actually caught more balls than anyone else on the team and Don Beebe was also in the mix at the wideout spot.

Orchestrating all of this was 33-year-old quarterback Jim Kelly, who was a throwback in that he called his own plays. Kelly finished in the top ten in both completion percentage and yards-per-attempt. That, along with his leadership, made up for high interception totals. An 18/18 TD-INT ratio wasn’t as unthinkable in 1993 as it would be today (There were nine other starting quarterbacks intercepted at a greater rate than Kelly), but the picks did likely cost the future Hall of Fame signal-caller another Pro Bowl trip.

Buffalo’s offensive line was getting older, but still has Pro Bowl left tackle Howard Ballard as its anchor. The other side of the ball was led by defensive end Bruce Smith, a Hall of Famer still at the top of his game. Smith recorded 14 ½ sacks and was 1st-team All-NFL. Outside linebacker Cornelius Bennett continued to be a Pro Bowl force as a disruptor. And opposing offenses paid a price for thinking they could pick on corner Nate Odomes, who intercepted nine balls.

The Bills were among the league’s upper crust in both offense and defense, they had championship experience and they were hungry to finally turn those AFC titles into the franchise’s first Lombardi Trophy.

Buffalo paid a Week 2 visit to Dallas in a rematch against the team that had shellacked them 52-17 in the previous year’s Super Bowl. The Cowboys were in turmoil, with star running back Emmitt Smith in a contract holdout. The Bills’ defense forced four turnovers and got a 13-10 win before the late Sunday afternoon national TV audience.

Three weeks later, on a Sunday night at home, the Buffalo defense stepped up against the New York Giants and picked off Phil Simms three times. The Bills won 17-14. A week later, the Houston Oilers and Warren Moon came to Rich Stadium for Monday Night Football. Buffalo intercepted three more passes, forced seven turnovers in all and won 35-7.

By the season’s midpoint, the Bills were in 7-1 and the victories over the Cowboys, Giants and Oilers were all against teams that would finish the regular season with 11-plus wins.

Then came a hiccup. Buffalo lost three of their next four, all to eventual playoff teams. The slide started on a Monday Night in Pittsburgh. Even though the Bills only turned the ball over once, the offense was so inept that it resulted in a 23-0 loss. Another decisive loss came at Kansas City and Buffalo dropped a 25-24 decision at home to the Los Angeles Raiders.

At 8-4, the Bills were now trailing the Miami Dolphins by a game in the AFC East and the New York Jets were sneaking up on them at 7-5. Buffalo stopped the bleeding with a 10-7 win over mediocre Philadelphia and then got set to face both divisional foes in succession.

The Bills were a (+3.5) underdog in Miami, who had been playing without Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino since Week 6. Kelly was outstanding, going 20/30 for 245 yards, but it was a shootout at halftime and the Bills’ lead was 26-20. Odomes made the game-changing play in the third quarter, a 25-yard fumble return for a touchdown. It started a run of 21 unanswered points and the Bills eventually won 47-34.

On the day after Christmas back in Buffalo, the winds were gusting at 23mph. Kelly played well, going 20/31 for 256 yards, but was intercepted twice in the conditions. His counterpart, Jets quarterback Boomer Esiason, was even better, going 22/31 for 232 yards and no mistakes. But Buffalo kicker Steve Christie was the difference. While New York missed three goal attempts, Christie nailed all three of his tries, including one in the fourth quarter that delivered a 16-14 win.

The three-game win streak, combined with the Dolphins and Jets falling apart in other games, meant Buffalo pulled away with the AFC East title. A 30-10 win at Indianapolis ensured the Bills would have the #1 seed in the playoffs with a 12-4 record.

After a week off, Buffalo hosted the Los Angeles Raiders in the divisional round. The kickoff was early Saturday afternoon in frigid conditions and the Bills were slow out of the gate. They dug themselves a 17-6 hole in the second quarter. Just before the half, Thomas ran eight yards for a touchdown to get them back in the game. Kelly threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Brooks in the third quarter to get the lead at 22-17 after Christie missed the extra point.

Raider receiver Tim Brown caught an 86-yard touchdown pass and even though this extra point was also missed, the Bills still trailed 29-23 early in the fourth quarter. Kelly was doing what a veteran quarterback does though and that’s responding to playoff pressure. He finished the game 27/37 for 287 yards and not an interception to be found. And another strike to Brooks, this one from 22 yards, gave Buffalo a 29-23 lead with 12:05 left.

The defense made it stand up and the offense controlled the ball for the final six minutes to seal another playoff win at Rich Stadium.

Kansas City was coming to town for an early afternoon AFC Championship Game. The Chiefs had acquired Joe Montana at quarterback and the Hall of Fame great had thrown three second-half touchdowns in a 28-20 upset at Houston the previous week, derailing the red-hot Oilers, who had won 11 in a row and were the trendy pick to dethrone Buffalo in the AFC.

An early touchdown run by Thomas gave Buffalo the lead, and the defense made a couple red-zone stops to keep the lead at 7-6. Another scoring run by Thomas extended the margin to 14-6, but then it was the Bills’ turn to miss red-zone opportunities. Twice, they settled for field goals and while the lead was a comfortable 20-6, they had kept Montana in the game.

But the Buffalo defense had the legendary quarterback under control. Montana had only completed 9/23 passes for 125 yards, when the Bills knocked him out early in the third quarter. Kansas City still cut the lead to 20-13, but this day was ultimately going to be about Thurman Thomas. He got the ball 33 times and racked up 186 yards. That included one more touchdown run to seal the 30-13 win and a fourth straight AFC crown.

Buffalo had made history and now they went to Atlanta hoping not to make more. They were already the only team to lose three straight Super Bowls and trying not to add to that record. They weren’t given much of a chance. Dallas had gotten Emmitt Smith back in the fold after that Week 2 matchup between the teams and Smith had delivered an MVP season. The Bills were a heavy (+10.5) underdog.

Buffalo earned a lot of respect, from both the Dallas sideline and the nation as a whole with the way they competed. They didn’t fold and led 13-6 at the half. But a defensive touchdown in the third quarter that tied the game turned the tide. The Bills couldn’t run the ball against the stout Cowboy defense, Emmitt got rolling and the result was another loss, this one also by a 30-13 score.

The Bills’ amazing run of the early 1990s came to an end when a late fade cost them the playoffs in 1994. They made it back to the postseason in 1995 and 1996 under Marv Levy’s leadership. They made the playoffs again in 1998 and 1999 with Wade Phillips calling the shots. But the 21st century was hard on the great fans of Buffalo, who didn’t see their team get back to the postseason until 2017, and they still haven’t seen a home game since the glory years under Levy.

During the years of 1990-93, only three of the 28 NFL teams would win Super Bowls (Giants, Redskins, Cowboys). All three of these teams also had losing seasons in that four-year stretch. Buffalo was the constant in the NFL during this time period and the phrase “won four straight AFC titles” should enter every fan’s mind before “lost four straight Super Bowls” ever does.

1993 San Francisco 49ers: An NFC Championship Game Run

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The early 1990s were the heyday of the Steve Young era in San Francisco. From 1992-95, the 49ers joined the Cowboys as the two teams recognized as the best in the NFL. The 1993 San Francisco 49ers were the weakest edition of that four-year run, but they still reached an NFC Championship Game for the second straight year.

Young was a first-team All-NFL quarterback and led the league’s most prolific offense. His 68% completion rate and 8.7 yards-per-attempt were the best combination of efficiency and field-stretching in the NFL. The interceptions were a touch high—but in the world of 1993, a 29/16 TD-INT ratio was still more than good enough. Young also ran for over 400 yards, second-best on the team.

The incomparable Jerry Rice was still the #1 target and the future Hall of Fame wide receiver caught 98 balls for over 1,500 yards in making 1st-team All-NFL himself. If Young-to-Rice weren’t enough, the 49ers had a Pro Bowl tight end in Bret Jones. They had John Taylor as the #2 receiver and Ricky Watters as the top runner, each of whom would just miss 1,000-yard seasons in receiving and rushing respectively.

And the offensive line? Can I interest in you three Pro Bowlers, Jesse Sapolu, Guy McIntyre and left tackle Harris Barton, the latter joining Young and Rice as a 1st-team All-NFL player. If all the 49ers had to do was score, no one could stop them.

But championship football also involves stopping somebody and it’s where the ‘93 49ers came up short. There were some bright spots—Tim McDonald was a Pro Bowl strong safety and first-year defensive end Dana Stubblefield got 10 ½ sacks and won Defensive Rookie of the Year. But overall, the defense finished 16th in the 28-team league in points allowed. It was the only time in the 1992-95 stretch that the defense ended up lower than sixth in giving up points. And it would be the difference between being good and being great.

San Francisco started 3-2 against a mediocre schedule whose toughest games were against borderline playoff teams from Pittsburgh and Minnesota, each of which they won. The 49ers went into the first of what was two bye weeks (the double-bye was an ill-fated experiment the NFL mercifully dropped after this one season) still looking to really find their footing.

A trip to Dallas awaited on the other end of the bye. San Francisco had lost the previous year’s NFC Championship Game at home to Jimmy Johnson’s team, led by the Big Three of quarterback Troy Aikman, running back Emmitt Smith and wide receiver Michael Irvin. And the Niners were an an 8 ½ point underdog for this late Sunday afternoon game being shown to most of the country.

The result was a well-played, balanced game on both sides of the ball and San Francisco led 17-16 into the third quarter. But it was Dallas who took over down the stretch and won 26-17. The 49ers were sitting on a 3-3 record and had to regroup.

Regroup is what they did. The next eight weeks offered a soft schedule and San Francisco took advantage. They went 7-1. In four of the wins, they dropped 40-plus points. All seven wins were by double-digits and in six of those, the margin exceeded twenty points. They hammered the eventual NFC Central champs from Detroit, 55-17 on the road. Even allowing the hiccup at Atlanta, it was an impressive display of dominance that clinched the NFC West.

At 10-4, the 49ers still had a shot at catching either the Cowboys or New York Giants, who were battling atop the NFC East, for the top seed in the NFC playoffs. But the offense went belly-up on Christmas night at home. San Francisco lost 10-7 to the Houston Oilers, with Young throwing a couple interceptions.

The loss locked the 49ers into the 2-seed and with nothing to play for, they lost the finale at home to Philadelphia. San Francisco was a hard team to read going into the playoffs. Their pedigree was undeniable and they had shown real stretches of excellence in 1993, but against the best opponents on their schedule—the Cowboys and Oilers—they had come up short. What would happen in in the postseason?

Oddsmakers believed in the 49ers and installed them as 8 ½ point favorites for their divisional playoff game against the Giants. New York had gotten a Pro Bowl season from quarterback Phil Simms at age 38, a 1,000-yard rushing season from Rodney Hampton and had the NFL’s best defense. They had pushed Dallas to overtime of the regular season finale before losing the division title and settling for a wild-card.

There were some of us who believed the Giants were better than the 49ers–at least I hope there were “some” of us, because I really hope I wasn’t the only one. What happened at old Candlestick Park was nothing short of a demolition.

Watters rushed for 118 yards and five short touchdown runs. Hampton was held to 12 yards on the ground. The Niner defense picked off Simms three times and sacked him four more, twice by Stubblefield. Young was efficiently brilliant, going 17/22 for 226 yards. The game was a rout from the get-go and ended up 44-3.

Over the years of 1981 to 1998, with either Young or the great Joe Montana leading the way, San Francisco had some amazing playoff moments and won five Super Bowls. But if you’re looking for the most impressive playoff win the franchise has ever had, this win over the Giants was it.

San Francisco made another trip to Dallas. The respect the oddsmakers had was evident in that the 49ers were only a three-point road underdog, meaning they were seen as equal to the defending champs on a neutral field. But that was overreach. The flaws of the defense were exposed in the NFC Championship Game. The Cowboys scored three successive touchdowns to take a 28-7 lead and the 49ers lost 38-21.

Another championship-game loss to Dallas grated on the nerves of this proud organization and San Francisco was determined to fix their defensive shortcomings. That they did. The 49ers signed the great cornerback Deion Sanders in the offseason and in 1994, Young would finally get his moment—beating the Cowboys in the playoffs and winning the Super Bowl.

The 1993 Dallas Cowboys Ride Emmitt Smith To A Repeat Super Bowl Win

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The Dallas Cowboys won a breakthrough Super Bowl championship in 1992 and with a plethora of young talent, were poised to start a dynasty. But the bid for a repeat title got off to a rocky start when running back Emmitt Smith, a future Hall of Famer and two-time defending rushing champ, held out of training camp and the first two regular season games. The 1993 Dallas Cowboys still completed a championship run everyone expected, but the Smith holdout was the sign there would be some rocky times along the way.

Even without Emmitt, Dallas still had a core of talent that was the envy of the league. Troy Aikman, the future Hall of Fame quarterback and current Fox Sports game analyst, led the NFL with a 69% completion rate. Aikman was also second in yards-per-attempt and with his 15-6 TD/INT ratio could avoid mistakes. He made the Pro Bowl.

Michael Irvin, another star with a future in Canton, made the Pro Bowl with an 88-catches/1,330 receiving yards performance. Alvin Harper was a big-play threat on the other side, averaging over 21 yards-per-catch. And if you focused too much on the receivers? All Aikman needed to do was look for tight end Jay Novacek, a Pro Bowl player himself.

If this flash wasn’t enough, the Cowboys could also play meat-and-potatoes football. An old-style fullback, Daryl Johnston, was another Pro Bowler. As were Nate Newton and Mark Stepnoski on the offensive line. Right tackle Erik Williams enjoyed a breakout year, making 1st-team All-NFL at age 25.

The defensive side of the ball didn’t have quite as many stars, but they still ranked second in the league in points allowed. Russell Maryland was a Pro Bowl defensive tackle and Charles Haley could wreak havoc at defensive end. Linebacker Ken Norton and free safety Thomas Everett made the Pro Bowl, while 23-year-old corner Kevin Smith intercepted six passes.

In short, this talent on hand, along with Jimmy Johnson overseeing it all on the sidelines, sounds like the description of a Super Bowl team already. But it turned out that Emmitt mattered even more than anyone would have realized.

Dallas was destroyed on the opening Monday Night game of the year against the Washington Redskins—a team that would finish 3-13—and then lost a Super Bowl rematch against the Buffalo Bills. With no team having ever won the Super Bowl after starting 0-2, a mix of urgency and panic was running through Big D and consuming the national media. Jones got Smith back into the fold.

An unimpressive 17-10 win at lowly Phoenix on a Sunday night followed, but at least it was a win, Emmitt was worked back into the lineup and Dallas got a bye week to regroup. They returned two weeks later with blowout wins over playoff-bound Green Bay and a lousy Indianapolis Colts team.

Aikman was playing exceptionally efficient football and the Cowboys were positioned for a crucial three-game stretch against the San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. The 49ers were the principal measuring stick for the Cowboys, while the Eagles and Giants joined them in a packed NFC East race.

Irvin was electric before a late Sunday afternoon national TV audience against San Francisco. He caught 12 passes for 168 yards, while Emmitt ran for 92. The Cowboys won 26-17. Another bye week followed—1993 was the year the NFL tried the ill-fated experiment of giving each team two weeks off during the season. Nobody liked it and the idea has never come back.

But maybe the time off did something for Emmitt and the offensive line. Because he came back and played one of the best games of his career, rushing for 237 yards in Philadelphia and leading a 23-10 win. He rolled up 117 more in a 31-9 home rout of the Giants.

The New York win came at a cost though. Aikman was injured and would miss the next two games. The Cowboys went with Bernie Kosar. The one-time great quarterback of the Cleveland Browns had been released and with Dallas suddenly in need of some veteran insurance, they picked him up. Kosar started in a win over the Cardinals (the Cards were an NFC East team prior to the realignment of 2002). But without Aiman, and with Emmitt having to leave the next game after just one carry, the Cowboys lost at mediocre Atlanta.

Dallas was still 7-3 and in good shape when Thanksgiving Day arrived. What followed against a playoff-bound Miami Dolphins team was one of the most bizarre finishes to any NFL game. a

A blizzard hit Dallas and the game was played on a snow-covered field. The Cowboys led 14-13 and appeared to have won, when Dolphin kicker Pete Stoyanovich had a field goal partially blocked at the line of scrimmage. The ball skidded toward the end zone. Cowboy defenders surrounded the ball, letting it roll dead.

All of a sudden, out of nowhere, the well-intentioned, but rules-challenged, Cowboy defensive tackle Leon Lett, barreled through the pile and tried to pounce on the ball. Lett thought it was live, but that only became the case after he touched it and it skidded off his body. Miami won the race to the loose ball and Stoyanovich kicked a short field goal to win it 16-14.

The record was now 7-4. Dallas trailed the New York Giants by a game in the NFC East, although there was a head-to-head matchup in the Meadowlands to end the regular season and the Cowboys had won the first meeting. They still controlled their destiny, but there was no slack.

Philadelphia came to Dallas on a Monday Night, but the Eagles were fading amidst key injuries. Emmitt ran for 172 yards in a 23-17 win. The Cowboys paid a visit to Minnesota, where the mediocre Vikings were fighting to stumble into the playoffs. Emmitt rolled up another 100-plus in an easy 37-20 win. Another contender, the 8-5 New York Jets, were easily dispatched in a 28-7 road win before a late Saturday afternoon audience.

A revenge blowout of the Redskins, who had begun their fall from Joe Gibbs-era excellence to the mediocrity that has marked their existence ever since, set the stage for the January 2 regular season finale. The Cowboys and Giants would meet in the Meadowlands in the late Sunday afternoon TV window to settle both the division title and the #1 seed in the NFC playoffs.

Oddsmakers saw the Cowboys as nearly a touchdown favorite, even on the road and that looked prophetic when they took a 13-0 lead into halftime. But the Giants answered back in the second half, tying the game 13-13. This was a game that was even in most every way. Aikman and counterpart Phil Simms each avoided mistakes and each were sacked four times. Each team had a 100-yard game from their key running back, with Rodney Hampton running well for New York and Emmitt doing the same for Dallas.

But Emmitt went above and beyond. With a separated shoulder causing immense pain, Smith ran for 168 yards. He caught ten passes out of the backfield. The game went to overtime and Dallas was able to survive 16-13. The performance got Emmitt the rushing title, even with missing the first two games. And it sealed his MVP award.

The playoff run would include games with Brett Favre’s Green Bay Packers, along with fellow early 1990s stalwarts, the San Francisco 49ers and Buffalo Bills. But the regular season finale was the most significant test for the 1993 edition of the Dallas Cowboys.

Dallas was favored by nearly two touchdowns in the divisional round against the Packers, making their first playoff appearance with Favre. The Cowboys started slow and trailed 3-0 after the first quarter. Then Aikman got rolling. He threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Harper, another scoring pass to Novacek and, in the third quarter, a 19-yard strike to Irvin, who ended the game with nine catches for 126 yards. The Cowboys took a 24-3 lead and cruised home, 27-17.

San Francisco was the heavyweight opponent, although with a 10-6 record, this 49er team was weakest of their 1992-95 editions that joined Dallas at the top of the league. The Cowboys were in control in this NFC Championship Game, leading 28-7 at the half. There was a scary moment though, when San Francisco scored a touchdown and then Aikman had to leave the game.

Enter Bernie Kosar. The one-time great quarterback for the Cleveland Browns had been released earlier that year and Dallas picked him up for insurance. Like this moment. Kosar went 5-for-9 for 83 yards and threw a 42-yard touchdown pass to Harper. The 49er rally was turned back and the Cowboys won 38-21.

A Super Bowl rematch with the Bills was next in Atlanta, and Dallas was a double-digit favorite for the second time in the postseason. It wouldn’t be the ‘93 Cowboys though, if they didn’t start a little slow before turning on the juice.

Buffalo led 13-6 at the half and it took a defensive touchdown from James Washington in the third quarter to pull Dallas back even. It was time for Emmitt to make one last display of greatness. He got a steady diet of the football down the stretch, rushed for 132 yards and two touchdowns as the Cowboys pulled away. The final was 30-13 and the repeat championship was in the books.

It would be a tumultuous offseason for the franchise, as the bad blood between Jones and Johnson boiled over and they parted ways. But that soap opera shouldn’t prevent Emmitt Smith from being the enduring memory of the 1993 Dallas Cowboys. He completed a historic trifecta of NFL MVP, rushing leader, and Super Bowl MVP. He was the heart and soul of the 1993 Dallas Cowboys.

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