>> and the luv ya blue pom-poms ready to wave here in houston. al del greco to kick it off. john stephens, the former patriot, and todd mcnair are deep for kansas city. and for the first time, houston hosting an afc divisional championship.
all the way to the end zone, and almost a mistake, and taking the kneel-down is john stephens. first down at the 20 for joe montana, looking for that fifth super bowl ring, and here's his supporting cast. alt on his way to a pro bowl. szott, grunhard, shields, and
siglar. allowed only six sacks the last six games of the year. marcus allen, the great one, the former raider. todd mcnair. he could be the surprise in this game. birden and davis the wideouts,
and jonathan hayes the tight end. we see that kimble anders, despite a painful shoulder injury, does start at fullback. marcus allen. and he slashes for 4. the houston defense reads this way.
william fuller, ray childress, glenn montgomery, and sean jones. ryan likened them to the purple people eaters, that great minnesota front four that he coached a couple decades ago. robinson, smith, and marshall. marshall's been to two
super bowls with two different teams and has two rings for it. dishman and jackson on the corners, and mcdowell and orlando at safety, and bishop and hoage come in, in the dime formation. second down and 6. montana's first pass complete to
and a first down at the 33-yard line. bo orlando leading the defensive charge. >> dick, one of the things kansas city wants to do is a lot of different formations, give them a lot of different looks. that time mcnair was out in the
slot. he's a running back flanked out about 6 yards away from the offensive line, and you see the free safety bo orlando, 26, has to cover him. that's what their intention is -- give them a lot of different looks offensively.
>> compact offensive formation for kansas city with hayes, the tight end, in motion. flag down. the pass to hayes, and we have flags before the snap. no play. must've been a false start for kansas city.
>> before the ball was snapped, false start, number 68. five yards. >> will shields, the rookie from nebraska. >> dick, a very tough day for offensive linemen. you see the right guard, shields, come out of the stance.
they know that this defensive line of houston, their first thought is get up the field, so these offensive linemen have to be out of their stances quickly, and with all the noise here in the astrodome, it's gonna be tough for even the guard to hear the quarterback signals.
>> and it's grunhard, the center, who calls out the line-blocking scheme. fred jones to the left. hayes, the tight end, on the right. and mcnair in motion. uh-oh! marcus allen. montana and allen collide in the
backfield, and blaine bishop, number 23, the rookie from ball state, to cover. >> dick, first time you've got a long-yardage situation, they bring eight. they absolutely bring them all. buddy ryan wants to set a tone, a feeling early in this football
it's not gonna be easy. the kansas city chiefs' choice was to try to run a trap up through there. joe montana barely got back to marcus allen for the hand-off. >> you used the expression "blow up" the offensive scheme, explode it.
that's exactly what they did there. >> now they're in even worse shape -- second and 19. >> and number 19 calls time-out. [ crowd cheers ] and they love it in houston. the defense has made an early statement.
we talked to william fuller a couple of days ago, and he said, "we're going to give montana fits with the blitz." >> yeah. normally all the blitzing comes on passing downs. you saw kansas city's choice in the long-yardage situation to
run it. and buddy ryan is an interesting coordinator in a lot of ways. he calls by feel. he really doesn't have a list or a menu. he watches out there on the field and calls defenses by feel.
>> just as he did as an army master sergeant in the front lines in korea. second and 19. montana under pressure. goes down. the throw intercepted! steve jackson to the 24. fumbles!
and houston recovers. glenn montgomery was in montana's face, and that one flopped just over lathon's chance right into the arms of jackson. >> dick, you mentioned glenn montgomery. he's the nose tackle.
you see the delayed blitz -- 23, blaine bishop. but the nose tackle just beats him. a desperation throw by montana, and actually if you're jack pardee, if you're houston oiler fans, it couldn't have started better.
this defense on the field to start, just as you said, dick. >> jackson, a present for him. he had five interceptions in the regular season. and joe montana had to throw through glenn montgomery and had nothing on the ball. >> this is just montgomery
beating the center, grunhard. and one of the things we must count today is not necessarily the sacks on joe montana, dick. it's the hits on joe montana. >> joe appears to be okay. there's his backup, dave krieg, who has to learn the new system. one of the interesting elements
of this matchup is the fact it's a kansas city all-new offense. the 49er offense, if you will, paul hackett brought in as the offensive coordinator, against an all-new houston defense this year. >> oilers led the league with 26 interceptions.
that was not ruled a fumble. down by contact at the 23. will shields injured. kansas city player left under his own power. appeared to be not seriously hurt. gary brown, part of the sensational second half of the
season for the houston oilers. he started eight games and gained over 1,000 yards. neil smith made the tackle. here's the turnover table. you can't talk to marty schottenheimer without him mentioning turnovers. plus, plus, plus.
they've been the best in the nfl the last three years. but when they give up the ball, they lose. >> the chiefs, in the '90s, plus-66 on the turnovers. the next closest is washington at plus-33. that's how important it is to
>> second and long for houston. that's givins walking into motion. and moon fires incomplete for gary wellman. covered by kevin ross. >> well, we see kansas city here. buddy ryan likes to blitz.
all right. well, let's give you jaime fields, 59, on the blitz. you also have kevin ross back in coverage, and you've got martin bayless up there, but an excellent pickup by gary brown, and that's one of the big keys to that super back in this
run-and-shoot. he must be able to pass-protect. so, the first time kansas city tries to blitz, it's picked up. first time houston tries to blitz, kansas city can't deal with it. >> brown, who played as a backup at penn state.
not many knew about him, as he became a sensation here in houston. there's a blitz again from the corner. they bring a corner, and albert lewis, the veteran from grambling, has the sack on moon. and that'll make the field-goal
try much more of a challenge for al del greco. >> he's gonna be coming right that's one of the things pittsburgh has done against this houston run-and-shoot offense, and that is blitz those defensive backs right off the corner, guys who are lined up on
the slots, and munchak, 63, could not get out there and pick him up. >> nine-yard loss. that moves the ball back to the 31 and presents a 49-yard field goal for del greco. he made four over 50 this year. plenty of leg.
on target. good! al del greco converts the steve jackson interception into the first points of the game. >> del greco has gone to a sports psychologist. he is an avid golfer in the off-season.
the sports psychologist usually gives him just one word for the day to think about, to alleviate the pressure, to eliminate the distractions. and he's turned into a very, very good kicker for houston. >> and we heard the word today was "birdie."
>> birdie, yes. >> buddy ryan. he says, "hey, d, that's the 3 for you." and marty schottenheimer knows the penalty of the turnover. and in fact, in these playoffs, not counting the earlier game today, the team that has turned
it over the least has been the winning team. in fact, it's now 25 with the dallas victory over green bay. 25 in a row. you've got to protect that pumpkin. >> so far, kansas city -- you just saw joe montana there on
the sideline -- their intention coming into this game, as we were informed last night, 115 pass plays in. well, the second pass attempt he throws, he's hit and hit quickly by the nose tackle and throws an interception. that's not a good start.
but the defense of kansas city does answer and forces the long field goal. 3-0. just less than 4 minutes into this game. john stephens, the middle man, del greco roofs it high, a spinner to the end zone.
and stephens will kneel it down. montana back on the field. and as you saw on the pregame show, and it's getting a bit ahead of ourselves only because of his history -- against ryan, against the ryan defense, he is, as you look at his postseason records, which are just
incredible. he's -- what? -- 1,200 yards more than terry bradshaw in second place for yardage passing. nevertheless, montana, who can take the hits, and he was sacked eight times against ryan's eagle defense and threw four
touchdowns in the fourth quarter and beat him in the playoffs five years ago. play-action and fuller was fooled. montana. complete to willie davis out of bounds with a kansas city first down at the 35.
>> nice rollout by joe montana, at 37. still able to get out there. good play-action fake, and it really influences william fuller, 95. now he's got his choice. he chooses davis short. jonathan hayes was open deep.
we saw joe montana's numbers there postseason -- 15-5 as a starter. how good is that? >> and the four super bowl wins. not a single interception in any of them. first down after the 15-yard play.
and this one is over the top of willie davis. coming up to cover was cris dishman, who will gamble. >> but, dick, let's also add to the mix joe montana, sitting in our meeting last night, said to us, "my rib is bad. i'm sitting here, and just
talking to you, it hurts to breathe." he said he would have it injected to play. the hit by donald evans of pittsburgh, he's kept it quiet so that his offensive line now has another problem. >> and warren moon is no better
off. he's hurting just as much. also took a shot. montana barely getting it off. bubba mcdowell, who has been on the injured list, returns to duty, and a little shaken on the >> yeah, dick, the arm tackle he tried to make on -- he's gonna
come from up here, i believe. here's bubba mcdowell. and when he tries to make an arm tackle, it looks to me like he either does something to his elbow or to his bicep. montana does not see him. now watch what happens. he grabs his arm or elbow
immediately. i don't know if it's hyperextended, coming back from that knee bruise. he's looking at his chest muscle, his left pectoralis major. >> whoa! anatomically yours.
montana guns and has the man open, marcus allen, and he falls forward for a first down at the 46 of kansas city. a dozen on the play. michael barrow there to cover, rookie from miami. >> again, you see a lot of motion here.
lathon, 57, coming in motion, and then marcus allen has robinson out there in coverage. marcus -- excuse me -- michael barrow, the rookie out of miami, in coverage. so far, kansas city -- a lot of motion, trying to distort this buddy ryan defense, and they've
had some reasonable success. >> allen, like montana, a playoff star, a former super bowl mvp. he gets the call. and he's into houston territory. a sizeable first-down gain to the 47, and marty schottenheimer said, "that's one of our big
keys -- what we do on first down." >> absolutely. he said, "we have to win first that's how important it is. and when you're picking up 5 and 6 yards on the run, that is a win on first down. it limits buddy ryan's defense
as to what they can align in and how many blitzes they can call. >> mcdowell is back in the game, but he's still holding his upper left chest. second and a short 4. here they come again. montana, the quick pass over the head of fred jones.
covered by steve jackson. >> and montana avoided the hit. >> but one of the sideline people did not. it looked like one of the positions on the houston sideline. >> self-diagnosis -- watch montgomery at the end of this
again they're getting good pressure up front. al smith, 54, threatens the blitz. montgomery is handling grunhard to this point. gets in there. montana quick to release it. incomplete pass.
>> nine minutes left in the opening quarter, and mcdowell, still hurting, is out. third down and 4. birden in motion. to the sideline to birden. out of bounds short of the first down. a gain of only a yard on the
cris dishman right there for >> again the threat. one of joe montana's greatest attributes is seeing everything. great vision on the field, as jack pardee applauds from the montana can sense those blitzes, and buddy ryan can take advantage of that.
make him throw quick on those third down and medium yards to convert. >> barker's numbers on the season, a solid year for him. willie drewrey, the key return man for houston, at the 10. high, beautiful spiral. drewrey lets it go.
and it takes a houston bounce. warren moon will be calling signals at the houston 20. here's the lineup for the houston offense. brad hopkins, rookie, illinois. he's got his hands full. derrick thomas across him most of this game.
munchak, the spirit of this team, the veteran going to the pro bowl. some say bruce matthews is the best all-around lineman in the nfl. dawson and williams complete that front five for warren moon. gary brown, penn state, two
years, barely carried the ball. no one knew who he was. oh, my. what a season for him. jeffires, wellman, givins, and duncan the four wideouts in the and here they come, leading 3-0, 8:29 remaining, first quarter. their first possession -- a
1-yard run by brown, incomplete pass, and a 9-yard sack. moon. wide open is wellman. and the little guy from southern california has a 16-yard reception. >> that's a key reception for houston, too.
he is the man-to-man coverage -- the man-to-man receiver, and when fields blitzes, wellman, right down here, becomes the primary receiver. so, kansas city runs the blitz, and houston has the play to accommodate it. moon stands in there, takes the
hit. nice completion. >> that's interesting. marty schottenheimer using the blitz of his own. that's twice fields has blitzed, and the other time, lewis got in from the corner to sack moon. and what a hit by fields.
young guy from washington is 5'11", a solid 230, and this is his first ever nfl start. and the rest of the chiefs defenders. smith and thomas on the corners of that front line. both going to the pro bowl. joe phillips trying to occupy
two men in the middle, and you never know where you're gonna find dan saleaumua. fields the only linebacker, with six dbs -- lewis, taylor, bayless, ross, pickens -- the former falcon -- and mincy. second down and 9. so far, nothing much for
gary brown. so moon goes to the air and hits haywood jeffires, who has been the top target here in houston the last several years. an off year for him. an off year for him is 66 catches. >> boy, has he had a tough year,
haywood jeffires. had a heart arrhythmia. takes medication. is normally a very loosey-goosey and inspirational player. >> lost his mother. wife had a child, one of the good things that's happened this season.
of course, he comes off a 100-reception season, so i mean, when you catch 66, it looks pretty bad. >> said he didn't want to be here early in the year. bubba mcdowell is going to go to the locker room, a sprained shoulder we understand.
third and 3. to jeffires! boy, that was a great pass in that jeffires hadn't even looked for the ball until the last second. he turned, and there it was. and again they beat the blitz. here's fields.
here comes the safety up there, bayless, martin bayless. so, this is twice now that kansas city has run the blitz. both times the houston oilers have handled it. >> the ball is -- well, he was looking. i thought perhaps that was just
a blind look. >> of course, pickens just came to kansas city december 10th. >> moon. was thinking about something long, but crashing through was joe phillips. phillips, the former san diego charger, 300-pounder.
he only had a sack and a half all season long. >> and that's in the equation -- setting up this game, this was the one part that really wasn't talked about -- the pass rush of the kansas city chiefs, which i think is a very good one. saleaumua takes the outside, and
you see phillips just overpower doug dawson, 66. that is a true bull rush. >> phillips, who is a lawyer, has passed his bars in both california and missouri. >> he's also married to a lawyer. >> there's got to be a line in
there somewhere. [ both laugh ] or at least an argument. on a screen to brown. derrick thomas chases him down from behind at the 46-yard line of the chiefs, and thomas using his speed. he said, "i know i'm going to
have to." >> yep. he says in this run-and-shoot, you've got to treat every play as a pass and then react to the run. he gets upfield, almost has his hands on gary brown, and then turns back upfield to make the
tackle. derrick thomas is a complete football player. rushes the passer, makes the plays downfield, stuffs the run. >> and he'll make the big play, that turnover play that marty is so enamored of. from the 46, third and 6.
moon well-protected. wellman is open! gary wellman! out of bounds at the 16! >> from behind the offense, kansas city this time does not come with a blitz. wellman from the slot. you see kansas city in a zone
coverage, and wellman runs the nice crossing pattern right underneath the defensive backs. excellent crossing pattern. 42, mincy, is the closest man. but the run-and-shoot to this point working. >> tiny 5'9", 165 pounds. didn't catch a ball a couple
years here, and this season in relief of webster slaughter, 31 catches. brown again. using all of his power to get very little. broke through a couple of tackles, and finally charles mincy, from the
secondary, gets him down. >> and derrick thomas also told us -- we asked him about he said, "we got to get him to bounce." watch 58. stays right there. wellman. but when he makes him bounce,
that allows the defensive backs, 29, albert lewis, mincy, 42, to get there to assist on the >> a loss of a yard. so, brown -- three carries, a minus-1. that should be a minus-1. in field goal striking range as moon, on second down and 11.
great protection! almost intercepted, and ernest givins, had he been a defensive back, that would've been a penalty. he actually denied an interception by kevin ross by hitting ross as quickly as he could.
>> and as soon as that thing left warren moon's hands, he wish he had a string on it, play yo-yo with it. the primary receiver not open. he throws it late. see how badly that -- you can tell when warren moon is not set to throw.
that ball was out around -- normally he throws a very good spiral, but you're right. ross -- there was contact before that ball got to the defender. >> and you can call offensive interference, but that was a big defensive play made by givins to deny the interception in the end
zone. and time runs out on the oilers. unable to get a play off with the time-out. 3:16 left in the opening period. >> go! >> so, third and 11 for houston inside the kansas city 20. it was the chiefs who had called
time. completes it on the far side, and jay taylor makes the tackle of curtis duncan, his first catch. derrick thomas may have lurched offside. >> defense, number 58, offside. repeat third down.
>> defensive coordinator dave adolph on the left-hand side, marty schottenheimer, the head coach. of course, schottenheimer a little more skewed to the defense. >> well, that gives moon and the oilers another shot.
they would've had to bring on the field-goal unit. you know, dick, the thing i like about houston to this point -- they've thrown it all over the field. they've got it to jeffires on the outside, duncan on the outside, wellman.
they're spreading it around, and when the run-and-shoot is functioning, as you look at the offensive coordinator, that's when it's really functioning at its best. >> third down and 6. wide open, jeffires! and haywood jeffires protecting
the ball. first and goal at the 3. >> again, primary receiver not open. watch the pump by warren moon. he's got it out there. and haywood jeffires wide open. moon still with an excellent arm.
>> boy, you've got a gun when you already almost unloaded it and you can still throw that kind of spiral. >> just an excellent job by haywood jeffires reading the defense, which is the key for this run-and-shoot. so many patterns to run or
adjust to on the run. >> they're leading 3-0. it's first and goal, houston. draw to brown. touchdown! gary brown, who led the oilers with eight touchdowns this year, six of them rushing, gives the houston fans a 9-0 lead.
>> 80 yards. that was impressive. 11 plays, 6:30 off the clock. spread it around and spread it around well. showed great patience on the offense, and frankly, the kansas city defense didn't do anything, really, that bad.
>> david williams injured on the play, the houston tackle. officially a 2-yard touchdown by brown, and they work on williams, part of a tumultuous houston season. remember babygate when the oilers were 1-4 and he elected to stay home to see the birth of
his first child. was not fined, but denied a salary of one game. >> i think i'd rather be fined in david williams' case. that one week's paycheck came out to about $111,000, $112,000. also told us the other day at practice.
he said, "hey, i'd do it again the same way." >> the reason why it became at a time -- the timing of that incident was so critical because, one, the oilers were 1-4, two, they were going to new england with a shortage of offensive linemen and then not
to have someone they had counted on, had practiced all week really was another blow, but they managed to win that game. that was the game where moon was benched. carlson was injured early. moon came in, said he didn't even want to dress.
he sat on the bench saying, "i just was wondering what i should wear today." they put him in, and he said it came as soon as he ducked his head in the huddle. everything came back, and, boy, did the oilers ever -- 11 straight wins.
gary brown, the 2-yard touchdown, and now the try for point by del greco. greg montgomery, the punter, the holder. 10-0 houston. >> dick, nice, little draw here run by houston. they run a pull, and i'll show
you what that is. here's williams. first of all, he sells pass and then releases downfield, but watch the right guard come around here, and gary brown follows him right up through the line of scrimmage. this is well-executed by an
offensive line that, when you're in the run-and-shoot, there is so much pressure on you as an offensive line, and dawson takes two guys out on the pull block. again, watch matthews take saleaumua, and dawson pull around. he gets phillips, then he gets
bayless. man, that's -- >> that's when you go in with stars on your report card. well, kevin gilbride also part of the troubled season of houston, even when they were winning. the final game of the season, it
was gilbride -- he represents offense, and it wasn't really anything personal. he just says, "i just know buddy ryan hates everyone on offense." >> that's right. unless buddy ryan is the head coach, the other side of the
ball when he's an assistant is trash. i don't care what you run. buddy would just as soon have his defense fly on its own plane, stay in its hotel, and "you tell me what time the kickoff is. we'll be there."
>> "just stay out of my way, offense, and my defense will do the rest." >> they even drafted a tight end, houston did this year, to accommodate buddy ryan so they had a tight end to run some defenses against. >> in practice.
but the tight end doesn't have a coach. so he's not really a tight end. >> with a 10-0 lead, houston fans, with 1:59, settle back as del greco to kick it to john stephens. and he roofs this one again into the end zone.
he's 3 for 3, and stephens with the kneel-down. >> givins with gilbride on the >> but there's lots for montana and kansas city to say in this one, and montana, lots of time. and gets some help from his receiver. it was fred jones who came back,
knew that the play had originally been broken, and worked with his quarterback to get some yards, about 8. >> and, dick, on the scramble, the quarterback and the coaches teach those receivers -- "run with me. if i'm going this way, you run
this way." you can see the age of joe here. not really as mobile, as fleet-footed as he used to be. but when jones runs with the quarterback, there he is. he takes the inside pattern, sees him scramble. now make yourself a receiver.
and he's going back for the ball. great job, jones. >> and it was good for 9 yards. marcus allen in motion. and hit in the backfield! kimble anders, who played his college ball here at the university of houston.
pro bowler ray childress, with eddie robinson, made the stop. >> dick, again we're gonna focus our coverage here so much on the line of scrimmage, unfortunately, but watch again how little time there it is for the kansas city chiefs offensive line to make blocks.
you see how they're across the line of scrimmage? siglar, 66, tries to get a shot on childress. childress beats him into the backfield. >> and buddy ryan salutes that effort. a half yard loss.
third and and a yard and a half. underneath, and that'll be good for a first down. tim barnett, one of the heroes in the overtime win against pittsburgh last weekend, has his first catch. wilber marshall and ray childress with the stop.
>> nice look here by they came with a double tight end, both on the same side. hayes and cash lined up together, made the houston defense adjust a little bit. receiver open for a first down. >> down to the final seconds of this opening quarter, a very
impressive start for houston. first-down play by montana. fighting to the 45. good pickup of 6 yards, and that is the end of the first period here at the astrodome. the battle for atlanta and the super bowl. >> we just went down and had a
chance to talk with the doctor. he said that bubba mcdowell's shoulder is not separated, but it's extremely doubtful that he will return because it's very tender, gentlemen. >> all right, todd. meanwhile, on the other sidelines, marcus allen, after
that last carry, limped off, and here's his reaction. it was here at the astrodome that allen suffered his most serious injury as an nfl player. looks like he got his leg caught underneath. >> yes, maybe. they need marcus all four
quarters today. >> we open the second period, ball at the 45 of the chiefs, trailing 10-0. montana on second and 4. up on top. well-covered. it was j.j. birden, and cris dishman all over him.
dishman, who had six interceptions this year. >> and the receiver runs the out and up. dishman stays right with him, dick. the houston oilers threatened the blitz. came out of it.
this is outstanding coverage by cris dishman. he used to be a real trash talker when jerry glanville was i think he learned that you make more pro bowls, you probably make more friends just by playing well and being quiet. >> you saw him pointing to his
face mask. you can see from the replay the ball went through his hands right into his helmet. third down. deep again. to davis. almost a catch by willie davis. steve jackson the defender.
no flag. >> there was contact. >> well, the fact that montana goes for two long passes and they had time to throw them tells you something. >> believes he's got good enough protection to get the ball down the field.
there's contact. there's no question. but both looking back. and that incidental contact, arm on arm, it's now allowed in the >> willie drewrey back to receive barker's second punt. he drills this one. it's headed toward the end zone.
and that'll be another touchback, as was his first. 54 yards, 34 net. and a time-out. 10-0 oilers. >> if we go back to that last incompletion by kansas city, watch what happens here. they threaten the blitz, but
then sean jones, a defensive end, william fuller, a defensive end, drops out in coverage. the incomplete pass is here. but it's another little aspect of buddy ryan's defense. i mean, all those guys are hats just to get in the way so that joe montana thinks, "oh, i can't
throw there. there's somebody in coverage." he doesn't have time to see 95 or 96. buddy ryan will drive you nuts if you're on the offensive side of the ball, and that's exactly his intention. >> what a character.
he still wants to be a head his chances perhaps somewhat destroyed by the incident this oilers' third possession. a field goal and a touchdown thus far. a little misdirection, and brown earns a tough yard or two. kevin donnalley, number 77, has
replaced david williams at right williams may not return. he has suffered a sprained shoulder. >> always tough on this houston offensive line because there's one constant on this houston offensive line when it comes to injuries -- munchak, the 8-time
pro bowler, has also had eight knee surgeries, number 63. he doesn't practice during the week. he just plays on the weekend. see him limping to the line of scrimmage here? but the guy is mystical as to what he can do in the huddle and
at the line of scrimmage for these houston oilers. >> his play is appreciated, and he made his ninth pro bowl with the recent balloting. moon underneath to jeffires. single-covered by bruce pickens, and that's a first down at the 32.
backup brigade. and it's floyd reese, mike holovak have done a great job, the depth of this houston team, losing the quality players that they did this year. but look at the backups. brown, orlando, jackson, bishop, wellman not only have come in
and filled the void, they have produced. of course, the loss of webster slaughter, back there in the sunglasses and the sport coat, huge. had just begun to really pick up the run-and-shoot after coming from cleveland.
>> they say here in houston "we don't rebuild. we reload." on first down. oh, got quiet all of a sudden. and moon thumped. third sack of this first half for kansas city, as joe phillips --
phillips, in 16 games, gets 1 1/2, and he has 2 sacks in the first half today. >> and he's on munchak, 63. another big power rush. and this is what munchak has problems with, with those knees. it's actually munchak who knocks warren moon down, but i mean,
williams is hurt, but now houston's got to wonder about can munch go this entire game. they need a little better pass protection. if he comes out, then erik norgard comes in, so the backups continue. >> leading 10-0.
now second and 17 for moon. to the sidelines. duncan. not much there. pickup of 5. albert lewis made the stop. >> the thing about this run-and-shoot that's amazing is that warren moon has told me
several times, "i have no idea who the primary receiver is. everything is done adjusting on the fly. i could go to the line of scrimmage, call a play, and whatever the defense dictates, then i find the primary receiver."
he said, "about 40% of the time i'm going to the third and fourth receiver." >> you see the 76s on the helmets. that in tribute to jeff alm. committed suicide late in the year, another part of a tragic and tumultuous year for houston.
>> blitz. >> third and long. screen to gary brown. brown fumbles! and falling on it was bruce matthews. matthews, the all-pro center. but he might well be all-pro at any line position, in the right
place for the oilers. >> already been all-pro at guard and center. you're right. this is an attempt by houston. it looks like albert lewis was in the neutral zone there, which i'm not sure exists anymore in the nfl.
but a quick screen covered very well by kansas city. neil smith out there. the ball on the ground. there's bruce matthews. he always seems to be in the right spot at the right time. >> his brother, clay matthews, 16 years a star linebacker with
the browns, is here to cheer him on. first kick for greg montgomery, who led the nfl in punting average this year -- 45.6. danan hughes. got some running room! 50. and to the houston 42-yard line.
john henry mills made the stop. 34 yards on the return. hughes with a big return, and that's the life that kansas city needs, the special-teams play. iowa rookie danan hughes, 35-yard return. that's the longest against the oilers all season, and his
personal long. and the first time montana sets it up not on his own 20 at the start of a series. he's going long! he's got davis open! oh! what a play by cris dishman! >> did he make contact? >> yes, just enough to deflect
it off davis. >> boy, he runs the deep post, and willie davis has unbelievable speed. dishman knows it. dishman's eyeing it all the way. yes, just knocks it away. oh, my goodness, that's taking a chance.
>> that looked to be a 6-pointer all the way. but dishman denies for houston. >> dick, the plus side for kansas city -- montana with the ball going down the field. >> montana 6 for 13. six different receivers have a he likes to spread it around.
here they come on a jail break. and breaking a tackle is birden! j.j. birden is to the 5-yard line! tackled by bo orlando. a flag is down, and so is the quarterback. michael barrow, coming in, hit montana as he threw it.
false start, number 76. >> the tragedy of that for montana is he should never have been hit. that was a no play. the false start is on the left tackle, john alt. they see the blitz coming. he rocks back.
who hits him? barrow. michael barrow right up the middle. buddy ryan likes that middle pressure. >> and he calls barrow, the rookie from miami, the smartest rookie he's ever coached.
and montana in some pain. remember, he has a rib injury, and it looked as if it was the hands or fingers. he said name a part of the anatomy and it's been injured in his 15-year nfl greatness. >> but he's -- this guy is a lot tougher than people have given
him credit for throughout his career. >> so, instead of first and goal at the 5, it's second and 15. screen. and nothing there at all. >> ooh! >> that was to todd mcnair, and michael barrow right in the
middle of it. >> actually, he was more open than mcnair was. he was barreling down right on mcnair to come up with the buddy leaves this barrow kid. this is barrow right here. watch what happens. he reads the screen beautifully.
he's locked on to mcnair. sees it right there. and as he goes out of the picture, barrow is right there to make the tackle the instant the ball is caught. >> what's buddy got called on third and 15? montana goes long.
has a man open again! oh, my! willie davis, a sure touchdown! right on his fingertips. montana can't throw it any better than that. >> boy, they don't have room service in the astrodome, so it's not gonna get any better
than that. goodness. >> davis open by plenty twice in this series. montana had it on the scoreboard. >> boy, you design a formation, a motion, a play to get a receiver that open, and then
it's gone with an incompletion. >> so, barker sends the punt to drewrey. a fair catch inside the 10. oh, joe montana and the chiefs ever so close. two chances in that sequence. come away with a zero. al saunders, the receiver coach,
coming over to willie davis. davis had a touchdown. young man from central arkansas. same school that produced scottie pippen for the nba. in fact, davis followed pippen around during the nba final. so far for kansas city, three punts and the interception that
led to the opening field goal. deepest start for houston, at their own 8-yard line. moon to duncan. twisted down at the 16. martin bayless the stop. >> another feature of the run-and-shoot is the quarterback is never in the same spot on
successive plays. there's always kind of a half roll or a little angle drop. so the defensive linemen have difficulty just focusing in on where the quarterback is. >> 57-year-old jack pardee, a legend here in texas, a star. six-man football.
his graduating class had only eight or nine in it. can you imagine? >> he told us the six-man football was the original >> he learned it early, and he's been using it the last 10 years in the big leagues. moon again.
jeffires. and he has a first down at the 25. so, moon underneath, picking away, and jeffires, who the oilers feel has to come up with the big plays in these playoffs to get to the super bowl after what they feel has been an off
season, and moon going to that big target. >> and, dick, frankly, in the run-and-shoot, the inside receivers, the slot receivers, are the ones that get the most attention. they get the most receptions. so any pressure that
haywood jeffires on the outside and curtis duncan can alleviate from the inside guys later on in the game, that's a big plus for the run-and-shoot. >> warren moon on a roll -- six straight. see them pass along the audible from moon to the wide receivers.
the pump and the throw. wellman was open and almost made a catch skidding on his back. making his cut, wellman, who competed at southern california on the 4x100 relay team with quincy watts, the olympian. >> he was very upset when he told us that he wasn't recruited
by terry donahue. yeah, he just slipped on the astroturf. warren again with an excellent read. wellman is that outlet receiver in man-to-man coverage, and kansas city came with a blitz. >> gutty little receiver.
>> yes, he is. >> we were talking about definitions at the start today. you might see his picture under that in the dictionary. >> he's not even a sports fan, he told us. he's a surfer. underneath again to jeffires,
the lanky star from north carolina state, and he's close to the first down at the 34-yard line. six catches, 51 yards for >> dick, i'm sure kansas city is sick of seeing haywood jeffires catch the ball. in 1990, the game he had against
kansas city in kansas city was ungodly. warren moon threw for over 500 yards. haywood jeffires had over 200, and it's looking like that kind of start again for him today. a young man you root for. one of 17 kids.
>> out of greensboro, north carolina, where danny manning, the l.a. clippers star, was a high school teammate. third and inches. and moon leverages his way across for a first down, it would appear.
>> well, i mean, even buddy ryan is gonna have to now admit, at least in this game, the time of possession by the offense has certainly kept his defense rested. so, at this point, i can't believe there'd be any punches thrown or even contemplated.
>> gilbride admitted it has not been a pleasant, happy year for but he says, "i'm gonna keep my mouth shut" and wants very much, like ryan, to be a head coach and deserves to have the chance. >> [ laughs ] >> there have been a lot of heavyweight championships here
at the astrodome. i don't know if that one qualifies. a couple of ali championships to duncan. breaks a tackle and has the first down. played at northwestern with steve tasker, the buffalo bills
special-teams star. >> and, dick, this is another aspect of the run-and-shoot. they try to isolate players one-on-one, so if the tackle is missed, you could get more yards. taylor is the young man who broke his finger last week on
the second play of the game. didn't look like a very good but other aspects of this run-and-shoot -- get a receiver way out there. you better make the tackle. on his right hand, second finger is broken. >> does rodeo in the off-season.
the give to gary brown. feeling his way into kansas city territory to the 47, a pickup of about 5. fields the tackler. >> about the only thing houston's not been able to do to this point in the first half is run the ball consistently.
and, of course, that's what they need -- more run in the >> nine first downs to four for houston was second only to san francisco in piling up first downs during the year. six on that first-down carry by brown. breaks out of the tackle.
slides safely at the 31. and a flag. >> yes. >> he was going feet first, and that was an unnecessary contact by martin bayless. >> personal foul, unnecessary roughness, number 30. half the distance to the goal.
first down. >> gerry austin makes the call. 16 plus 15. >> moon also 37. better days are behind him when it comes to carrying the ball but able to get his legs up. and there's the hit, the elbow even to the face.
i mean, that could've been unsportsmanlike conduct, too. >> 16 on the scramble, 15 on the penalty. and jack pardee helping mr. austin with the call. first down just outside the kansas city 15. emotionally, this could be very
destructive to kansas city after missing the sure touchdown on their possession. gary brown inside the 10. that's a lot to bring down -- 233 pounds, and he's only 5'10". >> when this kid came out of college, he backed up, as you said, blair thomas and
leroy thompson at penn state. good pull block by mike munchak, 63. then he broke his ankle as a senior in college. did nothing at the combine. and floyd reese here at houston still drafted him. we were wondering why.
>> eighth round. what a selection. and here, three years later, he fills in for lorenzo white and gains 1,000 yards in eight games and change. oh, look at this move! flags are down, and brown and lewis entangle, and more flags.
>> whoa. lewis and brown are really unhappy. and one of the officials takes the brunt of it. whoops. little gary wellman down at the bottom of it. and with those punches, we might
see some ejections, which could be very costly. >> yeah, gary brown had a hold of albert lewis' face mask. albert lewis was upset about it, and then i'm not sure what happened next. >> haywood jeffires just extricating himself out of the
scene. there have been some fights terrell beat doug jones. ali. remember cleveland williams. that was here in the astrodome. >> oh, they're writing names down here, dick. i think you may have called it.
they got names and numbers that may be out of this game. >> well, this is what coaches fear. bad enough the injuries, but to lose a man on an ejection. >> especially if for houston you lose gary brown. >> lorenzo white is still
nursing that hamstring. and, really, spencer tillman, i guess, would be the replacement for brown if he's out. >> and that's basically it. i mean, they don't have any other running backs. they have le'shai maston, but he's kind of a
linebacker/running back. there's lo white on the >> he's not even in uniform, so they only have three running backs coming into this game. >> on the run, we have a personal foul, face mask, on the runner, number 33. we have holding, number 84 of
the offense. we have unnecessary roughness, late hit out of bounds, number 30. unnecessary roughness, late hit out of bounds, number 58. the penalties offset. replay the down. >> [ laughing ]
>> you go figure. >> wait a minute. this isn't ice hockey. penalties aren't offsetting in >> i guess when there's that many. anything over three, you just offset. that's lewis and brown, both
have a handful of face mask. and albert standing his ground. >> there's bayless coming in to get his own piece of refereeing. and derrick thomas fortunate -- but it didn't matter. it was all gonna offset anyway. you unclear things, and it's second down and 4.
houston leading 10-0 with 3:25 to go in the half. covered by jay taylor. flag down, a late flag. often that's a hold against the tight end if you had one. >> personal foul, illegal cut, number 88 of the offense. 15 yards.
repeat second down. >> smallest man on the field. >> he's helping on the pass rush. here's wellman right here. he's helping on the pass rush. derrick thomas, 58, comes from the outside. see, he's sitting outside of
that offensive tackle, and when you're outside the offensive tackle, you can't go in at anybody's legs. inside the tackle or inside the tight end, if they had one, that would be legal, but from outside the tackle, that's an illegal block.
>> and coincidentally, it was derrick thomas, the man who had hit him over on the sideline. so the penalty back just inside the 25. second and 19 for moon. here comes that corner blitz. and lewis strips the ball! and kansas city recovers!
joe phillips in there along with derrick thomas, but it was lewis who made the play, just as he did in the first series of the the fourth sack for the chiefs, and the rookie jaime fields comes up with the ball. >> kansas city's defense consistently has come off the
here's albert lewis. no one picks him up. an offensive lineman steps out to try to help. it's matthews, 74, but albert lewis just gets his hand on the football, and the recovery by kansas city. >> that was a huge defensive
play and turnover for kansas city, as the oilers were threatening to go up 17-0. marty preaches it, and marty enjoys it. he's got the ball back. well, they put him in there, the "wimp." he's got --
yeah. he's got two shoulders. >> that is a huge play, isn't it? >> yes, it is. >> 33-yard line. lewis... >> kansas city's had their chances.
i don't know how many more they're gonna get. yeah, that's right. the long one is there. yep. yep. >> where was the deepest penetration? >> thank you, joey. >> the 9.
>> hey, john faratzis? ross schneiderman just handed me a note. if we get the right angle -- and i'm sure we will -- houston is all over that neutral zone. i mean, they are lined up offsides. houston on their defense, just
cheating the line of scrimmage. is bubba mcdowell back in there? yes, he is. i'll be... >> albert lewis -- boy, he's a player. >> ooh, man. whoa! >> in his 11 great seasons in
kansas city, albert lewis has made a lot of big plays. he's a kick blocker supreme, and there, the facility to get just enough of moon to force a fumble. there's the time of possession. houston had driven to the 9-yard they come away empty.
it remains 10-0. 2:55 left for joe montana and the chiefs here in the half. mcnair in motion. montana steps up. throws long to davis. oh! he's crunched by bubba mcdowell but hangs on to this one.
well, he dropped the easy one and he clutches a very tough reception. 22 yards to the houston 45. >> again, montana -- excellent time to throw. when the receiver goes up in the air, yeah, you pay the price, but actually mcdowell kind of
worked as a cushion there for landed right on bubba mcdowell's legs. >> marcus allen in the picks up the blitz. throws. incomplete. intended for tim barnett. that's no catch, no catch.
in a sea of blue was barnett. >> now, montana's had receivers and i realize that was a very tough catch to hang on to. but you don't get a lot of chances against this buddy ryan defense, and every chance you get, you got to take advantage of it.
>> mcnair comes out, and keith cash, number 89, in, the second tight end. had a big game -- the blocked punt against the steelers that helped kansas city to the victory and seven catches last montana going long. and j.j. birden never picked up
>> no. didn't even see a throw. >> of course, in the early days of baseball here at the astrodome, the outfielders have had great difficulty, and still some of them do, and he never saw the ball. >> here's the 46, defensive linemen here.
here are the linebackers. watch lamar lathon from the outside. the idea is if you can get them by somebody untouched, wilber marshall is unblocked. falls at joe's feet. lathon, on the outside, makes the contact.
another desperation throwaway by joe montana. >> you don't want a quarterback faint of heart against this houston defense. you're gonna get smacked almost every play. it's a screen to the tight end cash.
breaks one tackle. and is close to a first down. check that -- jonathan hayes is the receiver, to the 36-yard so, it'll be a tough decision. that's paul hackett in the center. learned the system under bill walsh at san francisco,
when, montana, of course, was the quarterback. it's a fourth and 1, and marty schottenheimer and the chiefs are going to go for it. now, normally, you would look for marcus allen here, fourth and 1. but the oilers, undoubtedly, are
gonna take every gap away. ernie thompson also in there. he allows 250 pounds of power. but look at the oilers, shoulder to shoulder, goal line. >> trying to draw them off. >> that's the last time-out for >> but, dick, i think marty's got to go for it here.
i mean, that's too long for a you need something in the last two minutes of this game so there's a good taste in your offense's mouth when it goes in at the halftime. i'm not sure this decision is made yet. >> well, they've tried the --
first, marty is figuring, "if we can get a first down on the penalty, let's try that," but now no time-outs but a full 2 minutes to play in the half, so that isn't a factor. by the way, if you're curious, houston does have all three of its time-outs.
marty and montana -- we saw that picture of the fourth down goal from the 7-yard line against the steelers, last chance to tie, in overtime. >> yeah, he said -- joe's amazing. i mean, nothing bothers him. he wasn't even sure they won the
game or the missed field goal in regulation, what it meant. i mean, he just -- maybe his greatest ability, and he has a lot of them, is he separates each play, the last one from this one, and this one from the next one. he just plays play to play.
now here's the big play. >> trailing 10-0. toughest in the league on third-down defense. incomplete! jackson denies birden. >> well, they're trying to run a pick. it's coming right at ya.
you're hoping the outside receivers pick off jackson, 24. jackson was all over j.j. birden. that's a decision that will be questioned. i'm not a coach, but i would've done the same thing. >> now the oilers taking over on
downs at the 36-yard line, leading 10-0. lost a golden opportunity last possession when lewis forced the moon fumble. four sacks for kansas city, so it's been both sides of the line of scrimmage the defenses have been the dominant force.
moon to duncan, short yardage. tackled immediately by bayless. they don't use one of the three time-outs here. >> and this, of course, to make sure you're up to date and up to speed on the houston oilers' problems, this is when the fisticuffs took place on the
houston oilers sideline. buddy ryan wanted kevin gilbride and the offense just run out the clock. twice he had players hurt in these situations, and he just as soon let the clock expire. >> well, he used 35 seconds to get this play off.
moon from the shotgun. goes deep for duncan. almost intercepted by kevin ross. >> taking a chance, trying to get one down the sideline here. i mean, all it is, is just a fly pattern, a go pattern, an up pattern by curtis duncan.
>> kevin ross looking for a little birthday gift. he's celebrating his 32nd today. >> [ laughing ] buddy ryan. i don't think buddy would've called that play. i don't know what makes me feel that way. >> reggie brown, number 17, in.
he's an unknown from alabama state, but if you watch practice, you realize what a terrific talent he is. fumble! and who's got it? moon may have covered it himself. that's the fifth kansas city
sack of this half. and moon very fortunate to wrestle that away from neil smith. >> this run-and-shoot offense is high-risk. and when you're not running the ball at all -- neil smith, great job with that left arm, just
poking his arm through there. warren moon does a great job of recovering that thing. >> so, with 52 seconds left and kansas city can't call time, so that trying to draw houston offside has cost them about 45 seconds. had they had the time-out, they
could've called it here and had the ball with more than a minute left in the half. danan hughes, who had the big punt return of 35 yards, back to the 20. and houston lets it tick all the way down, the play clock, and then a time-out.
well, kansas city, on any punt, you've got to watch them. they're as good as anyone in the if they have the return on. montgomery sends a beauty. oh! a rocket! they measure those at nasa. hughes drilled at the 22. bowden makes the stop.
a 68-yard kick, 15 on the return. montgomery's longest -- 77, and that was this year. >> that looked like it came off a bat. looked like he hit a fastball deep to center here in the astrodome.
by the way, he is the only punter i've ever come across who has a tattoo. he's in my book. he has a tattoo on his left bicep. >> michael barrow, one of the stars on special teams, shaken. kansas city will run out the
the oilers happy with 10, and kansas city, in some ways, will feel unfortunate they don't have 7, and another their defense holding warren moon and the oilers to a single touchdown. the winner will earn a trip to rich stadium in buffalo next sunday.
and at the intermission, it's houston up by 10. in the category of most unexpected statistic, how about this one? with all the pressure in buddy ryan's defense, sacks -- k.c. five, houston zero. >> yeah, and two of them come
from defensive backs for kansas city, albert lewis stripping the ball away on warren moon. i'm shocked at that. joe montana and the offensive line of the kansas city chiefs have done a brilliant job of spreading the ball around, and
with enough different formations and motion, they never really get a clear shot on joe montana. they've made contact but they've not gotten the sack. >> for an injury report, let's go down on the field to o.j. >> not an unhappy group of chiefs going in or coming out.
neil smith was telling the guys, "two more quarters like that, and we got them going." joe montana looked at me and shrugged and said, "juice, we just got to make the balls." boom. there it is. what's happening with the oilers, todd?
>> well, i'll tell you what's going on. i talked with bob young afterwards, talking about some blocking adjustments, and what he said to me was unprintable. a rookie at left tackle, two guards that hadn't practiced all week, and now the right tackle,
david williams, out with a shoulder separation. that explains the five sacks and the fact that gary brown -- seven carries for 17 yards. that's going to have to improve in the second half or moon's gonna find himself on his back more often, gentlemen.
>> all right, thank you, o.j. and todd. in fact, warren moon with 19 yards rushing led all runners in the first half. houston will get it first. nick lowery, the veteran, to kick it off. john henry mills and
willie drewrey are deep. you saw mills, the rookie. it's to drewrey at the goal and he crosses the 20. good coverage by kansas city. let's take a look at the numbers in the coors light halftime statistics. a big sack -- 5-0 for
kansas city, but neither team able to run the ball. >> yeah, and houston told us that they really needed to run kansas city was not really interested in their rushing yardage today. with 115 pass plays in and the time of possession clearly in
favor of the oilers, kansas city's intention was to throw. there's joe. he's enjoying it. he loves every minute of this, doesn't he? >> he's unbelievable. talk about unpretentious.
>> totally. >> warren moon is the same way. almost apologizing for his athletic stardom. >> underneath the center here, not out of the shotgun. >> hand-off to brown. and he is rejected. joe phillips and dan saleaumua.
>> this is the one thing that surprised me the most -- the lack of rushing yardage by the houston oilers. the last time these two teams met, kansas city was very proud of their running defense that they put up, but then that was lorenzo white carrying the ball.
they thought that gary brown would be able to bust through this defensive line. >> in his eight starts, brown averaged 111 yards a game. no gain on first down. moon all day this time. now fires underneath. good coverage by bruce pickens
as he denies jeffires. >> haywood started coming back towards the quarterback, dick, and stopped. and when he stopped, that allowed pickens to catch up to >> that's on those scouts that go out and look at universities, colleges, big and small, and
"close on the ball" is one of the categories for defensive backs. how quickly do you react and deny? >> yeah, unfortunately that's not teachable, either. you're either born with it or you don't have it and you're
never gonna get it. >> crowd has become very quiet, this sellout of over 62,000. all 10 points coming in the opening quarter. moon buying time. almost intercepted by pickens. an excellent move by pickens. it's against houston.
and undoubtedly kansas city will decline. >> holding, number 63. penalty is declined. fourth down. >> veteran mike munchak. >> and again with all of the bull rushes that have happened here, i think it's
dan saleaumua. yeah, saleaumua, and it's a twist. derrick thomas on the inside. munch just tries for a takedown good call by the officials. protect the quarterback. >> and buying time was moon because he had the teller there
with the window shut on somebody. danan hughes all alone. ten men up for kansas city. they're going after montgomery! and he drills one, a wobbler, out. hughes muffs it but recovers inside the 30.
hannah, travis hannah down to cover, the rookie for houston. 45 on the punt, minus-5 on the muff. >> hughes was looking at his hands. wondering maybe that somebody at halftime changed his hands to somebody else.
no, they're yours, danan. >> it is tough, even though it's not a little, white baseball you're trying to find up there. in this dome, it's very difficult because there's a ring of lights around here, and the ball goes into, through, and then back out of the ring of
lights, and it's easily lost. >> montana and kansas city's first chance in the second half, they came close in the first half. out throwing. and a first down out to the 41 to j.j. birden. birden, who had a solid season,
with 51 catches, a couple for touchdowns. >> 14 yards on the reception, and this is just a simple square in pattern. the houston oilers starting very conservatively. they run that double rotation zone when they're not coming
with a 46 blitz, and montana knows that and knows that well. the longer joe montana has a chance in this game, the more he's got to scare the houston oilers to death. >> you don't want to be within a touchdown in that final quarter. hit hard, as coming up was
blaine bishop, number 23, to make the stop. here's another one of the unknowns, an eighth-round pick out of ball state, where his hobby was bowling. and he comes rocketing through like there's gonna be no strikes or spares.
only splits the way he hits you. >> you could put three bowling balls between his knees. he's one of the most bowlegged kids i've ever seen. >> yeah, looks like a cowboy. allen with only 3 on first down. he has 16 yards on the day. knocked down by big sean jones,
the 6'7" defensive end. the houston oilers' movie critic is jones, who played at northeastern in boston. >> when he came from the raiders, he had that bad reputation, and this year -- sean very late off the ball. alt tries to cut him.
sean jones gets his hands up in the air. one of the things that buddy ryan wants his defense to do is know the formation on every single play. sean was caught at the line of scrimmage there and just kind of fell into a good play.
>> stockbroker in the let's see ryan's call on third and 7. montana guns it. complete! it's willie davis. and davis is on the roll! inside the 20! caught by orlando.
37 yards. kansas city's biggest play of the game. >> well, he has been open. this one he catches. it's a square in pattern. terry hoage, 27, the safety, doesn't get over there. that's a double rotation zone.
the safety is supposed to be there for that square in, and he doesn't get it done. hoage, of course, played five years with buddy ryan in philadelphia, but another big completion by kansas city. >> deepest penetration for the chiefs, the 18.
and the penalty flags. ricky siglar, number 66. >> before the snap, false start, number 66. it's still first down. >> part of the rebuilding of this kansas city team, will shields, a rookie from nebraska, the starting right
guard, and siglar, who didn't play with the 49ers. started here at kansas city at right tackle. >> there's siglar coming out of his stance. looked like they were gonna run a sweep near side. pulling down.
>> and he's wearing his kansas city and his san francisco red. and, boy, did the 49ers redden things out at candlestick yesterday. were they impressive? >> they left scars on the giants.
>> montana. open is barnett, and he's inside the 10-yard line. bumped out by orlando. 14 on the play. it'll be second and and 1. >> the coverage man was eddie robinson, the linebacker, again.
great pass protection by barnett releases inside, and barnett, with his speed, when you put linebackers in coverage on wideouts, they're not supposed to cover them on crossing patterns. you need help. montana, again, reading this
defense beautifully. second and 1 at the 9. marcus. enough for the first down, it robinson, whose father in charge of the events at the superdome in new orleans. eddie robinson made the stop. first down and goal.
there he is. he's an interesting young man out of alabama state, a second-round pick. history major. thought about medicine. >> wanted to be a doctor and said, "it's just too much time." >> that was the first chiefs
first down by run. now a play-action. wide open is the tight end! and cash has a touchdown! oh, oh, oh, my! did you see keith cash? he drilled that one. the bull's-eye was buddy. >> well, his twin brother,
kerry cash, a tight end with indianapolis, caught over 40 this year. he's here to cheer. they played at the university of texas. >> this is the naked reverse. you see cash releases behind the no one out there in coverage.
of course, last week, with his seven receptions. yes, sir. in your face, buddy ryan! [ chuckles ] >> try for point by lowery, who is the third-leading scorer all time in the nfl, and he drills it through.
kansas city strikes early in the second half. it's 10-7. >> buddy watching from the a well-designed play here. schottenheimer -- this is a very special play put in by paul hackett, and it works for 6.
>> joe montana has struck, a 7-yard touchdown pass. that means 10 consecutive playoff games montana has thrown a touchdown. that ties the all-time mark. ken stabler had 10 in a row. but montana owns just about all the playoff passing marks.
going after that one. willie drewrey the deep man. john henry mills with him, but it is to drewrey at the goal drewrey chopped down shy of the 20-yard line. again, good coverage. fred jones, who made a terrific block on the touchdown pass,
gets the tackle on special teams. >> here's the tight end. he comes behind the line of scrimmage, as joe montana rolls this is beautifully designed and executed. just wide open. and watch the block in the end
zone on bo orlando by jones. here it comes. comes back, helps on dishman, and then 26 is the man he's got his sight on. cash walks in. >> that's the kind of wide receiver play that the san francisco 49ers expect.
rice and taylor can block for you. and these chiefs will block downfield. wilber marshall saying, "i should've had him." so now a 10-7 game. and moon throws underneath. wellman gets about 7 on the
charles mincy the tackler. >> again, he is the man-to-man receiver, the inside of the you'll see warren, from underneath center, prefers the shotgun but is taking the snap here in the second half in kind of a little angle drop just to make it more difficult for the
defense to put the crosshairs on >> wellman, who had 31 receptions on the year, 3 today and 54 yards. >> but still no running by >> moon has another open man, and for the first time today we call ernest givins with a catch. he broke up one in the end zone,
an interception, and givins, first down at the 40. 15 on the play. >> looked like they had a hold of his face mask. this young man, when they put the run-and-shoot in several years ago, insured himself with lloyd's of london.
back then the amount to insure -- it was a face mask. they didn't call it. bayless had a hold of it. but the premium was $35,000 about six years ago. now it's up to $70,000 a year to insure himself against injury. >> ernest "pastel" givins.
that's the right color. brown running into his own blockers because they were stuffed. boy, the chiefs have just thrown up a cement wall defensively. >> boy, it looked to me like saleaumua pushed bruce matthews right back in the backfield.
i didn't think that was possible. >> saleaumua, 6' tall, 300 pounds, from arizona state. >> this defensive line, you've got the real anchors in the middle with phillips and saleaumua. you got the speed guys on the
outside with neil smith and derrick thomas. these two guys have played a whale of a game here, those inside tackles. >> both over 300. second and 11, as moon changes the call, and it's relayed out to the farthest receiver.
underneath to wellman. ducks the tackler and is close to a first down at the 50. jay taylor finally got him out of bounds. >> again, dick, they ended the half with a blitz by albert lewis. here it comes again.
here's wellman, the receiver, running the out, and taylor misses the tackle. brown picks up lewis. the quick out. ducks underneath the tackle. and again, that's a feature of that run-and-shoot -- make that first tackler miss.
>> and mincy was the one who was unable to deliver the stop. out of bounds at the 49. third and a long 1. brown straightened. boy, again, nothing there. martin bayless came up to fill the hole, as he was in there with the big guys, saleaumua and
phillips. no gain. >> dick, seldom do you see the timing as perfect as this. but you're gonna see bayless just flash in here. >> and this is gary brown, who averaged 5.1 yards a carry, second in the league to
emmitt smith's 5.3. and today he's averaging 1.6. bayless, who really sacrificed the body, coming off, wincing. so, montgomery to punt it. hughes back at the 10 for no, it's j.j. birden this time. beautiful, high kick. and...
it goes into the end zone. as long as you don't call a fair catch, you can block. and birden did not raise the we've got a time-out. and they're all here with the luv ya blue. and their voices now trying to help the defense of the oilers.
10-7. montana drove them 71 yards for a quick score the last possession. gets some daylight and out to the 28-yard line. close to a first down. bo orlando up to make the stop from his safety spot.
>> dick, when you start handing out game balls to kansas city, the offensive line gets them. they are doing a heck of a job of shoving these guys off the line of scrimmage, have slowed down the houston oilers defensive front four, and buddy knows it.
he's got to come up with something else. he personally challenges players. "i can find somebody better than you better get better." >> 26 yards. that leads all rushers. first down and more.
protecting the ball across the 40 goes marcus allen, and cris dishman makes the stop. a dozen on that one. >> great cutback by absolutely beautiful cutback. you're gonna see him cut back. and you need the offensive linemen over here to stop the
pursuit, which they do, and it just gives marcus allen just a little slot to get through see? siglar gets 95, fuller, on the ground. that allows that lane to cut back for the cutback, and 12 yards.
now buddy's saying, "where's the run defense?" >> nine yards on the first carry, 12 on that one. now the pass to birden. another first down, at the houston 48. orlando the stop again. >> boy, as sometimes happens in
basketball, when momentum goes to your opponent, this would be a good time for a time-out for buddy ryan to get things back in order. just a slant pattern. jackson -- great respect for j.j. birden's speed. safety fills, but still 12 yards
on the pickup. >> and now progress to the 47. birden a receiver that wasn't used much in cleveland, and marty schottenheimer, when he left cleveland to go to kansas city, said, "i'll take him with me." there's the turnabout here in
the second half. two impressive drives by anders. out of bounds at the 42. a late flag goes down, and i think we're gonna have a hold on number 79, dave szott. szott appeals. >> holding, number 79 of the
offense. ten yards. repeat first down. >> looks like when he pulls, he's out here on wilber marshall, and that's where the holding takes place. he kind of pulls on his left arm there a little bit. yes, no question about that.
anders is used to playing on this field. went to the university of played for jack pardee. >> college quarterback was andre ware of the lions, the heisman winner. first down and 20 for montana. birden.
terrific catch, acrobatic in front of steve jackson. >> and, dick, the four-man rush by the houston oilers not putting any pressure on excellent job up front. see alt, 76, handling acrobatic catch. it's working.
it's working for kansas city. >> fourteen on that one. that was first and 20. birden out, fred jones in. he's just gotten better and better. birden was a track star at the university of oregon. tripped to the 41-yard line, shy
of the first down. big sean jones with a hand down to get allen. willie davis, cris dishman engaged in some pro bowl conversation. >> "i didn't make it either." third and 4. >> this is -- all these
kansas city players repeated to us time after time, "we have great faith in joe montana." it's showing itself here, dick. >> many of the fans on their feet, and montana, with the noise, sees he's not gonna be able to beat that 40-second time-out with 3:19 left in the
third. kansas city on the march again. welcome back to the astrodome. kansas city has pulled within 3 and had the ball on the march again, and joe montana and the chiefs have made some adjustments. >> they have, and they've
worked. one, i think they're giving their offensive line a lot more respect, so they're calling a lot more of their passing plays, figuring that the offensive line can get the pass protection done. and it's working.
running ever so slightly just to keep the defense honest. [ crowd cheering ] >> crowd trying to help on third and 4 for montana. incomplete to birden. steve jackson on man coverage, and montana holding that left hand as he gets up slowly.
>> dick, i'm telling you, that time-out taken by kansas city, because of the 25-second clock, was the best thing that could've helped houston because after they -- >> uh-oh. montana biting his lip, and he's trying not to show that he's
but he is in pain. >> and houston came with a it was terry hoage, 27, on the safety blitz that made the contact. >> montana, like a baseball hitter that's struck by a pitcher's fastball, not wanting to rub.
>> they bring eight, and then sean jones, 96, drops out. there's the shot by hoage. >> perfectly legal, and you can see got his helmet apparently on the left hand, non-throwing hand, of montana. >> there's that grimace. that looks like on his thumb,
but he doesn't want to show any pain out there on the field, >> barker in to punt. drewrey back at the 10. toward the sideline. but he hits the end zone. so houston gets it. they've stopped kansas city and it'll be the oilers at the 20.
through that player that's screening our view is the hand of joe montana. montana showing a bruise on the top of the left hand, and dave krieg is warming up. montana and injuries have gone side by side. he's taken his licks through the
years, some very serious -- the back surgery. little things that most quarterbacks would call. then the elbow and knee in '89. '90, and then the elbow injury that took him out for a couple of seasons in san francisco. moon on first down.
jeffires breaking tackles. fumbles out of bounds. houston will retain right at the first-down sticks. >> dick, this says something about joe montana. it takes two plays to get all of joe montana's injuries out there graphically.
>> '91 -- the right elbow tendinitis, and then surgery on that elbow that cost him two full seasons. a wrist earlier this year, and then he lost four games this year with a hamstring. 53 games out of his career, over 20% of his potential games, out
with injury. he took a helmet on that left hand, but it appears he's strapped, ready to go back in when kansas city gets it next. meanwhile, moon, second and short. first down underneath to givins. bayless and lewis the tacklers
at the 35. >> very important here for houston to have a long, sustained drive because since the second half started, the momentum has been on kansas city's side. moon again the little angled drop and just a curl-out route
by ernest givins. catch it, get it on the ground, move the chains, keep the offense on the field, give the defense a rest. >> spot at the 36. kansas city shows blitz. and a screen to brown. well done.
tackle made by dan saleaumua and charles mincy, as jaime fields was coming on the back side of >> dick, it is so amazing that a guy of saleaumua's size, even though he drops off in coverage as the nose tackle, that dave adolph, the defensive coordinator, can even
contemplate a 300-pound middle linebacker there to stop the screen, but dan makes the >> well, we've seen him get an intercept out of that move, dropping back into coverage. second down, 7. moon is 20 for 26. and wellman on the sidelines.
it's a catch at the 46, close to a first down. mincy over there for >> again, kansas city coming with the corner blitz. here's albert lewis over here, coming from the outside, and again gary brown picks him up. the short out to wellman.
keeps his feet, gets another 2 1/2, 3 yards dancing up the sideline there. >> short by a foot of a first three -- four now consecutive passes on this possession by moon, all completed -- jeffires, givins, brown, wellman. he's spreading it around.
snap by moon. he gets plenty. right behind all-pro final minute of the third quarter. 10-7 houston. and moon and the oilers with their best offensive work of the moon going deep, and he was
drilled. intercepted by mincy. mincy tackled from behind by the intended receiver, ernest givins. kansas city on the turnover. 12-yard return for mincy, who had five interceptions on the >> dick, there was triple
coverage on the receiver, givins. warren's got time, although he sees mickell, 92, coming at him. look at the kansas city chiefs. one, two, three. mincy makes the catch. >> not a bad one, considering he was going down on the seat of
his pants. and returns to the 14. >> this is a very poor choice by it's 5 yards underthrown. he would've been a lot better off just throwing it out of bounds, and buddy ryan... with his kind of defense, he wants an offense where, look,
there's nothing wrong with punting the ball. just don't turn it over. but this basically serves as a punt. kevin gilbride knows "that's not what we were looking for there." long, sustained drive, and then just throw it up for grabs.
>> eight seconds left in the third quarter. montana back in at the 14. cash, the touchdown maker. good job of running out to the 23-yard line as the quarter ends. marshall and jackson made the stop.
we go to the fourth quarter in oilers 10, chiefs 7. with our producer john faratzis, director john gonzalez, this is dick enberg, bob trumpy, o.j., and todd at the astrodome. low scoring, and houston, after a 10-0 start, trying to ward off kansas city, being charged by
super joe. montana driving them quickly in the third for a touchdown. moved the ball well on another drive. and you can see the difference. kansas city -- 135 yards in that last quarter, significantly more than the entire half.
marcus allen across the 25 on al smith and eddie robinson collaborate on the stop. >> while the chiefs have not run a very good yardage today, they've at least been able to keep buddy ryan's defense honest. >> paul hackett, former head
coach, university of pittsburgh, then hand-picked by carl peterson and marty schottenheimer to bring kansas city an entire new it was hackett they hired first, and then a couple of months later -- joe montana. second and a long 7.
montana after the pump fake. and no catch. j.j. birden felt he was interfered. >> there was contact again. it was the stop and go. montana is slow getting up. >> steve jackson covering >> watch this stop and go.
again, it's jackson. and jackson got the hand on the arm and the shoulder. >> how can that not be interference? >> ooh, i don't know. there's a lot of contact in this league anymore. the contact.
looked like sean jones down around his leg. ray childress was there too. jones and childress. not a direct hit on montana, though. >> yeah, but he hurt his left hand and now his left knee. and this gallant 37-year-old
warrior looks at them again and has to call time. >> against a defense like this, with all the moving, that clock is key in any game. >> just 45 seconds into the final -- or we should say fourth 62,000-plus, a 10-7 game. >> watch sean jones -- the head
slap on dave szott and falls down on montana's leg. but joe's all right. >> the glamour of being a >> blitz! >> lamar lathon. the first of the game for >> and he was untouched. >> boy, that was a rough series
for montana. >> untouched. looked to me like they brought eight that time. >> so, on fourth and 17, bryan barker to punt. willie drewrey waits at the 37. drewrey to the 49-yard line, a 12-yard return.
36 on the punt. good field position for warren moon, at the 49. >> kansas city had 12 guys on >> that'll be their last time-out then. >> they had to call time-out. >> oh, that could factor in later in this quarter.
that's all of marty's time-outs. >> come on! let's go! let's go! >> kansas city spending all three of its second-half time-outs with a little over a quarter gone. >> tim watson, number 26, realizes, "wait a minute.
they're about to play football i better get off the field." but pickens has to call a time-out, and you're right. three time-outs wasted. >> and that'll put special pressure on joe montana. >> that's another card he does not have in his deal.
so, warren moon, first down at his own 49 with a 10-7 lead. and houston covers at the 40-yard line. gary brown -- no, it was moon who recovered his own fumble. it was bennie thompson, number 46, in on a blitz. that's six sacks for kansas city
as they continue to terrorize >> well, they've been blitzing off the corner. here's bennie thompson. dick, no one touches him. the rules are you block inside. donnalley, 77, tries to help on matthews tries to help on the inside.
warren moon very lucky he retains possession. >> that's the second fumble that moon has recovered. albert lewis got the other one, and moon recovered. >> second and 18. moon has been under pressure as well.
not hit as hard as montana, but he, too, is taking his licks. over the middle! and up there for grabs for a moment, as curtis duncan had it knocked away by charles mincy. and he comes out limping. >> that ball kind of got to curtis duncan's body.
these crossing patterns, you want to try to catch it here. top of the screen, outside. it gets through his little cradle there to catch it. thrown very hard by warren moon. >> jay taylor was the defender in front. and now duncan, after limping,
stays in the game. so, it's third and 18. tough catch, but the ball was and now moon will spend the first of the houston time-outs. that comes with 13:05 left. both teams struggling reading tough opposing defenses. certainly a passing down --
third and 18. and here's the distribution with jeffires, the tallest, 6'4". the outside man has seven catches today. wellman in motion. quick throw underneath. and it's givins. short of the first down by
almost 10 full yards. jay taylor makes the stop. and houston will have to punt. thompson coming on the blitz from the left-hand side. makes the completion. you hope that givins could break a tackle, but well-defensed by >> fourth and 11, so in comes
greg montgomery. j.j. birden at the 10. and tackled just shy of the 14. a 42-yard punt, 3 on the return. scott kozak downfield to make the stop. >> offensive line coach bob young talking to his kids they've had more than a fistful
today from kansas city. they have dominated a lot of offensive -- excuse me -- defensive lines in this 11-game winning streak. kansas city has acquitted itself very well. >> well, the oilers are the number-3 offense in the league
in producing yards. san francisco first, miami second, and then houston third. but they're less than 200 yards today, and as you pointed out earlier, in the 30-0 houston win over kansas city early in the season, the chiefs defense allowed only 247 yards.
that was as tough as anyone has played the oilers. it's just that the offense couldn't produce. >> and as a matter of fact, if there was anything that was like a sandwich to bite into for this team, it was their performance defensively against houston in
that game. >> where did the personal -- where did this happen? a personal foul. that happened with no play. marty schottenheimer about to get one himself. one of the most emotional men in sport -- marty.
so, from the 5-yard line, montana throws to davis. gets 5. stopped immediately by >> dick, i did not hear the referee. i did not see the flag thrown. and schottenheimer is still beside himself on the sideline.
>> five yards on -- well, almost 6 as they spot it near the 11-yard line. >> you hate to see field position determine something like this. >> trying to... apparently out of bounds -- oiler player had come to the
kansas city sidelines and was struck by a kansas city player. wide open and an interception! terry hoage! jonathan hayes was all alone deep, and montana didn't get it far enough. >> hoage is 6'2". montana tried the alley-oop over
hoage. and he can't quite get it high enough. on the rollout, this has been there's hoage, 27. jump ball for hoage. he keeps the interception in bounds, and gives his offense the ball back.
there's hayes. and joe knows it's a mistake. he was hoping. "come on." >> he had hayes 5 yards behind hoage, but hoage made a great he was picked up off the waivers. hoage played for ryan at
philadelphia. of course, houston, with all their injuries to defensive backs, they needed help, and hoage has given them more than that. gary brown again unable to pick up much, as bennie thompson helps out dan saleaumua.
>> and again, the kansas city chief defense not allowing houston outside running room at all. >> hoage played at georgia. the right man in the right spot. this 10-year veteran, all five years of the ryan regime, he was in the secondary as an extra db.
>> there's a platoon of ex-buddy ryan players out there that he can just bring in and plug in. >> moon underneath to givins. hanging on the ball as jay taylor stops him shy of the first down by a yard. >> givins in the slot.
as you look at the defensive backs on the houston oiler givins just running, again, a little quick out underneath taylor. see duncan on the top. they can fake that short one and go to duncan deep. jay taylor's biting and biting
early. >> third down and 1. 10:25 left in the fourth >> well, do they have to throw it here to convert this third down? they've had so little luck running. >> they stack the defense.
moon from the blind side. gonna be hit by thompson! bennie thompson and martin bayless get him back near the 30-yard line. seven sacks for the chiefs. >> and, dick, i think that's now four from defensive backs. that's where most of the
pressure has come. here he is right here. warren moon is looking away. he's untouched. gary brown tries to help. that's a page out of buddy ryan's book. >> so, on fourth down, as you look at bennie thompson, who was
one of those plan b pickups from new orleans by kansas city. it'll be a 43-yard attempt by al del greco to give the oilers a 6-point lead. yes, right down the middle. del greco's had his best ever year in his 10th season. he was 29 for 34 this season,
and he's hit two long ones today -- 49 and 43 yards, both after joe montana had been intercepted in his own end. >> you can see joe's right elbow a little swollen from a bursa sac problem. he has been hit and hit consistently today.
look at his right elbow. distorted from the fluid on the elbow. you can see the scar from the torn flexor tendon. but after being out for two years, this is the situation he wants. this is the opportunity he
>> and marty schottenheimer saying, "hey, those two interceptions cost us 6 points. you notice what our defense did? kept you within a touchdown, joe." montana now talking to blundin on the sideline with words down from paul hackett.
>> much likely had that built in any denver bronco game because john elway is over the 30 mark in those fourth-quarter comebacks. montana, including the fourth and goal from the 7 desperate touchdown pass to tie pittsburgh and then go on to win last week
in the first round of the playoffs, has 28. the reason he doesn't have more is the 49ers, when he was playing, didn't have to come back very often. >> you're right. they blew so many people away. well, this is why the chiefs got
him, for this situation. it's the fourth act of the play. joe montana at center stage. >> al del greco has done his job and has been rooting them down into the end zone. hits this one low, a liner. comes down to john stephens. stephens, a pickup this year by
marty schottenheimer, returns to the 29-yard line. kozak another tackle. well, we were in san diego when joe montana -- he was working without a time-out. took his team the full length of and who else but marcus allen to get the touchdown to beat the
chargers. neil smith was very happy in that one for a couple of reasons. he had made a penalty mistake, but he also blocked two field goals by san diego. and then last week, fourth and goal at the 7, the steelers
leading by 7. there it is, that perfect strike to barnett right between the two numbers. 13-7. this is cash. and the big tight end is on a rumble, all the way to midfield. >> dick, did you see
bubba mcdowell? he could not make the tackle. his shoulder was so bad, he could only try to tackle with his right arm. 25, bubba mcdowell is gonna go in motion. now, you see him carrying his arm?
now watch what he does. tries to tackle him with one there is a point where, because of injury, you're hurting your team, and bubba mcdowell is now at that point. he hurt his team there 'cause he just couldn't make the contact. >> keith cash, who caught the
touchdown, the only score for kansas city, gets 22 on that from the 49 of houston, montana going long for willie davis! and davis -- there's interference at the 10-yard line. cris dishman draws the yellow flag, and it'll be a first down,
kansas city, near the 10-yard >> great protection for montana. he's got two backs in the full protection. davis has gone by both dishman and jackson all day today. stops and comes back. dishman never pays any attention to it.
an obvious flag. >> at the 11-yard line. >> he almost caught it anyway. >> 38-yard penalty. montana unhappy he didn't complete the pass, and he hurts his hand by slapping his hands together. everything is hurt.
he says, "what next?" in front of the largest crowd ever to see a game in the underneath to birden. there's some kansas city fans here cheering the birden score to tie it at 13. >> dick, they beat the 46. we started this game talking
about the blitz 46. montana gets the blitz 46. it's unbelievable. montana is brilliant at recognizing and reading defenses. again, he read it perfectly. >> and now lowery for the try for point.
and kansas city leads for the first time today. >> dick, we started talking about the 46 as soon as we went on the air. take a look again at what we showed you at the outset of the program, the 46 defense. you've got the defensive line
set here, two linebackers, free safety, man-to-man coverage. and here's the pattern, and montana reads it perfectly. great pass protection. puts it right on the money. he beat buddy ryan's defense it's just a post. marcus allen assists.
you mentioned earlier. we saw those comebacks by neil smith told us, "i'd always seen joe montana with those comebacks for the 49ers. now i'm in san diego, standing on the sideline, and it's the kansas city chiefs. he's on my team and doing it."
he's done it again. >> 71 yards in two plays, plus the big 38-yard penalty. and buddy ryan's defense has sacrificed the lead at 14-13. took them 59 seconds, kansas city, to get the 71 yards, the touchdown on the 11-yard pass to j.j. birden.
so, houston will have to play from arrears for the first time, and it comes with plenty of time in front of 64,011 fans, the largest ever crowd in oilers history. mills and drewrey deep. lowery sends it high toward the end zone.
and drewrey will take the >> there's something almost mystical about his performance in this second half, how he's continually done it throughout his career. look at the numbers, the difference. last week he started out with
seven straight incompletions. it just doesn't bother him. it's just play to play to play. >> and that's the right way to describe it. he is here to be -- he's making a lot of money. he doesn't need a lot more money.
but he loves to play and he loves the challenge, and he has something to prove, and, talking with the chiefs and asking each one, "well, what do you think? will joe, whatever happens, be back next year?" they say, "yeah, i really think he's still got the glint."
that serious stuff in that eye. he doesn't want to hang them up yet. 15-5 as a starting quarterback in the playoffs is joe montana, and, of course, a perfect 4-0 in the super bowl. now it's moon's turn. hit again and fumbles!
derrick thomas forced the but thomas was the one who stripped him with the eighth sack today. >> and this is not a blitz. this is a straight four-man derrick thomas, even with an assist from gary brown, gets inside hopkins, number 72.
saleaumua has the ball. chiefs back in business. >> derrick thomas as fast as any linebacker, and he's so lightning quick. had four forced fumbles this year, eight sacks, on his way to another pro bowl. he's five for five.
a true star in this league, and he comes through. gives montana the ball outside the 10 -- 12-yard line. throws this one away. closest to the ball was >> dick, don't i remember when we talked to derrick thomas last night, he was talking about,
"i'm on the rookie"? "last time we played, i didn't face him, but i haven't given him my inside move." >> and he said, watching films, there might be a chance inside, and he patiently found it in the fourth quarter. next year -- big lawrence taylor
fan, and l.t. will be pleased, as he watches i'm sure, that derrick thomas -- he said, "i want to wear 56 next year, at least in the preseason." down goes montana. william "the rush man," fuller "the rush man" has his first he had 10 on the year.
>> fuller got the sack, and ricky siglar, 66, was hanging all over him. here's the matchup. watch siglar at the end of this. he has got a fistful of jersey, trying to keep him away from right in his chest. buddy says, "thank you.
that's what we want. get on his chest. yeah." >> mike munchak -- his knee is bothering him, so we won't see him probably when they get the ball again. and montana throwing for davis. >> oh! >> touchdown!
he stole it from right around the defender, steve jackson! or is it dishman? it was dishman. >> unbelievable catch. >> dishman was running in tandem with davis, and he reached right around him for the score. so, making amends --
willie davis for the drop in the first half, and montana has struck three touchdown passes in >> obviously you can't get willie davis out there in the he needs company. he likes a crowd. one hand he catches it with. makes the half spin, catches it.
"in your face, dishman." what a catch. >> big extra point by lowery. that gives the chiefs an 8-point lead, 21-13. and now the pressure on the oilers with 7:44 left in the fourth. 21-13.
super joe has struck at the that could've represented the goat horns at halftime, but he's come back to make a remarkable cris dishman, one of the better cover men in the league, seemed to have him blanketed, and he reached around for the score, and montana, after the fumble,
takes them in the 12 yards in three plays. actually, with the sack, he went 18 yards on the touchdown pass to davis. and now warren moon and the oilers have 7:44 to get 8 points or more. that one will go...
into the end zone, and it'll be a touchback at the 20. >> dick, when we go back and look at it, here's the pattern right here. and i'm telling you, there's no reason that joe montana should throw this other than the fact that joe montana is throwing it.
he's been in this situation before. you talk about putting it into a small spot where it's catchable -- right there, right over the left arm of dishman. that's great coverage by dishman. >> there's only about two feet
in which you could've thrown that ball that dishman wouldn't either have knocked it down or intercepted himself. >> and montana has the confidence. "i'll give my guy a chance to make the catch." and davis does.
that's the same guy who dropped it earlier. >> you saw the two men in this chess match, paul hackett calling the offense, buddy ryan trying to stop him on defense. now moon from the 20. down the middle. martin bayless.
and moon attacked again. derrick thomas coming in the back door and neil smith from the other side. >> well, now they've got -- here's neil smith, and kansas city can basically disregard the run or anything short and put a lot of pressure
on warren moon. yeah, derrick thomas first, neil smith from the other side. this is a very difficult time for houston because the defense is gonna be laying back, turn these four guys loose, see what they can do. >> neil smith doesn't need that
bandage on the bridge of the nose. he broke it long ago, but it's become a habit of his. now he's even gotten a little decorative. >> fashion statement. >> second and 10 for moon. coverage by bruce pickens on
a flag is down. not for interference. for something else, and i believe it's against houston for holding. yes. brad hopkins, the left tackle, working on derrick thomas. >> well, he doesn't want to
allow the sack, but jack pardee is watching it come apart here at the seams. >> holding, number 72 of the ten yards. repeat second down. >> you called it. here's derrick thomas. what's he doing? oh, the inside move again.
and he grabs ahold of his shoulder pads. he was serious about trying that inside move. it's worked twice. derrick thomas trying to please his buddy deion sanders. they're still in pager contact with one another.
>> yes, they are. >> roderick thompson. >> neil smith is the other part of the four musketeers. it's second down and 20 for screens it to brown. and brown across the 20 to the 22. not been very productive, a man
who was just given all the yards anyone could've wanted here in houston, but not today. jaime fields and charles mincy make the stop, where it'll be third and 8. >> and on friday when we were at practice -- that's lorenzo white standing on the sideline --
friday we were at practice, and i noticed that they were practicing a great many more screens, and i mentioned to kevin gilbride, "what's with all the screens?" he said, "oh, don't tell anybody. we're gonna try to do that a
lot." they have. few have succeeded. >> a triple left for moon, who needs 8 to retain possession. 6:45 remain. the quickie to jeffires. and the long-legged jeffires out of bounds at midfield.
>> it's bruce pickens in coverage. great release. takes the outside and jumps finally mincy, 42, has to make the tackle. it's a 28-yard reception by >> his eighth catch, good for 86 total.
first down at the 50. clock is running. 6:18 left. picked up the blitz. moon drills it in there! curtis duncan -- a first down, 37-yard line, 14 more for moon. jay taylor on the coverage. 5:57 left.
>> dick, this time the blitz continues. it's 46, thompson, coming in to put pressure. handled well by warren moon. and he really put the zip on that one. that was right between fingernails there for duncan.
runs a little square in. albert lewis on the inside. >> with 5:35 to go. moon to the sidelines to clock will still continue to run, even though he goes out of bounds. not until the final 5 minutes will the out of bounds stop the
jeffires having one of his better individual games. >> jeffires just went -- >> well, it'll stop until they spot the ball, and then they wind it. they wind it now. >> he just walked by george brett there on the
i didn't know -- >> oh, yeah, george brett is helping o.j. simpson. >> oh, that's right. >> try to hit a home run, and his time runs out. only a yard on that pass completion. make it 2.
>> blitz again. fights off two tacklers and is down shy of the first down. little ernest givins. how many great years he's given these oilers. kid too small out of high school -- 125 pounds. no one thought he could play
college ball, much less the nfl. >> he's still not that big. and being that inside receiver, there's an awful lot of contact, and he's able to absorb it. still got the guts to get in there and go up and get it, as houston now in kind of a semi-hurry-up.
>> 4:32 and running. >> looks like blitz again. >> they pick it up. and open is wellman. first down at the 18. the oilers have two time-outs left, plus the 2-minute warning. kansas city leads by 8. >> remember also that
kansas city has no time-outs left. again, moon looking everyone looks to the outside, wellman to the inside. mincy and kevin ross assist on it looks like the middle of this defense is open. there's the thinker.
>> rodin with the raiders is what they called him because he was in that pose so often. givins out of bounds. that will stop the clock. first and goal, houston. in front of albert lewis. seven straight completions for >> this is beautiful to watch.
just the intensity, that next level of focus. this is the beauty of this sport. >> inside the 20 this year. they have coughed it up seven times, have the oilers. while they've taken it away a lot, they've also given it up.
travis hannah, the speedster from southern california, in for moon throws a touchdown! givins! an absolutely brilliant drive engineered by moon. eight consecutive completions to pull houston to 21-19. moon, in fact, has missed on
only nine passes out of 40 attempts today. del greco. 21-20. >> look of determination there on the face of warren moon. he answers the drive, and there's not really anything fancy here.
this is givins. just runs a square in, and warren moon finds him. it's rather simple. it doesn't look like kansas city reads the defense correctly because the coverage is nothing. mincy, 42, is the man on the no one goes with givins.
>> beautiful throw by moon, as were all of his passes on that drive, and a little... >> electric glide. >> whipping cream there, french pastry as al mcguire used to call it. convulsion. >> didn't it start here with
billy "white shoes" johnson? buddy ryan. well, then go shake kevin gilbride's hand if you like the call. come on, buddy. >> 4:09 is the time consumed on the drive, 80 yards, nine plays. moon perfect.
3:35 left. 3:35 left, a 1-point game. the winner goes to buffalo. wonder who they're cheering for up there. they must've taken sides, although they'd never admit it. buffalo played both teams in the they hammered houston at the
depths of their 1-4 start, 35-7. most points given up by the oilers all year. and houston -- or kansas city, rather, defeated the bills 23-7 in kansas city in a very impressive game late middle >> dick, the only thing i can tell you is that this houston
team is a much more difficult team to prepare for with the 46 and with the run-and-shoot. you've got to spend a little more time in practice and a little more time watching film. i don't know who they'd choose, >> now, houston has two time-outs.
kansas city needs to run off a few first downs to secure the win. a tenuous 1-point game. john stephens at the 3, a rare return chance. chopped down right at the 20. here comes joe montana with 3:27 to go.
marcus for 2. jones, montgomery, and company in on the stop. if ever the buddy ryan defense has been asked to step up and deliver, this is the time. buddy ryan the mastermind of this defense. he's been a terrific coach,
producing everywhere -- minnesota vikings and that purple people eaters, the bears, helping mike ditka and the bears to a super bowl championship, '85. the eagles -- his defense certainly respected with the best.
>> very much. and, you know, the interesting thing -- he doesn't want this houston oiler defense looking at tape of the bears or he said, "this is the oilers you make your own film." he doesn't use the bears or the philadelphia eagles as a
teaching tool. >> never showed it to them. second and 8. close to a first down at the 30 wilber marshall made the stop, the veteran acquired this year, and of course hand-picked by >> actually, buddy ryan guaranteed a super bowl victory
if they get wilber marshall, and joe montana's mad that he went out of bounds 'cause it stops the clock. that helps houston. stay in bounds. >> third and 1. and there's a flag down, and cash is on the loose!
keith cash all the way to the 30-yard line! steve jackson makes the stop. a 40-yard play. they were battling as if that were a jump ball back at the 33 for possession, and the flag went down at that time. >> we've got the linebacker
i think it's eddie robinson, number 50. all over him. >> holding, number 50 of the the penalty is declined. >> officially a 41-yard play on third and 1. >> dick, it's the 46 defense, and robinson's got the coverage.
hands all over him. somehow cash goes up and makes the catch. >> a new star is born in this young man, keith cash, who has blossomed because of this offense, because he's a good receiver, and marty schottenheimer saw him
block a punt last week, catch seven balls. he has a touchdown today and that big 41-yard catch. montana now 299 yards passing. to the 24-yard line, a gain of 5. >> and just a warning to those people down in the locker room,
as a time-out is taken by houston -- that's their last time-out. but a warning to the press down in the locker room -- keith's brother kerry cash will be in the locker room probably answering questions when keith is in the shower.
that happened last week in kansas city, and there weren't many members of the press who were aware. they are identical twins now that keith has gained about 30 pounds. >> yeah, they were -- well, the only reason they weren't
identical at texas -- keith, 89 here, played as a wide receiver, so he played around 215 while kerry played as a tight end around 240, and now as an nfl tight end, here's keith gaining that weight, and it is tough to discern one from the other. >> matter of fact, he backed up
tony jones, who is a wideout with houston, who is about 5'7", weighs about 150. he played at 215. another big play by the young man. >> yeah, there's an old sports clichã©, bob trumpy, a money player, and this cash in the
last two weeks, huh? what do you think? >> i could sense it coming. >> i wasn't gonna change anything you were saying. >> right on the dime again. all right, here we go. 2:21 left, ball inside the 24. 21-20 kansas city.
no one with a time-out in the pocket. allen up over the top to the 21-yard line, and it'll be third and about 2, a long 2. >> you know, dick, when you look at this game, there are two receptions here, one for a touchdown and that one by cash,
that by no rights should be caught. somehow montana makes the >> and the 2-minute warning strikes. houston's winningest season ever. they won 12, 11 in a row -- a houston record -- and now it
comes down to stopping kansas city on third and 2 to get the ball back trailing by 1. the ball at the 21-yard line. and remember, montana earlier in this quarter, on third and 1 in his own end, threw the ball, and that was the big play to cash. >> it's not a bad call right
now. >> no time-outs for houston. they give to allen. he's got the first down. he's got a touchdown! two great veterans, one unwanted in los angeles, another wanted but didn't feel he was the guy, that steve young, it was his
one hands to the other, and kansas city has scored with 1:55 you know, back in the last century, in 1836, this city of houston was founded. it was called allen's landing park. and in 1994, marcus has landed in houston.
the extra point, and a big one by lowery that gives kansas city what would seem now an insurmountable 8-point lead. 1:55 left for warren moon and >> his 15th carry. watch the job he does. this is the beauty of always able to cut back.
excellent job again up front by the offensive line. when you're giving out game balls, that offensive line -- that's one of the best performances kansas city's offensive line has had all season long. look at the cutback.
nobody is there. allen scores without being touched by a light blue jersey -- hand, arm, anything. >> paul hackett. his team struggled with a new the playbook -- even the players themselves said, "we didn't study this hard in college.
this is an academic experience to learn this offense." and it has to be getting better and better and better, and at the right time. marty schottenheimer, in order to get to the super bowl, has to win every game on the road, and buddy ryan's defense befuddled
and foiled on that 21-yard weaving touchdown run by >> this job by the kansas city chiefs has been spectacular. what is it? eight sacks they've gotten. >> one less than a playoff record. >> they've thrown the ball.
they've protected joe montana. he stayed upright for the four quarters, and gave him the opportunity in the second half to come back and win it, and he did. >> allen -- that was his 10th playoff touchdown. franco harris the all-time
record with 16. john riggins had 12. allen is third in touchdowns, third in rushing yards in the playoffs, and no one even close to montana for the passing marks. high, returnable to drewrey at the 6.
oh! is he clotheslined at the 17-yard line. danan hughes, number 83, makes the last three possessions in this game for kansas city led to moon drove them quickly the last time but doesn't have a time-out to spend and only 1:51 left, and he's got to get the ball in the
end zone and get the ball back as well. >> and the team, individually, they were all so happy to be playing here in the astrodome. "we finally got the playoff game at home where we want it." and joe montana and the kansas city chiefs have taken it
away from them. >> kansas city, a team that beat buffalo in kansas city earlier in the season. moon fumbles again, and this one covered by brad hopkins. and that was derrick thomas. nine sacks to tie the playoff record for kansas city.
>> bob young was worried about the young offensive tackle. again the inside move, the outside move. he's pretty much giving him a clinic now. "son, look at this. look at that. now i'm by you."
>> if, before the game, you had told anyone in the media -- there's the wife, jennifer montana -- that one of the teams would tie a record with nine sacks, and with all the talk of buddy ryan, you would've said, yeah, houston. but it's kansas city who came to
play, and their pride stung. to a man they said, "hey, everyone talks only about everyone says it's only a one-man team. well, we came here and you just watch. you watch." and they have walked the walk
and talked the talk. there are certain players in the nfl that when they're in the huddle or on the sideline, they elevate the performance of people around them. joe montana, in my generation, in my lifetime, is the one person i think in professional
athletics who, more often than not, has demonstrated that. he takes average players and makes them great by doing nothing, by just being there, by just doing it play to play to play, and he's turned kansas city into a fine football team.
>> and o.j. simpson will try to target montana. we'll get his reaction to this upset win. neil smith -- that's what he told -- he came in the room, said, "we're gonna win," and left the room, and said, "remember what i said," and he's
telling us again. but it's not over. fourth and 8 for warren moon. hit by thomas again, and kansas city takes over on downs. another punishment dealt to warren moon, and derrick thomas, the all-pro linebacker, was in his face most of the second
have a moment -- let's thank all of the people that made this one our executive producer of nbc sports with us, tommy roy, john faratzis, our coordinating producer of nbc football. she's had many a moment watching her man. today's game was produced by
john faratzis, directed by john gonzalez. al szymanski, a terrific job on the opening tease, and his work. jim bell, our production associate with all the graphics. tim bekaim and susan stone with the arrangements. technical manager joe raznik,
mitch gellar our technical director, and all the men and women, and here in the booth -- kevin eschenfelder and denise sieman with their help. kansas city now a couple of kneel-downs by joe. no, it's dave krieg in to do and krieg will perform that
routine art one more time, and houston will have to swallow a very tough defeat, in a season where it appeared this would be their year, and many predicting they would be the afc representative in the but it will be either buffalo or kansas city that goes to
atlanta. and with 24 seconds, krieg finishes montana's work, the relief pitcher, as he was at little milton college. joe montana and kansas city, from behind, win it 28-20.
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