European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 13, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 30 the stars and stripes sports it s still cowboys is. The world by Dave Goldberg a football writer the wild card games were fun the weekend entertaining. Or As Kansas City coach Marty sch Ottenheimer put it we re in the entertainment business. We  still with 12 teams trimmed to eight in the nil playoffs it remains the Dallas cowboys against the world particularly if Emmitt Smith s shoulder is healthy. Three of next weekend s quarterfinal games Are regular season re matches Kansas City at Houston and the los an Geles raiders at Buffalo in the acc and Green Bay at Dallas in the pfc. And the new York giants at san Francisco May As Well be these teams seem to meet As often As divisional opponents. Dallas Houston san Francisco an Buffalo the four teams that had byes last week All Are favored. But remember that in this season of the double Bye weeks teams that were off lost two thirds of the time when they met teams that had played the previous week. History shows however that the deeper you get into the playoffs the More Likely favourites Are to win. There Are a lot of winners Here the eight starting quarterbacks left have 11 super bowl rings among them Joe Mon Tana four Phil Simms Steve Young and Jeff Hosteller two and Troy Ai Manone. Montana three time Aikman and Simms All have been super bowl  Don t forget Jim Kelly just be cause he lost three super bowls he been the winning Pitcher in three straight acc title games. A look at the games in order of appearance raiders 11-6 at Bills 12-4 8 30 . Get saturday an to and radio the last meeting was in Buffalo dec. 5and the raiders won 25-24 As Tim Brown caught 10 passes for 183 Yards. You would think Buffalo weather Montana Simms Hosteller Young would work against the los Angel Strack club. But remember this Brown played at notre Dame James Jett attest Virginia and Hosteller a Genera Tion ahead of Jett at Wavu spent his formative nil years in the winds of giants stadium. Still Buffalo s secondary Nate Odomes and Henry Jones in particular is a lot better than Denver a which hos Teller Brown and Jett riddled for two straight weeks. You can run against the Bills Buthie raiders running game is mediocre attest even with the promotion of Napo Leon Mccallum from Ensign to Admiral. And the raiders can be run on look fora big game from Thurman Thomas. The last time the raiders were in Buffalo for a playoff game the Bills won 51-3in the 1990 acc Tille game. Bui while the cast of characters is the same the Buffalo offence in t the Bills have won this year because their defense grabs turnovers. ". Buffalo should win but no guarantee. Giants 12-5 at 49ers 10-6 10 . Get saturday an to and radio a seemingly annual matchup with an Odd statistic the 49ers have won five of the last six regular season meetings the giants have won the last three playoff games including the 1990 pfc Tille game at candlestick. In fact this vill be the 16th new York san Francisco meeting in 13 years a High among non division opponents Over that period. The liners lost three of their last four after hey had secured the pfc s Sec Ond seed. But they still scare you simply because of Jerry Rice and John Taylor who can score from anywhere on the Field. The plot Here should be simple. The giants will give the Ball to Rodney Hampton against san Francisco s suspect defense and try to consume 40 minutes or so to keep Rice Taylor and Young of the Field. Then they have to Hope that they get touchdowns instead of Field goals once they re in scoring position. One problem for the giants mar Collins who usually handles Rice pretty Well has a Gimpy ankle. Again no guarantees. Packers 10-7 at cowboys 12-4 6 30 . Sunday an to radio the cowboys won 36-14 in the regular season and Are two touchdown  s assuming Smith s shoulder allows him to play he s clearly been the mos important player in the nil this year. Smith won t be the Only problem forthe Green Bay defense which will have to get a lot of pressure from Reggie White and Tony Bennett to keep Troy Aikman from finding Michael Irvin and Alvin Harper. Erik Williams the cowboys right tackle won an pfc player of the week award last season for shutting Down White in a game with Philadelphia. The packers weak at Corner Strong at safety May try a two deep zone the giants shut Down Irvin and Harper that Way. But Green Bay banged up at inside linebacker allowed Barry Sanders 169 Yards coming off a knee injury and now gets Smith. The cowboys have less to shut Down although Sterling Sharpe keeps finding ways of getting open. The packers probably have gone As fair As they can. Chiefs 12-5 at oilers 12-4 10 . Get sunday an to and radio the oilers won 30-0 in the regular sea son but with an asterisk. Montana sat out with a bruised wrist. Still that was during Houston s bad period its Only win in its first five games. Now they be won 11 straight and seem to be enjoying the buddy Ryan Kevin Gilbride sideshow. So we get Montana is. Warren Moon and the Houston defense. Montana has usually played Well against Ryan defences. He picked himself up after nine sacks to throw four fourth Quarter ads on sept. 24,1989, Forsan Francisco in Philadelphia finishing 24 of 35 for 428 Yards in that game against Man to Man coverage forced by Ryan s blitzes. But the Kansas City secondary is banged up and did t have much Success against Neil o Donnell in the overtime win Over Pittsburgh. O Donnell s a Cou ple of notches below Moon. Can the chiefs win i think they have the Best defense in the league sch Ottenheimer said Mon Day of the oilers. But Cleveland got 402 Yards against them so who knows buddy will put Bounty on Montana we re All wishing for the same super bowl Aren t we we All want to see Joe Montana get a Shotat the 49ers, because thai would be poetic Justice. Mon Tana is. Steve Young. Montana is. Eddie Debartolo. Montana is. The team that Cut him Loose. Old Joe like Gary Cooper in High noon keeping his appoint ment with destiny one last time. Can you imagine the thrill of seeing Montana in an other super bowl the anticipation of him getting the Ball say Down by six Points with iwo minutes to play and having to cover 80 Yards against his dear friends and former team mates would t that bring Roulo your feel in t that better than watch ing a directional punier what is Madden s preoccupation with directional punting he spent More time on directional punting in this one giants game than Les Aspin spent on Mogadishu. Meanwhile Mike Horan or. Directional punier himself got a punt blocked by his teammate s Keister does that make him a re directional punter enough already with directional punting. If you want to punt the Ball to the sideline for heaven s Sake just turn an face the sideline unfortunately Kansas City has to go through hous ton and buddy Ryan on sunday. This is not the defensive Genius in Del Oil who Al Lowed Sterling Sharpe the Only offensive weapon the packers have to Beal him in the last minute can you believe thai Here is Sharpe who already has two to catches and he s wide open in the end zone forget Nickel and dime packages if you re Detroit you be got to put a Dollar package out there Tony Kornheiser commentary 10 Guys on Sharpe and one Guy Rushing Brett Favre. Detroit should have been on Sharpe like Cream Gravy. No that is not what Joe Montana is going to see sunday. This is Earth to. " buddy Ryan we re talking about. Do you actually think buddy is going to let Joe Montana beat him if buddy punched put his own coach what do you think he d do to Montana buddy s going to put a Bounty on Montana. Did you see whal the giants did to the Punk Doofe Mcmanon on sunday when they left him twitching on the turf and the Trainer came out and appeared Tobe delivering the last riles buddy was Laking noles on that. Buddy is Way out of control. Buddy is so far Over the line he needs a cab to get Back. Not Only did he throw a punch at Kevin Gilbride but Over the weekend he called him a wimp and said Gilbride should be Selling  How does that work at team meet Ings. Buddy has been beaten by Montana before in 1984, when buddy was the defensive coordinator for dab ears Montana came into Soldier Field in the playoffs and blanked them 23-0. And in 1989, when buddy was coaching the eagles Montana came into veterans stadium and threw five touchdown passes four in the last Quarter an beat buddy 38-28. Buddy is going to run Guys Al Montana the Way they run bulls through Pamplona. Hell run Willie Horton at him if he has to. By the Way have i mentioned How great the game were this weekend All four. Fabulous. And you know who else was fabulous Joe Gibbs. I m sitting there watching a Guy who looks like the coach Joe i knew but certainly does t sound like the coach Joe i knew. V.  ,. Nope that Joe was a Sphinx. You could t get decent quote out of him that Joe had the personality of cup a soup. This Joe wow what did he do take a seminar with Morey Amsterdam Story after Story. Funny eng aging congenial. Of remember a few weeks ago when every Gam ended 13-2, and people were saying the game had been turned Over to Field goal kickers and defences were smothering offences and the nil was ruined finished kaput Well How do those morons feel now seeing feverish playoff games like these 42-24, 28-24, 27-24. The one game where there was t much scoring Adream matchup of the Blond hos head and the Punk Roofus -. Was due to the big wind. Not Todd Christiansen he was at the raiders game but the Vikings certainly could have scored More if any of their receivers had actually held on to the Ball. The wildest game of All was the raiders Broncos. I a Many nags since pening ceremonies i was torn in this game because i like Al Davis and i be always loved the raiders go deep offence but i also like Wade Phillips who seems like  pleasant Guy site a Ubo Lins Alley like that he doer Wear a Headset though Man about town Chip mul Doon suggested it might not be for strategic purposes but because he can t figure out How to put it on. T \ t0 coaching philosophy Down to four it s Proba tier that theare now half a y Home Toad buffal0 and there. The Washington Post