Fantasy Bowl Playoffs: 95 Dallas Cowboys at 94 San Francisco 49ers

95 Dallas Cowboys vs 94 San Francisco 49ers

Hello everyone and welcome to the inaugural game of the Fantasy Bowl I playoffs.  Our first matchup of the day is between two NFC rivals from the 90's, the Cowboys and the 49ers.  Even though the Cowboys ruled the 90's for the most part, the 1994 49ers beat the Cowboys in the NFC Championship and then went on to win the Super Bowl.  The 95 Cowboys used that game as motivation and then dominated the league in 95 before capturing their 3rd Super Bowl title of the decade.

Cowboys key to victory - To prevent a repeat of the 94 NFC championship the Cowboys will need to run the football.  Emmit Smith had a monster season rushing for over 1700 yards and scoring 25 TDs.  If they want to win this game, he needs to be their best player.  When Emmit get contained, the Cowboys have a very tough time winning ball games.

49ers key to victory - Spread the ball around.  Jerry Rice is the greatest wide receiver of all time, but more often than not, he'll be facing off with Deion Sanders and you don't want to be throwing in his direction very often.  Steve Young will need to make use of his other targets especially Ricky Watters.  Watters was not only their leading rusher, but he was also their second leading receiver. 

Weather:  60 degrees, sunny

1st Half: 

The Cowboys win the toss, elect to receive and run the kick back to their own 33 yard line.  In their first series, they get right into their game plan and pound the ball.  Aside from an 18 yard pass to Michael Irvin, every play is a run.  Dallas drives down to the San Francisco 1 yard line, but can't punch it in on 3rd down.  Coach Switzer shows a lot of confidence in his front line and goes for it on 4th down.  No mystery who gets the ball here, they hand off to Emmit and he leaps over the pile and into the end zone. 13 play, 67 yards, 8:14 drive

Cowboys 7 - 49ers 0

The Niners now get their chance to respond and start off on their own 34 yard line.  On their first play from scrimmage, Young fires downfield and hits Brent Jones for a 22 yard gain.  The Niners then attack with a series of short passes to Taylor, Watters and Floyd before hooking up with Nate Singleton for a 16 yard TD.  San Francisco responds and responds quickly.  9 plays, 76 yards, 4:57 drive

Cowboys 7 - 49ers 7

Things begin to slow down.  Dallas attempts to respond quickly as well with three Aikman passes, but end up going three and out.  The Niners go away from what works and run three times before being stopped and punting. After trading punts, the Niners start out with the ball on their own 47.  The biggest play on the drive is a 15 yard scramble by Steve Young who gets them into field goal range.  Doug Brien puts it through the uprights and San Francisco has a 10-7 lead with just over 5 minutes left. 5 plays, 30 yards, 2:44 drive

Cowboys 7 - 49ers 10

The 49ers kick coverage is great and Dallas starts on their own 18.  After almost going for another 3 and out, Eric Davis commits pass interference on 3rd and 7 giving the Cowboys a new set of downs and new life.  The Boys drive down to the SF 19, but fail on a 3rd and 6 and bring out Chris Boniol for a 38 yard field goal.  10 plays, 63 yards, 4:32 drive

Cowboys 10 - 49ers 10

San Francisco start out on the 17 yard line with 37 seconds left and come out firing in attempt to regain the lead before half time, however Young gets picked off at the Dallas 35 by Larry Brown (Yes, that Larry Brown, Steelers fans).  The Cowboys kneel down and send it to half time.

2nd Half

After trading punts, the Niners put together a big drive that starts on their own 18.  Young throws a few short passes, before hitting Brent Jones for 40 yards, down to the Dallas 1 yard line.  Young fires a slant pass to Jerry Rice, who has been blanketed by Deion Sanders the whole game, for a TD.  8 plays, 77 yards, 4:34 drive

Cowboys 10 - 49ers 17

Dallas continues to struggle on offense, getting a first down, but then faltering once again.  The 49ers start to pound away at the Cowboys with their running game with Watters busting loose for a 16 yard gain.  They drive out to midfield before punting.  The Cowboys are about to be pinned deep in their own territory again when they block the punt and take over at the SF 29 yard line.  Dallas has new life while the Niners are now rattled.  Aikman completes a big 3rd and 4 to Irvin and get them down to the SF 4.  Then you know what coming... Emmit Smith off tackle and into the end zone to tie it up!  7 plays, 29 yards, 4:04 drive

Cowboys 17 - 49ers 17

The Niners try to quick strike their way back into the game with a deep pass to Rice that is nearly picked off by Sanders.  A couple incompletions later, the 49ers punt and the Cowboys have a chance to take the lead.  Aikman fires downfield and finds Irvin for a 26 yard gain.  Followed up with a big 16 yard run by Emmit Smith.  The Cowboys are taking command.  On 3rd and 8 from the SF 27, Aikman gets sacked by Rhett Hall for a 4 yard loss.  Out comes Chris Boniol for a 48 yarder, but the kick is wide left and the Cowboys have blown a big chance as the momentum has swung once again.

Unfortunately, the offense didn't get the memo and go three and out.  Dallas gets the ball back with 3:58 left and all three timeouts.  Aikman starts off strong with a 19 yarder to Irvin.  Then a 7 yard pass to Jay Novacek that gets them into 49ers territory.  TWO MINUTE WARNING   Aikman looks for Novacek again, but is picked off by Gary Plummer and he returns it to the Dallas 45!  The crowd is going insane!

The Niners fail on first and second down, but Dallas is called for defensive holding on third down, giving the 49ers an automatic first down.  After a couple short passes, Young goes for the juggular and tries to Brent Jones deep down field, but its picked off by Brock Marion.  Dallas regains possesion on their own 15 with 1:18 left and they have all three timeouts.  Aikman starts off with a deep ball to Michael Irvin and its caught for a 31 yard gain.  Irvin is simply uncoverable today.  Again a pass to Novacek gets the Cowboys across the 50.  A false start penalty on Dallas pushes them out of any type of field goal possibility and the Cowboys punt the Niners deep into their own territory.  The Niners kneel down and the clock expires.  We're headed to overtime!

Overtime

San Francisco wins the toss and decides to get back to basics.  A short pass to Watters and Taylor.  A few draw plays to Watters gets them to midfield.  On a 3rd and 7 Young connects with a diving Ricky Watters for a 14 yard gain that brings them to the Cowboys 37.  The 49ers don't want to take anymore chances passing and just hand off and try to line up for the field goal.  On one of the hand offs Watters blasts through the hole to the Dallas 20.  Coach Seifert figures that's good enough and sends out Brien.  He nails the 37 yarder for the win!  14 plays, 60 yards, 8:24 drive

Cowboys 17 - 49ers 20

A great back and forth game to kick off the Fantasy Bowl playoffs.  Player of the game has to be Ricky Watters.  In a game where Jerry Rice was pretty much bottled up, he came up with some big plays at key times and had over 100 total yards.