NFC:  Washington Redskins

AFC:  Buffalo Bills

Date:  January 26, 1992

Super Bowl XXVI

 

Scoring:

Team                1          2          3          4          Final

WAS               0          17        14        6            37

BUF                 0          0          10        14          24

 

NFC playmakers:

RB Earnest Byner, RB Gerald Riggs, WR Gary Clark

 

AFC playmakers:

RB Thurman Thomas, TE Pete Metzelaars, WR Don Beebe

 

Network:  CBS (WISH Indianapolis)

Announcers:  Pat Summerall, John Madden

 

Pregame:  Yes

Halftime:  Yes

Postgame:  No

Commercials:  No

 

Grade:  7.5

 

Notes:  Mark Rypien passed for 292 yards and 2 TDs as the Redskins overwhelmed the Bills to win their 3rd Super Bowl in the past 10 years. Rypien, the game’s MVP, completed 18 of 33 passes, including a 10-yard scoring strike to Earnest Byner and a 30 yard TD to Gary Clark. The latter came late in the 3rd quarter, after Buffalo had trimmed a 24-0 deficit to 24-10, and effectively put the game out of reach. Washington went on to lead by as much as 37-10 before the Bills made it close with a pair of TDs in the final 6 minutes.

 

Though the Redskins struggled early, converting their first 3 drives inside the Bills’ 20-yard line into only 3 points, they built a 17-0 half-time lead. And they made it 24-0 just 16 seconds into the 2nd half, after Kurt Gouveia intercepted Buffalo QB Jim Kelly’s pass on the 1st play of the 3rd quarter and returned it 23 yards to the Bills’ 2. One play later, Gerald Riggs scored his 2nd TD of the game to make it 24-0.

 

Kelly, forced to bring Buffalo from behind, completed 28 of a Super Bowl-record 58 passes for 275 yards and 2 TDs, but was intercepted 4 times. Bills running back Thurman Thomas, who had an AFC-high 1,407 yards rushing and an NFL-best 2,038 total yards from scrimmage during the regular season, ran for only 13 yards on 10 carries and was limited to 27 yards on 4 receptions. Clark had 7 catches for 114 yards and Art Monk added 7 for 113 for the Redskins, who amassed 417 yards of total offense while limiting the explosive Bills to 283.

 

Washington’s Joe Gibbs became only the 3rd head coach to win as many as 3 Super Bowls.

 

Thanks Dale.

 

Running time:  3:34 (2 discs)