12 yards, only played half of it, had a 75 yard touchdown run.
He got sick after he had run for that touchdown,
and he makes the Redskins pretty sick every time he touches the football.
And he has the score tonight as it's nine to nothing Dallas in the 24 yard line.
And Troy Aikman escapes man, and then a pass is not made.
Or is it? Yes, that's a 46 yard line by Alvin Harper.
Get back Jess. Harper, who is a 7'2 high jumper,
shows you some leaping skills there. Whoa, he won hands this. This is awesome.
You don't see many of those in a year. He's got to bring the other foot down.
Get out the highlight fence.
And clearly in bounds with possession. Up at the 46.
Here's Emmett Smith in the Redskins territory. He takes it to the 46,
and the Redskins continue to play as if it's preseason.
Remember Harper, he caught that Hail Mary against the Redskins last November.
If you don't mind, we're just going to show this every other play.
That's just too good to be true. But the concentration, because he had to
know that he was going to be coming down very close out of bounds,
still focuses on the ball, clips it back in, protects it when he goes down.
That's pretty remarkable. Frank, concentration, athleticism, style,
grace, beauty, you name it. It was all in that catch.
Second and three at the 46 yard line, and Emmett Smith behind Johnson again.
And look out, he gets a ride by Fred Stokes from the 46 back to the 49 yard line.
It'll be third down and three at the 46 yard line.
35 seconds remaining in the opening quarter. Next week we'll be in Cleveland.
Brown's licking their wounds after the thrashing yesterday by Indianapolis
against the Dolphins. And because of the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew,
the Dolphins had their game postponed. It would have been their opener against
New England, so they opened next Monday at Cleveland.
Third down and three in the quarter, dominated by Dallas.
And Aitman, well, he saw the play clock go down to one, and so he has to waste the time out.
And that's a smart call by Troy, because he didn't want to put himself into a third and long situation.
It's early in the season, and sometimes there's a time lapse in getting that play onto the field,
transmitting it through the quarterback to the rest of the offensive huddle.
Here's a good look at the fourth year man out of UCLA, the first round picking 89,
the franchise player, hopefully to be a big question mark. Can he stay healthy?
He has been troubled by injuries in each and every year, going out the 12th game of last year.
Unfortunately, Steve Berline is a great backup quarterback. He came on to win the final four
games, and Aitman, as Al pointed out earlier, no problems with the knee that he injured against
the Washington Redskins last November. It's premature to say in the first quarter
that we've reached a critical juncture of the ballgame, but it would do the Redskins
a whole lot of good if they could hold defensively here and force the Cowboys to punt the football.
Mark Rippon and his squad don't need to be any farther in the hole than they are right now,
and this would be an opportune time for the Redskins to arch their back a bit and hold.
So, third and three, 11 seconds to go in the first quarter, 9-0 Cowboys.
Aitman, and it's incomplete, intended for Martin, and he was covered by A.J. Johnson. And so,
as Dan suggested, it would be proficient for Washington to hold, and they do,
and they will get the ball on what might be the final play of the first quarter.
Daryl Green drops back to receive the kick. Mike's action will set up at his own 40-yard line.
And I think Green's back there for his decision-making ability. In all probability,
this is a kick that will not be returned, and so Daryl Green's the guy who went back there making
the call, whether or not the field is fair catch, I'd say, anywhere around the 10-yard line.
He's also a great guy to have back there, thinking about a fake. On fourth and three,
Jackson lofting it just barely into the end zone, bouncing about two yards in,
and the first quarter has expired. A memorable one for the Dallas Cowboys. They did just about
everything right. They lead it by a score of 9-0, and they return to Irving, Texas,
for Monday Night Football after this message and awards from our ABC station.
Three key guys. We're in your picture there. Jones and Noonan, the two backup tackles,
and the other Jones, the rookie middle linebacker. They've done the job thus far. First down,
Washington from the 20-yard line as we start the second quarter. Ricky Irving is the new running
back. Play clock is down to four. Rippon with a short drop, a wobbly pass, and Clark makes the
catch, and Larry Brown says hello. Well, you really can't fault the decision on the part of Rippon.
He saw the single coverage of Larry Brown on Gary Clark, read it correctly, made the change,
and it was a superb play by Larry Brown. That is not a mistake. Minus yardies for the
Washington Redskins. Unthinkable. Second and six up at the 24-yard line.
Here's Irving with a big hole, and Ricky maintains his balance long enough to pick up a first down
up to the 31-yard line. Vincent Smith cuts them down, and Ricky Irving is a guy who really came
on in the second half last season for Washington, and he will compliment Biner beautifully in what
figures to be a very tough Redskin running attack. And he will be the one they will be using a lot
in short yardies where they used to use Darrell Riggs. They let him go, 11 touchdowns for Riggs
a year ago, and I think one of the things that, one of the questions that will have to be answered
over the course of the year, will they need that big man for the short yardies?
That was their first first down, and here's Irving, and he runs into three cowboys at the
30-yard line, led by Jimmy Jones, number 97, and Tony Tilbert is also there. ABC's Monday Night
Football is being brought to you by Ford and your Ford dealer. Have you driven a Ford lately?
None. Redskins, nothing. If you were wondering, as I was a while ago, and I asked the guys down
in the trucks, when was the last time the skins were down by nine points? Last year against Phoenix,
they were down by 14. They came back to win that one. Well, I mentioned how the, made me feel better.
Dallas offensive line was controlling the line of scrimmage. Right now, their defensive line
is coming doggone close to doing it. Second and 12, and Irving gets tackled from behind. Nice play
by Danny Noonan, the supplement in his track set for a minimal gain. I mean, now if any team in the
league could suffer some losses at defensive tackle, the Cowboys are one of the teams that
could do it. Noonan was close to being on the trading block and maybe playing with someone else
before Maryland got hurt. Then Casillas got hurt, but keep in mind that Jimmy Jones and Noonan have
both logged a lot of playing time for the Cowboys. They are deep in defensive linemen, plus the recent
edition of Halus. Third and 10 at the 32 yard line. They stack receivers on the left side, and then
Ripon throws deep down the middle to the 46 yard line, and an incomplete Ricky Sanders in traffic
couldn't hold on. And what a great pass rush by Charles Kailey, who takes the inside rush,
splits a couple of red skins, and smothers Ripon. Remember, this is one of the great
pass rushers. He's to the top. Watch the loop to the inside. He splits McKenzie and Lachey,
and gets in there and disrupts Ripon. What a wonderful addition for the Dallas Cowboys. Charles
Kailey. How many times have we seen him do that in that other uniform? Here's Goodburn's kick,
and this is a boomer, and Martin backs up and fields it at the 14 yard line, eludes two red
skins, then a third, and is finally tripped up at the 23 yard line. Cowboys have it again as
they continue to dominate. 12-0-2 left first half. Nine nothing damage. Here on first down,
Emmett Smith reversing field, up past the 35, finally tackled at the 43 yard line,
dragged down by Andre Collins. And if you follow the red skins, you will say, thank you, Andre
Collins. That's just individual on the part of Emmett Smith. Nothing doing on the left side.
The red skins, good pursuit. Smith reads it, nowhere to go here, breaks it off. Knows he
can't get to the outside play very well there by Wilbur Marshall. Breaks it back to the inside and
sort of skips, slides, low center of gravity, and Collins makes a major save. And look at the
Cowboys get back up and block for Smith. Right now, Dallas is out hustling Washington on both sides
of the ball. First and second, the 43. Irvin, did he have it? No, he didn't at the 49 yard line. Came
in and out, never had possession, covered by Martin Mayhew, second down. That's a great play
by the part of Mayhew. I think he just pulled it out of there. Irvin thought he had it and realized
he didn't want it, because Washington would have got it. Mayhew, good tight coverage, wraps those
arms around, pulls him down, out comes the ball. Got to have both feet on the ground with possession
and you can see the ball comes out before Irvin gets his second foot on the ground. Well, that's
a superb play by the part. And good officiating, ruling that an incomplete pass. Second and tenth
at the 43. Aikman under some pressure, throws to Johnson, he slips the tackle, and Darryl Johnson
picks off for a first down to the 40 yard line. How did Johnson catch that ball? That thing was
thrown behind him, it looked like it had Velcro on it and stuck to his hip. Danny Copeland made the
play for the interception. And that gave Johnson the open field. Almost looked like Copeland might
have bumped the ball. Look at this here to the left. That's Copeland going for the interception.
Somehow or other Johnson pulls it in and rumbles for a first inside the 40. And he got a good block
downfield by Jay Novacek. I mean the Cowboys are flying all over the field throwing themselves at
these redskins. 18 yard game ball at the 39 and Aikman again comes up too late, looks at the play
clock, it goes down to one. And Dallas has to use a second timeout. That's about the only thing
they've done wrong tonight. Otherwise it's been a whole 15-9-10. Jimmy says my fault.
Over the weekend, but not early enough for him to play tonight. So he is roster exempt. Frank
Cornish, who was a Plan B pickup from San Diego, and who was Aikman's center at UCLA, spells him
and he's been doing a great job tonight. It's a 39-yard line. Aikman throws, open man and dropping
into the 21-yard line is Urban. He was almost too open. Oh boy, when you miss all the training camp
and you come in and do that in front of the hometown folks. And you just pat at the bankroll
enormously. Well he didn't get the booze, but he better not do it again. Lined up against Daryl
Green and they've had some classic matchups in Michael Urban's young career. Good move to the
inside. Aikman could not have thrown the ball better. Well, and you just saw a great illustration
of one of the things that Michael Urban does a lot. He is a big man at 6'2", 200, and he pushes off.
A lot of DBs in the league complain about his use of the hands and you saw it there.
And it's Smith that plays the hole, takes it to the 29-yard line, close to a first down tackle by Copeland.
That's a simple zone blocking on the draw play and enormous hole up the middle
for the Washington Redskins. The Redskins, they just are not, they're not making the contact.
They're not bringing the football to the Cowboys. They're standing up and they're taking the blows.
That's exactly right, Frank. They are absorbing rather than penetrating the line of scrimmage.
And they better get with it in a hurry or they are going to be in deep stuff.
Second and inches. Meanwhile, on almost every replay, almost unnoticed, Darryl Johnson keeps turning in a great block and paved the way that time.
A couple of key receptions already. Ali actually led the Cowboys backs in receptions during the preseason.
That was by design, working with him and just to give him another receiver.
And they have spread the ball around to the receivers tonight. Harper, Irvin, Smith, Johnson.
It is third down and inches just inside the 30-yard line. Let's see who wins the battle up front.
Dallas, Big, Johnson, 14 yards, first down of the 16. Stopped by Edwards. Everybody in Dallas thought that Joe Gibbs was moaning and groaning to excess because of his complaining about the play of his team during the preseason.
And especially, as I'll mention in the open, with that 30-0 grubbing by Minnesota, maybe Joe was right. This is an uninspired Redskins team to this point in time.
Again, I talked about the Dallas offensive line and they are dominating the line of scrimmage. That is just plain putting them flat on their backs.
That's the longest run of Darrell Johnston's career. Catabon looking on with a bit of anguish.