NFL Exhibition Roundup : Aikman Is Sharp in Victory

Troy Aikman officially became the Dallas Cowboys’ starting quarterback Saturday night, beating out Steve Walsh, and responded by completing 19 of 31 passes for 306 yards to lead his team over the Houston Oilers, 30-28, in a final National Football League exhibition game at Irving, Tex.

Roger Ruzek’s 55-yard field goal on the last play of the game provided the winning points.

It was the first appearance at Texas Stadium for Aikman, the first pick in last April’s NFL draft.

The game drew 63,582 fans, the Cowboy’s largest exhibition crowd since 1981 and their largest crowd of any kind since Nov. 17, 1985.

The Cowboys finished with an exhibition record of 3-1, and Houston wound up 2-2.

Tampa Bay 27, Cleveland 10--Vinny Testaverde passed for 229 yards and two touchdowns and clearly outplayed old college teammate Bernie Kosar as the Buccaneers (3-1) beat the Browns (1-4) at Cleveland.

Testaverde, beaten out for the University of Miami job by Kosar in 1983-84, completed scoring passes of 20 yards to Mark Carrier in the first quarter and 33 yards to William Harris in the third quarter.

Kosar bruised his left knee on the Browns’ first play of the third quarter but remained in the game the rest of the period. He completed 14 of 22 passes for 174 yards and one touchdown, a 13-yarder to Derek Tennell on Cleveland’s first possession.

Indianapolis 38, Denver 34--Jack Trudeau threw a five-yard touchdown pass to James Pruitt with 25 seconds left at Indianapolis to give the Colts their first unbeaten exhibition season in 20 years.

The Broncos (2-2), who scored one touchdown after five consecutive penalties on Indianapolis (4-0) for disruptive crowd noise in the Hoosier Dome, took a 34-31 lead on David Treadwell’s 46-yard field goal with 3:18 left.

Trudeau, subbing for starter Chris Chandler, drove the Colts 70 yards for the winning touchdown. The Colts lost all of their timeouts because of the penalties for crowd noise in the third quarter, so had to stop the clock with an incomplete pass on the play before Pruitt’s touchdown catch.

Chandler left the game because of bruised ribs in the third quarter.

Philadelphia 20, Miami 10--Jerome Brown and Seth Joyner returned interceptions for touchdowns less than five minutes apart in the third quarter as the Eagles (4-1) beat the winless Dolphins (0-4) at Miami.

Pittsburgh 13, New York Giants 10--Gary Anderson kicked a 32-yard field goal with 1:44 left to give the Steelers (2-2) a victory over the Giants (2-2) at East Rutherford, N.J.