Rypien Is a Winner Once More : Pro Bowl: Super Bowl MVP leads NFC to a 21-15 victory over the AFC.

Washington’s Mark Rypien, most valuable player of last week’s Super Bowl, threw for two first-half touchdowns and Atlanta’s Chris Miller brought the NFC from behind with a fourth-quarter scoring pass as the NFC beat the AFC, 21-15, in the Pro Bowl Sunday.

Miller threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to San Francisco’s Jerry Rice with 4:04 remaining to bring the NFC back from a 15-14 deficit.

The Dallas Cowboys’ Michael Irvin, who had eight receptions for 125 yards and one touchdown, was voted the game’s MVP.

Miller drove the NFC 85 yards, consuming more than nine minutes, then drilled the winning pass to Rice in the end zone.

Chris Spielman of Detroit then recovered a fumble by the New York Jets’ Ken O’Brien at the AFC 46 to help preserve the victory.

Rypien completed 11 of 18 passes for 165 yards, and Miller was seven of 10 for 85.

For the AFC, Jim Kelly of Buffalo completed six of 10 passes for 68 yards and one touchdown while sharing duties with Houston’s Warren Moon and O’Brien.

The AFC took a 15-14 lead early in the fourth quarter after Kelly directed a march of 70 yards to a 27-yard field goal by the Raiders’ Jeff Jaeger, who given a second chance after his first attempt was blocked by New Orleans’ Sam Mills.

The NFC was called for rushing too many men on the field goal try--the Pro Bowl rule is a maximum of six rushers--and the 15-yard penalty moved the ball to the NFC 13. After the AFC was unable to move the ball from there, Jaeger made his kick on the second try. It was his second field goal of the game.

Rypien, returning to the game to replace Dallas’ Troy Aikman as the NFC went to its two-minute drill before halftime, staked his team to a 14-12 halftime lead when he threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Redskin teammate Gary Clark with 26 seconds left in the half.

Clark, running a post pattern, sprinted past defender Dennis Smith of Denver and was wide open when he hauled in the pass from Rypien in the end zone.

Rypien’s earlier touchdown pass was a 13-yarder to Irvin, who broke free in the left flat, to tie the score, 7-7, in the opening quarter. The score capped a Rypien-directed march of 65 yards.