PRO FOOTBALL / NFL PLAYOFFS : NFC : Rypien Has the Edge in Experience

Mark Rypien is one up on Steve Young in what could be a telling area: postseason starting experience.

The two quarterbacks face each other Saturday in a divisional playoff between the defending Super Bowl champion Washington Redskins and the San Francisco 49ers, with the winner going to the NFC championship game.

Young, named MVP of the NFL by the Associated Press this week, had a spectacular season in leading San Francisco to a league-best 14-2 record. But he has never won a postseason game, and the NFC semifinal marks his first playoff start.

“I guess it’s true. I’m 0-0,” Young said. He called the assignment “another great challenge,” but pointed out he has met and overcome plenty of challenges already this season.

San Francisco Coach George Seifert said he was not concerned about Young’s lack of playoff starting experience, although he cited that factor in elevating Joe Montana past Steve Bono on the depth chart as the No. 2 quarterback.

Montana led the 49ers to four Super Bowl victories in 10 years as a starter. He has an overall playoff record of 14-5.

Rypien has started six playoff games, going 5-1, including Washington’s Super Bowl victory over Buffalo last season in which he earned MVP honors.

His lone playoff loss was to San Francisco, which defeated Washington, 28-10, in a playoff game after the 1990 season. Rypien threw two end-zone interceptions to kill successive second-half drives.

Every time Philadelphia Eagle wide receiver Fred Barnett faces the Dallas Cowboys, he recalls how the Cowboys passed him by in the 1990 draft in favor of Alexander Wright.

“They had a chance at me, so I’m going to show ‘em what they missed,” Barnett said. “There is something inside that makes me want to play a little harder.”

Barnett gets another shot at the Cowboys on Sunday in Texas Stadium when Philadelphia and Dallas play for the right to go to the NFC title game.