DAILY REPORT : Johnson Doing Best to Keep Team at Ease

To combat his team’s lack of Super Bowl experience, Dallas Coach Jimmy Johnson has turned to storytelling.

In a news conference Sunday at the Cowboys’ beachfront hotel in Santa Monica, Johnson said that he told his team a story hoping to get them to relax.

“I told them a story about how if you put a 2-by-4 board across a room and most everybody in the room would be able to walk across it and not fall because their focus was just to get across that 2-by-4.

“But, then I told them you could take that same board and put it 10 stories high between two tall buildings and only a few of us could make it because our focus was on not falling.”

Johnson said his point was to keep the Cowboys from getting overwhelmed about the game.

“With a young football team there can be concerns,” he said. “They may have the perception that (the Super Bowl) is bigger than life. Then, it is my job to make sure that I bring them back down to earth so that they understand what matters is what happens out there on the field against the other team.”

Having defensive coordinator Dave Wannstedt accept the head coaching position with Chicago last week did not bother Johnson.

“I was happy that he finalized his decision prior to the game,” Johnson said. “I’ve known Dave a long time and I could see that it was playing on his mind. He was torn in looking at his various options.”

The Cowboys, who did most of their hard practices last week, will not have curfews today or Tuesday, but will have a 11 p.m. call beginning Wednesday. . . . Dallas owner Jerry Jones is glad to have the Cowboys play the Super Bowl in Southern California. He pointed to the heavy turnout of Dallas fans who attended the Cowboys’ 28-13 regular-season victory over the Raiders in October. . . . After 10 years with the Cowboys, backup safety Bill Bates will not play in the Super Bowl because of a season-ending, perhaps career-ending, knee injury Oct. 11 in a 27-0 Dallas victory over Seattle. . . . Johnson can become the first coach to win a college football national title and a Super Bowl. Paul Brown won a national title as coach at Ohio State in 1942 and later won NFL championships at Cleveland before the Super Bowl.