Fun and Games Are Over: Now It’s Time for Business : Game: After two weeks of buildup, the Cowboys and Bills are ready for NFL’s showtime today.

Finally, mercifully, it’s here.

Super Sunday. Super Bowl XXVII. The Buffalo Bills vs. the Dallas Cowboys.

All it took was 17 weeks of regular-season games, three weeks of playoffs, two weeks of hype worthy of Don King, three days of celebration worthy of a Presidential inauguration, thousands of dollars changing hands for tickets, and hundreds of reporters writing umpteen stories on in-depth subjects ranging from the condition of Dallas Coach Jimmy Johnson’s hair to the condition of Buffalo linebacker Darryl Talley’s features after his non-fight with Magic Johnson’s bodyguard in a local night spot.

Phew!

After all that, it seems hard to believe they are simply going to play a football game today at the Rose Bowl, with kickoff set for 3:18 p.m.

Such a grandiose buildup seems to merit something bigger on the world scale, like maybe the end of a war or the birth of a nation.

But there is nothing more grandiose in the world of football than a Super Bowl.

And certainly nothing would be more grandiose to either franchise than a Super Bowl victory.

For the Bills, it would end three years of frustration and remove the distasteful label of The Team That Can’t Win The Big One.

For the Cowboys, it would culminate four years of rebuilding and finally remove any lingering traces of their derisive description as The Team That Fired Tom Landry.

In search of a meaningful debate this week, both clubs are claiming to be the nation’s favorite--Dallas because it carries the nickname America’s Team, Buffalo because it wears America’s colors. But the actual favorite to win is Dallas, by about a touchdown.

Some of that has to do with the recent history of this game. The NFC has dominated for nearly a decade, winning the last eight Super Bowls. Seven of those victories were accomplished by three teams: the San Francisco 49ers (three), the Washington Redskins (two) and the New York Giants (two). The Chicago Bears accounted for the other one. The NFC has outscored the AFC, 297-125, in those eight games.

So it’s not surprising that the Cowboys, winners two weeks ago over the 49ers in what some called the real Super Bowl, are considered by many to be the stronger team.

But everywhere you look, there are strengths on both sides.

At quarterback, there is Buffalo’s Jim Kelly, a veteran All-Pro, against Dallas’ Troy Aikman, one of the league’s rising stars. At running back, the Cowboys’ Emmitt Smith, the league’s leading rusher, is matched by the Bills’ Thurman Thomas, the league leader in total yards from scrimmage. There are strong receivers on each roster, from Dallas’ Michael Irvin, Alvin Harper and Jay Novacek to Buffalo’s Andre Reed, James Lofton, Don Beebe and Pete Metzelaars. The Cowboys had the NFL’s top defense in the regular season, but the Bills’ defense has been nearly airtight since the first half of their first playoff game.

Beyond the names and the numbers, this game, analyzed and reanalyzed to death over the past few days, really boils down to six key questions:

(1) Who has the psychological edge?

The Cowboys have not been in a Super Bowl in 14 years.

It can be a frightful experience. But Johnson doesn’t agree.

“Troy and I were kind of laughing about it,” the Cowboy coach said. “Everybody built the thing up to where, ‘Oh me, there’s going to be so many distractions. There’s going to be 3,000 press credentials and they are going to be doing this and that.’

“But it’s easier than what we go through at Valley Ranch (Cowboy training headquarters) a lot of times.”

The Bills come at this from the opposite direction. They have been to the last two Super Bowls. In 1991, they lost a squeaker to the Giants, 20-19, when Scott Norwood missed a 47-yard field-goal attempt at the end. Last year, Buffalo lost a more one-sided affair to the Redskins, 37-24.

Now the Bills are staring into the abyss of infamy, trying to avoid being the first team to lose three consecutive Super Bowls.

“We lost the last two Super Bowls, but those were the last two,” Buffalo Coach Marv Levy said. “This one is this one. There is always pressure to win a big game. But it’s the game ahead that counts. You can’t change the other ones.”

After winning their playoff opener in Buffalo, the Bills, as a wild-card team, won in the cold of a winter’s day in Pittsburgh and in the bright sunshine of Miami.

The Cowboys, meanwhile, beat the 49ers, thought by many to be the Super Bowl favorite heading into the postseason, in cold, hostile San Francisco on a soggy field.

(2) Is Jim Kelly sound?

Two weeks ago, Kelly and his backup, Frank Reich, were at the center of a furious debate in Buffalo.

When Kelly was knocked out of the regular-season finale because of a knee injury, Reich stepped in and led the Bills to two playoff victories, throwing six touchdown passes in the two games.

In the first of those, he brought Buffalo back from a 35-3 third-quarter deficit to a 41-38 overtime victory over the Houston Oilers, the greatest comeback in NFL history.

When Kelly was named the starter for the AFC title game against the Miami Dolphins, some critics questioned Levy.

His detractors were largely silenced by Buffalo’s 29-10 victory that day.

But with the Bills in command much of the afternoon, Kelly was able to play a safe game.

Questions about his physical condition still linger. Those questions had plagued Kelly long before Reich burst onto the national scene. Earlier in the season, Kelly hurt his elbow and seemed to labor at times.

“I feel very good,” Kelly said when asked repeatedly last week.

The real answer to the question will come today.

(3) Which will prevail, the no-huddle offense or the no-name defense?

Much has been made of the fact that Dallas led the NFL in defense, yet couldn’t place one player in the Pro Bowl. That either means the voters--NFL players--are incompetent, or the Cowboys play the ultimate team defense.

Much, too, has been made of no-huddle hysteria, in which teams facing the Bills’ offense for the first time have been known to function at less than peak efficiency because of the unfamiliar rapid pace and their inability to substitute normally.

“The no-huddle is a concern,” Johnson conceded. “It’s a concern as far as making your calls, getting all your defenses in and making sure there’s good communication with your players. . . . It can really wear down a defense because you’re not accustomed to going at that pace.”

It should be quite a matchup, the NFL’s No. 1 defense against the AFC’s No. 1 offense.

(4) Can Emmitt Smith be stopped?

Smith rushed for 1,713 yards during the regular season and scored 18 touchdowns. In three seasons, he has run for 4,213 yards and scored 41 touchdowns.

He rarely fumbles, he never stumbles and he always rumbles.

“You just have to try and get in his face,” Buffalo linebacker Cornelius Bennett said. “You have to get good penetration and not let him get outside.”

If Smith can wreak the havoc he usually does, he will slow down the Buffalo rush and keep the pressure off Aikman.

Aikman alone won’t beat the Bills. Smith can.

(5) Will either Bennett or Bruce Smith be a force?

Both are hurting.

Smith, the anchor of the Bills’ defensive line, has been playing with ribs so sore he can’t sleep. But he has been able to ignore the pain when the pads go on.

Bennett keeps re-injuring a hamstring. But he resumed practice this week and expects to be at full speed today.

After being swamped for 28 first-half points by the Oilers in its playoff opener, Buffalo has been tough defensively. The Bills’ defense gave up only a field goal to Houston in the second half plus the overtime (the Oilers’ other touchdown came on an interception), gave up only a field goal against the Pittsburgh Steelers and 10 points to the Dolphins.

(6) Will coaching be a factor?

Both coaches have been bold and imaginative in the postseason.

And each made a daring call that probably meant the difference in getting to Pasadena.

Levy’s came in the Houston game. Buffalo had closed to 35-24, and faced a fourth and five at the Oilers’ 18-yard line with slightly more than two minutes remaining in the third quarter.

The safe move would have been a field goal.

Levy turned his back on caution, went for the first down and got a touchdown, Reich hitting Reed on an 18-yard pass play.

Johnson’s moment came in the NFC championship game against the 49ers. San Francisco had gotten close at 24-20 in the fourth quarter. Visions of another great comeback were dancing in the heads of the Candlestick Park faithful. Dallas had the ball.

The safe move would have been to keep it in Smith’s hands.

Johnson, too, turned his back on caution and went to the air. Aikman hit Harper on a 70-yard pass play that set up Dallas’ clinching touchdown.

The Super Bowl is known for its conservatism. But don’t bet on that with Levy and Johnson calling the signals.

Six questions. And soon the answers will be forthcoming.

But for now, the talk is over.

All that remains is the game.

Finally.

Miscellany

A look at some lesser-known facts about the Super Bowl:

Team scoring first has won 19 of 26 Super Bowls.

Team leading at halftime has won 19 of 25 Super Bowls, one Super Bowl was tied at halftime.

Team with more total yards has won 25 of 26 Super Bowls.

Team with fewer turnovers has won 18 of 20 Super Bowls; in five other Super Bowls turnovers were equal.

FIRST POINTS OF GAME

Passing touchdown by winning team: 5

Passing touchdown by losing team: 3

Rushing touchdown by winning team: 4

Rushing touchdown by losing team: 0

Blocked punt recovered by winning team: 1

Field goal by winning team: 8

Field goal by losing team: 4

Safety by winning team: 1

* * MIKE DOWNEY

A look ahead to the golden anniversary of the Super Bowl. Things may change in the future. C3

* HALL OF FAME

Walter Payton, Dan Fouts, Larry Little, Chuck Noll and Bill Walsh are inducted. C4

* ALLAN MALAMUD

A look at some of the things that are bound to happen in today’s game at the Rose Bowl. C7

* FACTS AND FIGURES

Rosters, player profiles, past winners and Super Bowl records are part of a statistical package. C8