SUPER BOWL XXVII : The Spotlight : SHOWBOATING JUSTICE

A game that obviously needed some comic relief near the end got just that in the person of Leon Lett, a 292-pound defensive tackle for the Dallas Cowboys. Lett, who isn’t a starter, showed that he isn’t a finisher, either.

With about five minutes left in the game, and the only thing in doubt whether Buffalo could drop the ball often enough for Dallas to set a Super Bowl record for most points by one team, Lett scooped up a fumble by the Bills’ Frank Reich and began to ramble toward the end zone, 65 yards away.

He rambled and rambled, and about the five-yard line, Lett started to celebrate. He did a strutting dance--nothing to make halftime star Michael Jackson start looking for a day job--holding the ball extended in his right hand.

In the midst of Lett’s two-step, wide receiver Don Beebe came up from behind and knocked the ball loose, taking Lett’s touchdown away when the ball bounced into and out of the end zone for a touchback.

Afterward, Lett was less than mortified.

“I thought I was in the end zone. I guess I wasn’t,” he said. “I never saw the guy coming, never heard him, nothing. But we won, so it’s OK.”

It was less than OK for Jimmy Johnson, perfectionist and Cowboy coach.

“I told him to do his celebrating after he scores,” Johnson said, adding charitably, “but I won’t cut him.”

In the wake of their lopsided victory, Lett’s teammates had the luxury of levity for their teammate.

Said Michael Irvin, mixing metaphors nicely: “I told Leon, we can all forget about Jim Marshall’s messed-up play now. When anybody talks about Super Bowl boo-boos, Leon will be the guinea pig.”

Said Nate Newton: “I’m gonna put 50 footballs on Leon’s seat on the plane. I’ll tell him, ‘Here, Leon. Hang onto these.’ ”