Aikman’s Flight : Quarterback Says He Left Pro Bowl Early to Catch a Plane

Where’s Troy Aikman?

One minute he’s in Honolulu playing in the Pro Bowl, the next minute he’s gone.

A week earlier, he stuck around long enough in Pasadena to throw four touchdown passes, leading the Dallas Cowboys to a 52-17 Super Bowl rout of the Buffalo Bills.

But Sunday was different. Early in the fourth quarter of the AFC’s 23-20 overtime victory over the NFC, Aikman mysteriously left Aloha Stadium for Honolulu International Airport. He didn’t even tell NFC Coach George Seifert.

On Monday, the Cowboys’ quarterback, still dazed by the reaction, called a radio station in Fort Worth, Tex., to talk about his early departure.

“I was on Cloud Nine until I left the game,” Aikman told radio station KSCS. “I didn’t realize it was going to cause the fuss that it had. The problem was I had an 8 o’clock flight that I had to catch.

“I didn’t think I’d have to leave the game early to make it, until I realized at halftime it had taken over two hours to play the first half.”

Dave Pelletier, a Cowboy spokesman, said Aikman told the team he had to leave on an early flight because he had a Monday morning meeting with his charity organization, the Troy Aikman Charity Foundation.

Aikman said he told NFC teammate Steve Young and other players he was leaving, but the coaches never got the message. Neither did the NFL.

“I talked to Steve Young, and said, ‘Steve, there’s not going to be a problem with me leaving early, is there?’ ” Aikman said. “And he said, ‘Oh, no, Joe Montana left before the game one year.’ ”

Said Joe Browne, an NFL spokesman: “We’re reviewing Troy’s early, unannounced exit from the game, and I’m sure someone from our office will be contacting him for an explanation. But beyond that I would be speculating as to what action might be taken.”

Aikman played in the second quarter and the first series of the third, completing 10 of 15 passes for 120 yards, including a nine-yard touchdown pass to Dallas teammate Michael Irvin.

Seifert said Aikman probably would not have played any more had he remained.