PRO FOOTBALL DAILY REPORT : NFC PLAYOFFS : Jimmy Johnson Busy in the Booth

“Let it die.”

That was Jimmy Johnson’s reaction to a report Sunday that his former boss, Dallas Cowboy owner Jerry Jones, had asked the NFL to bar him from the sideline before kickoff at the NFC championship game.

Johnson, now an analyst on the Fox-TV pregame show, left as coach of the Cowboys last March in a feud with Jones, who then hired Barry Switzer.

The league told Jones it has no control over the announcers Fox uses and turned down the request. Johnson did not appear on the sidelines.

“I wasn’t going down on the field anyway,” Johnson said. “I had a job up there in the pregame show. I didn’t want to be a distraction.”