Young Injured as Dallas Wins

The defending NFL champions, on the verge of falling almost helplessly behind in the race for the playoffs, live to play another meaningful game, but after Dallas’ 20-17 overtime victory in 3Com Park, the future of San Francisco quarterback Steve Young is looking questionable.

The Cowboys (6-4), given a boost earlier in the day with defeats incurred by Washington, Philadelphia and Green Bay, used a 29-yard field goal by Chris Boniol 6:17 into overtime to end a three-game losing streak to San Francisco, which lost earlier this season in overtime to the Packers.

“We reshuffled the deck a little bit today with all the losses out there and now have as good a chance as we’ve had to get back to the Super Bowl,” said Cowboy owner Jerry Jones. “The road would have been so uphill had we lost. As good as this team is, it would have been a shame had it not been given the chance to still make the playoffs.”

Young, who suffered a concussion three weeks ago in Houston, left Sunday’s game because of another. Teammates of Young, concerned about his health after his initial concussion, said he has now experienced more than a half dozen in his career.

“I hope Steve is smart enough to realize you don’t want to risk the rest of your life,” said Brent Jones, 49er tight end and one of Young’s closest friends on the team. “I told him to be cautious and have it checked out.”

Young, hit hard in the helmet on at least three occasions in the first half, staked the 49ers to a 10-0 second-quarter lead before surrendering control to Elvis Grbac.

“I tried to come back in,” Young said in a printed post-game statement. “But it was clear [that] in trying to call the plays I just wasn’t focused. I feel much better now; my memory is coming back. I, along with the doctors, will monitor my progress as the week goes on.”

Grbac, the quarterback of the future for the 49ers (7-3), immediately reminded 49er fans how valuable Young is to their cause. With the chance to knock out the Cowboys and secure a 17-10 victory in the fourth quarter following Marquez Pope’s interception of a Troy Aikman pass, Grbac promptly returned the ball to Dallas.

“Yes sir, we’re back in it,” shouted Dallas Coach Barry Switzer. “We’re riding over the hill--we’re the Cowboys.”

Earlier this season Philadelphia had a chance to muzzle such Cowboy mush, but after jumping ahead of a 1-3 Dallas team at home, the Eagles allowed Dallas to escape with a season-saving victory. Jimmy Johnson had the spotlight to deal a crippling emotional blow to his former team in Miami, but his Dolphins were not up to the task. And now Grbac, poised at his own nine-yard line with 6:36 to play, had only to run out the clock, add a field goal, do anything but give the ball back to these desperate Cowboys.

Said Grbac: “I lost the game for the team.” There was no rebuttal in the 49er locker room.

At the time the Cowboys were goners. A week ago, Aikman had thrown an almost identical pass in the same direction with the game on the line and Philadelphia linebacker James Willis had intercepted it and given the Eagles a victory. Pope’s interception had the 49er fans going wild, while the Cowboys looked ready to walk back to Dallas.

“I don’t know what happened,” said Dallas guard Nate Newton after Aikman’s interception. “I was too busy cussing.”

On the next play--with Aikman still being consoled on the sideline by teammates after Pope’s interception--Grbac threw a pass that was picked off by Cowboy linebacker Fred Strickland. Strickland, who had not intercepted a pass since 1994, could not muff the opportunity because Grbac placed the ball directly on the 55 on his jersey.

“We were thinking they were going to run the ball,” said Strickland, and undoubtedly so was most everyone else in the stadium. “The quarterback saw me, stopped and then threw to William Floyd, but Floyd moved just as the pass was thrown.”

Strickland’s interception allowed the Cowboys to take possession at the 49ers’ 15-yard line and, six plays later, Aikman completed a six-yard touchdown pass to tight end Eric Bjornson to send the game into overtime.

“It was a stupid pass,” said Grbac, who might be the team’s starting quarterback down the stretch. “It’s hard to accept. I didn’t make any plays for this team. I didn’t prepare myself as I should have this week.”

San Francisco Coach George Seifert tried to take the attention away from Grbac by making potentially one of the worst decisions in NFL history. On the final play of regulation, the Cowboys were penalized for an illegal formation in attempting to punt. The defense--the 49ers--had the option of letting the offense run another play or sending the game into overtime.

Inexplicably, until Seifert admitted later to making a mistake, the 49ers allowed the Cowboys to run another play, and Aikman attempted a long flip to the end zone that fell incomplete.

That took Seifert off the hook, but then the Cowboys won the coin toss in overtime, and the 49ers never touched the ball again. Dallas marched off 66 yards on a dozen plays--including a 16-yard run up the middle by Emmitt Smith, and then summoned Boniol.

“We have played a lot of good ones with the 49ers, but I think this one was the best,” said Cowboy receiver Michael Irvin.