Moon Refuses to Act His Age

When Warren Moon was called to Hawaii to replace John Elway for the AFC, he was more than happy to come, saying that at his age, he never knew when a Pro Bowl would be his last.

The 41-year-old Moon, by four years the oldest player in the game, came off the bench in the fourth quarter Sunday to lead a 17-point rally that lifted the AFC to a 29-24 victory over the NFC at Honolulu.

He scored the go-ahead touchdown himself on a one-yard sneak with 1:49 remaining.

“When you have an opportunity to come over here, you don’t turn it down,” Moon said. “You look at all the guys that have played in this type of game and get these types of honors, and you get put in that same category, why turn it down?”

Both Denver’s Elway and Green Bay’s Brett Favre, the scheduled Pro Bowl starters, pulled out of the game because they face minor surgery during the off-season--Elway on his right shoulder and Favre on his left knee.

Moon said of Elway’s absence: “He did everything he wanted to do as far as the season was concerned. He won the Super Bowl, and I’m sure he’s still just basking in that glory. It doesn’t bother me, because I got an opportunity because of it.”

Favre’s replacement, Chris Chandler of Atlanta, didn’t fare as well. He lost two fumbles in the final two minutes, one of which set up Moon’s short touchdown run.

Moon said it was ironic that he turned out to be the most valuable player, because he was a replacement. He practiced with the all-stars for the first time only three days before the game.

“I guess when you make the plays at the important time in the game, that has a lot to do with being the most valuable player,” Moon said. “I made a couple of important plays.”

Said Pittsburgh’s 40-year-old Bill Cowher, the AFC coach: “Even though he is older than I am, I thought he could run the quarterback sneak pretty well.”

The AFC came back from a 21-7 halftime deficit. San Francisco’s Steve Young threw a pair of first-half touchdown passes to become the career leader in Pro Bowl scoring passes with four.

Young felt sorry for Chandler.

“Poor Chris Chandler showed up on Friday. That’s not fair,” Young said.

The AFC cashed in on a pair of fourth-quarter fumbles, by Tampa Bay’s Warrick Dunn and Chandler, for two touchdowns.