Three days after he rejoined the team, Emmitt Smith and the Cowboys traveled to Phoenix to play the Cardinals. Derrick Lassic started the game, but just knowing that Emmitt was back made everyone play better. Lassic ran for 60 yards, and the Cowboys won, 17–10. Emmitt Smith got into the game late in the second half and added 48 yards on eight carries.
He was in the starting lineup a week later for the Cowboys’ home game against Green Bay. All of a sudden, the Cowboys started playing like world champions again.
They blew out the Packers, 36–14. Although Emmitt gained only 71 yards, his presence forced Green Bay to respect the Cowboys’ running game. That left Michael Irvin, Jay Novacek, and the other Dallas receivers wide-open. Troy Aikman took advantage and threw for more than 300 yards. The Cowboys were back!
A week later, in a win over Indianapolis, Emmitt Smith broke the 100-yard barrier for the first time all season. Ever so slowly, he was gaining on the other running backs in the race for the rushing title. At the same time, the Cowboys were gaining on the first-place New York Giants and second-place Philadelphia Eagles!
On October 31, the Cowboys traveled to Philadelphia to play the Eagles in a critical contest. After starting out strong, Philadelphia had stumbled to fall into a tie with Dallas at 4–2. With a win, the Cowboys could move into second place all by themselves.
The game began in a driving rainstorm. That didn’t bother Emmitt Smith. He liked playing in the rain. In high school, some of his best games had been on days it rained.
He got off to a quick start and then accelerated. In the first half he raced for more than 100 yards as the Cowboys took a 10–0 lead.
But the Eagles came back in the second half. With just a few minutes remaining, Dallas led by only six points, 16–10.
Dallas had the ball on its own 38-yard line. On second and four, Coach Turner called for a draw play.
As Emmitt Smith lined up in the backfield, he looked out over the defense and had a familiar feeling. He could see what was going to happen.
He saw ten of the eleven Eagles bunched up at the line of scrimmage, anticipating a line plunge. Their lone defensive back followed a man in motion to the right side of the field. Emmitt knew that if he could make his way past the line, the field would be wide-open.
Troy Aikman took the snap from center and dropped back as if to pass. Emmitt Smith stood ready to receive the ball. The offensive line started pass-blocking and allowed the Philadelphia line to push wide on the left side. A big hole opened up.
Smith took the ball from Aikman and burst through the gap. Just as he had thought, as soon as he cleared the line of scrimmage, all he saw was open field.
He dashed downfield and broke to the sidelines, water splashing with each step, as the Eagles desperately tried to chase him down. But as his high school coach had noticed so long ago, Emmitt wasn’t often caught from behind.
He raced 62 yards without being touched, to seal the win, 23–10. Dallas was now all alone in second place, and the Cowboys set their sights on the Giants. Emmitt Smith, with 237 total yards rushing for the day, his best performance as a Cowboy, took aim at the NFL rushing title.
Week after week, both the Giants and the Cowboys kept playing well. Both teams clinched a spot for postseason play. But in the next-to-last game of the regular season, New York lost to Phoenix as Dallas defeated Washington. That set up a final-week showdown between the two teams. At stake were the division championship and the home field advantage in the upcoming playoffs.
Meanwhile, Emmitt Smith had contributed a string of fabulous performances. He entered the game with a chance to capture the rushing title for the third year in a row. His goals were still within reach.
The two teams met on the frozen turf of Giants Stadium on January 2, 1994. Dallas broke loose early.
Emmitt keyed the attack. He ran roughshod over the New York defense, helping Dallas take a quick 10–0 lead.
Late in the second quarter, the Cowboys drove downfield again and had a chance to increase their lead. Troy Aikman handed the ball to Emmitt Smith for the nineteenth time that half on a play called the “Power Right.” He burst through a huge hole carved out by the Cowboys’ offensive line and dashed down the right sideline.
Only one player had a chance to catch him. New York safety Greg Jackson put his shoulder down and banged into Emmitt at the sideline as he fought for extra yardage.
Crunch! The two players hit in a bone-jarring collision. Fans throughout the stadium heard the two men making contact.
Emmitt Smith flew through the air and landed heavily on his right elbow. A sharp pain shot through his shoulder.
At first, his arm went numb. But a few moments later, he regained feeling. Yet he wasn’t overly concerned. He often played with a little pain. He stayed in the game for the remainder of the half. Kicker Eddie Murray booted a field goal as time ran out to give the Cowboys a 13–0 halftime lead.
During the break Emmitt realized that he was hurt more badly than he had thought. The slightest movement made his arm and shoulder throb. As his teammates returned to the field for the second half, he had an X-ray taken and waited anxiously for the results.
“You’ve got a grade-two shoulder separation,” announced the team trainer.
“What’s that mean?” asked Emmitt.
The trainer told him that, he had separated his shoulder. While it was painful, there was little chance of further injury if he continued to play. The choice was his.
That’s all he needed to hear. He directed the trainer to tape up his shoulder and returned to the field.
He hoped to gain a few more yards, then watch from the sidelines as his teammates went on to an easy win. But when Emmitt Smith jogged out the tunnel and onto the field, he heard the New York crowd roaring. The Cowboys were falling apart.
The Giants had just blocked a punt. A moment later, they scored a touchdown, making the score 13–7. All of a sudden, the Cowboys were in a ball game.
Emmitt’s priorities changed. From that moment on, he said later, “I never even considered the rushing title. I was out there to win.”
Since he had done so well in the first half, the Cowboys decided to keep using him. As soon as they got the ball back, they put it in his hands.
Over and over again, he swept around the end or bulled his way through the line. Each time he was hit, he winced in pain.
Although he still picked up valuable yardage, the Cowboys couldn’t score. The Giants kicked a field goal to make the score 13–10. Then, with only seconds remaining, they kicked a second field goal to tie the game.
Moments later, the gun went off signaling the end of regulation play. The game went into overtime.
That’s just what Emmitt Smith needed. Not only was his shoulder hurt, but now his ribs and breastbone were bruised. It hurt to breathe, let alone run the football!
He told himself to ignore the pain. He knew that if he left the game, the Giants would receive a huge emotional lift. He had to keep playing, he later remembered, “if only to pose the threat of a running game.”
The Giants won the coin toss and received the kickoff to start overtime. Dallas stopped them, and New York was forced to punt. The Cowboys took over at their own 25-yard line.
In the huddle, all eyes were on him. His teeth were clenched and he moved stiffly.
“Emmitt, you okay?” asked one of the Cowboys.
“I’m fine!” he yelled.
Then, as they had so often in the past, the Cowboys turned to their all-Emmitt offense.
He carried the Cowboys downfield, running for tough yardage inside, sweeping the end, or catching Troy Aikman’s passes. He tore the Giants’ defense apart, pushing forward on each play despite the pain.
Finally, after carrying for ten more yards, he looked to the sidelines and saw that the Cowboys were within field goal range. “Get me out of here!” he barked to the sidelines.
The field goal unit charged onto the field as he stiffly walked off. Placekicker Eddie Murray drilled a 41-yard field goal. The Cowboys won, 16–13. Emmitt Smith’s day was done.
For the game, he gained an amazing 168 yards on 32 carries. He added another 61 yards on ten pass receptions. Of Dallas’s 70 total offensive plays, Emmitt handled the ball 42 times, gaining 229 of the team’s 339 yards. On the final, game-winning drive, he handled the ball on nine of eleven plays, gaining 41 of 52 yards.
“I don’t know how he did it,” wondered Cowboy guard Kevin Gogan after the-game. “He sucked it up for his boys.”
Afterward, an obviously pained Emmitt Smith met with reporters and explained his decision to keep playing. All he was thinking of, he said, was “win this game, plus winning the third rushing title.”
He succeeded on both counts. Emmitt Smith finished with a season total of 1,486 rushing yards, more than enough to capture the NFL rushing title for the third consecutive year, becoming only the fourth player ever to do so.
When a reporter asked if he would be able to play in the first game of the playoff just two weeks away, Emmitt Smith managed a weak smile. “There’s no way,” he said, “they’ll keep me out of it.”
He was right. Although some sportswriters and even some Dallas players thought Emmitt Smith was finished for the season, he proved them wrong. There was one more goal left for him to reach. The Super Bowl.
Although he was less than 100 percent healthy, Emmitt Smith at less than 100 percent is a better player than many others at full strength. Dallas beat Green Bay in the divisional playoffs, 28–17, as Emmitt Smith led players from both teams with 60 rushing yards. That set up another showdown with the dangerous 49ers, who had blown out the Giants, 44–3.
While nearly everyone was predicting that this was San Francisco’s year, Emmitt reminded everyone that, so far anyway, the 1993 season had been his. He got the Cowboys going with a 5-yard touchdown run in the first quarter to give Dallas a 7–0 lead.
With Emmitt Smith setting the pace, the Cowboys scored touchdowns four of the first five times they got the ball. Emmitt racked up 88 yards rushing and gained 85 more receiving, again leading players on both teams in each category. Dallas won big, 38–21.
In the AFC, the Buffalo Bills made it to the Super Bowl for the fourth straight year. After three defeats, they were more determined than ever to win. But so was Emmitt Smith.
At first, it appeared as though the Bills would finally get their much-sought-after win. They moved the ball up and down the field with ease while shutting down the Dallas offense. At halftime, Buffalo led, 13–6.
Then the Cowboys decided to change strategy. Entering the game, they thought they could pass against the Buffalo secondary. But the Buffalo line, led by defensive end Bruce Smith, had pressured Troy Aikman into rushing his passes. The Dallas offense had sputtered.
“Troy needs time to throw the ball,” said coach Jimmy Johnson at halftime. “We have to establish the run.”
That brought a smile to Emmitt’s face. He knew what that meant.
Early in the second half, the Cowboys got a break when Buffalo fumbled the ball at midfield. Cowboy defensive back James Washington scooped up the ball and scooted for a touchdown, tying the game.
Now the Cowboys had momentum. Their defense stopped Buffalo, and Dallas took over at its own 36.
Johnson made good on his promise. He directed Dallas offensive coordinator Nory Turner to call plays that put the ball in Emmitt Smith’s hands.
He moved the Cowboys down the field as if he were a snowplow attacking drifts on a highway. On the eight-play drive, he ran the ball seven times. From the 15 he stormed around the end on a “Power Right” to score a touchdown and put the Cowboys ahead, 20–13.
Buffalo began to panic, and when a football team panics, it usually makes mistakes. Soon after the Bills got the ball, Buffalo quarterback Jim Kelly threw an interception. Eight plays later, Emmitt Smith rumbled into the end zone from the 1-yard line to put the Cowboys ahead 27–13. A few moments later, kicker Eddie Murray booted a field goal. Dallas won, 30–13. For the second year in a row, they were Super Bowl champs.
Moments after the game ended, Emmitt learned that on the basis of his 132 rushing yards and two touchdowns, he had been selected Super Bowl MVP, becoming the first player ever to win the rushing title, regular season MVP, and Super Bowl MVP in the same year.
He had achieved all his goals. Now the only question that remained for him was, What do I want to achieve next?