The Buffalo Bills, playing in their third consecutive Super Bowl were hoping to win one after losing the last two. Their Opponents the Dallas Cowboys were built around aggressive defense and special teams and a conservative offense that didn't make mistakes. Just nine players from Landry's last team were on the 1992 playoff roster. That is how total the reworking of the Cowboys had been. Dallas, which hadn't been to a Super Bowl in 14 years, once led the league in merchandise sales. But the Cowboys had slipped to No. 15 before Jones bought the team. They rose to No. 2 in 1992. They had stopped selling out at home before the sale, but played before capacity crowds in all 16 games, home and away, during the '92 season. Still, even Jones thought his team was a year away. San Francisco seemed superior during 1992, but the Cowboys weren't paying any attention. In the NFC title game, they took on San Francisco on the 49ers' home turf, Candlestick Park, yet still came away with a convincing 30-20 victory. The Cowboys were the inexperienced bunch, yet they had just one turnover in the game, compared with four for the stunned 49ers. As young as the Cowboys were, they still had to carry around the burden as favorites in Super Bowl XXVII, in part because their opposition was the Buffalo Bills, who already were carrying around the baggage of two straight defeats in this championship. Besides, the American Football Conference had gone eight years without a Super Bowl victory, which also didn't say much for Buffalo's chances this time around.

But the Bills weren't listening. Forget those two losses, they said. Forget especially the embarrassing defeat to Washington, 37-24, in Super Bowl XXVI, when they bickered better than they played. But these were the new, more mature Bills. They had lost the AFC East title to Miami and had trailed Houston by 32 points in a wild-card playoff game before rallying for a 41-38 overtime triumph. Ensuing victories over Pittsburgh and Miami had given them confidence and momentum. And they had all that Super Bowl experience, even if it was mostly bad. Buffalo led 7-0 until the first two of its record number of turnovers helped the Cowboys take the lead for good late in the opening quarter. First, Dallas safety James Washington intercepted Jim Kelly's pass and returned it 13 yards to the Bills' 47, setting up Aikman's 23 yard touchdown pass to tight end Jay Novacek with one and a half minutes remaining in the period. On the next play from scrimmage, Kelly was sacked by Charles Haley and fumbled at the Bills' 2-yard line where the Cowboys' Jimmie Jones picked up the loose ball and ran two yards for a touchdown. Dallas, which recovered five fumbles and intercepted four passes, struck just as quickly late in the first half, when

Aikman tossed 19 and 18 yard touchdown passes to Michael Irvin 18 seconds apart to give the Cowboys a 28-10 lead at intermission. The second score was set up when Bills running back Thurman Thomas lost a fumble at his 19-yard line. Buffalo scored for the last time when backup quarterback Frank Reich, playing because Kelly was injured while attempting to pass midway through the second quarter, threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Don Beebe on the final play of the third period to trim the deficit to 31-17. Dallas put the game out of reach by scoring three times in a span of Two and a half Minutes of the fourth quarter. Aikman, the game's most valuable player, completed 22 of 30 passes for 273 yards. As part of Super Bowl XXVII, the NFL announced the creation of the first NFL Youth Education Town, a facility located in south central Los Angeles for inner city youth. January 25. The Dallas Cowboys defeated the Buffalo Bills 52-17 in Super Bowl XXVII to capture their first NFL title since 1978. The game was played before a crowd of 98,374 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. The NBC broadcast of the game was the most watched program in television history and was seen by 133.4 million people in the United States. The rating for the game was 45.1, the tenth highest for any televised sports event. The game also was seen live or taped in 101 other countries, January 31. The victory was the ninth in succession for the National Football Conference (NFC) over the American Football Conference (AFC). Troy Aikman passed for four touchdowns, Emmitt Smith rushed for 108 yards, and the Dallas Cowboys converted nine turnovers into 35 points while coasting to the victory. Dallas's win was its third in its record sixth Super Bowl appearance, the Bills became the first team to drop three in succession.