In a Super Bowl between the upstart Dallas Cowboys and the back-again Buffalo Bills, past performances say go with the young guys.
Forget the Bills' three-peat trip to the Big Show. Never mind that Jim Kelly was throwing touchdown passes in the pros when Troy Aikman was still in high school. So what if the Cowboys haven't been to the Super Bowl in 13 years?The NFC's eight consecutive Super Bowl victories - and the Bills' losses in the past two - are the reasons the Cowboys are initial seven-point favorites.
"You know it's going to be that way," Bills wide receiver Andre Reed said. "It kind of spurs us on."
Buffalo, despite its workmanlike 29-10 win over Miami here Sunday in the AFC championship game, is struggling under the spectre of becoming another Denver, the only team to lose four Super Bowls.
"We're not going to let the stigma of, `Hey, we're the next Denver Broncos' get to us,' " said Bills defensive end Mark Pike. "I know a lot of media guys will bring that up. But it doesn't mean anything to us.
"It's pretty bad when people criticize your team, when you've been to three Super Bowls. I don't think we have anything to prove to anybody. But I think we want to prove to ourselves that we can win it."
The Bills fell behind the Washington Redskins, 24-0, in last year's Super Bowl before losing, 37-24. They had a chance to win the year before, but Scott Norwood missed a 47-yard field-goal attempt with seconds left, preserving the New York Giants' 20-19 win.
If nothing else, history at least is on Buffalo's side. No team has ever lost three straight Super Bowls. (Miami is the only other team to play in three consecutive Super Bowls - VI, VII and VII, and the Dolphins won the last two.)
And the Bills have shown they can win against the NFC, albeit during the regular season. They went 4-0 in interconference games this season, including wins over San Francisco and New Orleans.
"They think they're a tougher conference," Pike said. "I think we proved we're as physical as anybody. We put it to (Miami)."
To break the NFC's grip, the Bills first will have to figure out the Cowboys' defense, which ranked No. 1 in the NFL. Dallas, 1-15 in 1989, held the NFL's top-ranked offense to 20 points in its 30-20 win Sunday over San Francisco in the NFC championship game.
Buffalo will have to get a better performance from running back Thurman Thomas, who ran for just 13 yards in last year's Super Bowl - after misplacing his helmet for the game's first two plays. Thomas ran for 96 yards and caught five passes for 70 yards against the Dolphins.
"I think this team has matured a lot," said Thomas. "We realize (what it takes) to win a Super Bowl."
The experience factor may be the biggest edge the Bills have. They'll need it to stave off two weeks of questions about a possible third straight loss and to keep their cool against the Cowboys.
The Bills know it, too. After their win Sunday, the celebration was markedly subdued.
"No matter how much we talk about the past, we can't change it," linebacker Cornelius Bennett said. "At practice sometime, we sit around and we talk about it, but we just laugh about it. We can't change that. All we can do is take care of what's going on now.
"We've had this feeling (of winning the AFC) twice, and it's a good feeling to have. But we want the big feeling. That's when I'll celebrate."