In a Pro Bowl dominated by defense and turnovers, thank the Atlanta Falcons for a bit of offense.
Andre Rison had six receptions for 86 yards and teammate Bobby Hebert, a late fill-in for injured Troy Aikman, engineered two quick touchdowns in the second half Sunday to help the NFC to a 17-3 victory over the AFC.Rison was voted the Most Valuable Player of the season-ending all-star game.
"It's the first time I've won the MVP of anything," he said. "It's especially great when you compete against such top echelon athletes. In fact, my next tattoo will say `MVP Pro Bowl '94.'
"I've been here four years in a row, but this is the best. The only thing left for me to do is score a touchdown in the Pro Bowl."
Hebert, playing only because Aikman and Phil Simms were injured, completed four of six throws for 68 yards, including a 15-yard touchdown pass to Cris Carter of the Minnesota Vikings 1:19 into the final quarter.
"That was a big play," Hebert said of the touchdown that gave the NFC some breathing room. "Cris Carter beat the coverage to get open and get into the end zone."
That score followed a fumble recovery by Chicago's Richard Dent, who fell on the ball at the AFC 19 after Minnesota's John Randle stripped the ball from Warren Moon of Houston.
Rookie Jerome Bettis of the Los Angeles Rams scored the game's only other touchdown on a 4-yard run late in the third quarter, capping a 48-yard drive that included a 32-yard pass from Hebert to Rison.
The NFC defense came up with four interceptions and two fumble recoveries as the AFC offense struggled. Chicago's Donnell Woolford intercepted a pass by Boomer Esiason in the NFC end zone with 4:30 remaining to wrap up the victory for the NFC.
Ken Norton of the Cowboys was a standout for the NFC defense, with six solo tackles and two assists. For the AFC, Junior Seau of San Diego made eight solo tackles and was in on one other.
The AFC's John Elway of Denver and Esiason each threw two interceptions. Eric Allen of Philadelphia, Deion Sanders of Atlanta and Rickey Jackson of New Orleans also had interceptions for the NFC.
George Seifert of the 49ers, the NFC coach, broke an 0-2 string in the Pro Bowl while handing Marty Schottenheimer of Kansas City, the AFC coach, his first all-star loss in three games.
"We made some big plays when we had to," Seifert said. "It's the kind of game where everybody was having a good time, even though it was a hard-fought game. It's fun to win, whether it's an all-star game or whatever."
The teams traded field goals for all the scoring in the first half, with Atlanta's Norm Johnson kicking a 35-yarder for the NFC in the opening quarter and Pittsburgh's Gary Anderson drawing the AFC even with a 25-yarder 1:09 before halftime.
Steve Young of San Francisco led the march to Johnson's field goal, a 46-yard drive that included a 12-yard run on an end-around by the 49ers' Jerry Rice, and a 19-yard pass from Young to Rice on third-and-13 from the AFC 39.
Esiason, operating in a no-huddle offense, guided the AFC to Anderson's field goal. Esiason completed passes of 13 and 19 yards to Keith Byars of Miami and another pass of 26 yards to Eric Green of Pittsburgh.
Johnson, who missed just one of 27 field goal attempts during the season, missed two Sunday - from 39 yards and 24 yards away.
Seattle strong safety Eugene Robinson snuffed another scoring threat by the NFC just before halftime. With the ball at the AFC 48-yard line, Green Bay's Brett Favre threw into the end zone, but Robinson intercepted, ran the ball out then lateraled to AFC teammate Rod Woodson of Pittsburgh, who was tackled at the NFC 21 as the half ended.
Tight end Brent Jones of the San Francisco 49ers fractured his right ankle in the first half. He can begin workouts in six to eight weeks, meaning he should be ready far in advance of training camp.