Jimmy Johnson's old team is better than his new team.
Led by Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin, who became NFL stars under Johnson, the Dallas Cowboys beat their former coach and the Miami Dolphins 29-10 Sunday."We got beat by a better team," Johnson said.
Aikman threw for 363 yards, including 12 completions to Irvin for 186 yards and a touchdown. The Cowboys had the ball for nearly 42 minutes, and outgained Miami 482 yards to 221.
Dallas' domination delighted owner Jerry Jones and coach Barry Switzer, who are well aware that Johnson regards them with disdain.
"The personalities of this game weren't important," Switzer said. "We just had better players. This shows that the Dallas Cowboys are a team that will be reckoned with. This was the best we have played all year, in all phases of the game."
The Cowboys (5-3) won their fourth in a row, but still trail Washington by two games in the NFC East. They play Philadelphia at home Sunday.
Miami (4-4) has lost four of its past five games and visits New England on Sunday.
Jones, who hired Johnson at Dallas and fired him five years later after two Super Bowl titles, watched from a skybox as their Ego Bowl turned into a rout. The game attracted 800 members of the media and a crowd of 75,283, the largest in stadium history, including two Super Bowls.
"This was a big win," Jones said, "and it was a little nicer because it was the Miami Dolphins and Jimmy Johnson."
In the closing seconds, Dallas had the ball inside the Miami 10-yard-line, and Switzer consulted with Jones on the sideline before ordering his team to run out the clock. Jones apparently wanted Switzer to run up the score.
"I'm the coach; he's the owner," Switzer said. "I make the decisions on the field.
"What good is it going to do to score down there? We would then have to kick off and there's always the chance of getting somebody hurt. Jimmy would have done the same thing."
In the week leading up to the long-anticipated showdown, Johnson was on his best behavior while talking about the game, possibly because he knew he was outmanned. Afterward, he took only a few questions at his postgame news conference before departing.
"We played well for a half but couldn't hold on for the second half," he said.
For the first time, Johnson had reason to regret drafting Aikman while at Dallas. Aikman hit 33 of 41 passes for three scores with no interceptions.
"Troy played the best since I came to Dallas," teammate Emmitt Smith said.
"It was fun to throw the ball that much," Aikman said. "I get paid to throw the ball, so I enjoyed that."
Dan Marino, back to the lineup after missing three games with a broken right ankle, completed only 12 of 27 attempts for 173 yards against the NFL's top-ranked pass defense.
"They played well on both sides of the ball in the second half, and we didn't get anything accomplished," Marino said.
Aikman's most damaging completion came when a breakdown in the secondary left Irvin wide open on third-and-17. The result was a 61-yard gain, setting up a 2-yard touchdown pass from Aikman to Irvin for a 22-10 lead in the third quarter.
Irvin's reception total tied his career high, and the touchdown was his first this year. He missed the first five games of the season serving a drug suspension.
"It was an emotional game for a lot of guys on the team," Irvin said.
Aikman also threw for touchdowns covering 10 yards to Smith and 4 yards to Eric Bjornson. Chris Boniol kicked field goals of 33, 29 and 24 yards.
"They just overpowered us," Dolphins linebacker Zach Thomas said. "We blew coverages and couldn't stop the run."
The Dolphins had possession for just 18 minutes. Their lone touchdown came on Marino's 16-yard pass to fullback Stanley Pritchett.
"I love big games because you can tell the players from the imitators," said Cowboys defensive end Charles Haley.