To The Moon, AFC Beats NFC
Warren Moon, at 41 the oldest Pro Bowl player and chosen for the game only because John Elway pulled out, led a late rally as the AFC came back Sunday to take a 29-24 Pro Bowl victory over the NFC.
The AFC trailed 21-7 at halftime after San Francisco's Steve Young threw a pair of touchdown passes for the NFC.
The Seahawks' Moon, who first practiced with the all-stars on Thursday, guided the AFC to a field goal and a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
Voted the game's MVP, Moon scored the go-ahead TD himself on a 1-yard quarterback sneak with 1:49 remaining.
The AFC cashed on a pair of fourth-quarter fumbles, by Tampa Bay's Warrick Dunn and Atlanta's Chris Chandler, for the two touchdowns.
Seattle's Darryl Williams recovered Dunn's fumble at the AFC 49, and Moon, appearing in his ninth Pro Bowl, engineered a 51-yard scoring drive that pulled the AFC to 24-23 with 2:31 remaining. After Tennessee's Eddie George scored on a 4-yard run, Moon threw incomplete on the two-point conversion try.
The AFC got the ball back 12 seconds later, with Seattle's Michael Sinclair recovering Chandler's fumble at the NFC 16.
After George netted 15 yards on three carries, Moon scored to give the AFC the lead for the first time in the game.
Moon, four years older than anyone else in the game, played only the fourth quarter and completed 4-of-8 for 89 yards, including a 57-yarder to Oakland's Tim Brown to set up George's TD run.
Brown wound up with five catches for 129 yards.
Jacksonville's Mike Hollis kicked a 48-yard field goal with 8:51 remaining to cut the NFC lead to 24-17.
New England's Drew Bledsoe pulled the AFC to 21-14 when he connected with Jacksonville's Jimmy Smith for a 14-yard score in the third quarter.
Denver running back Terrell Davis, the MVP in the Broncos' 31-24 Super Bowl victory over Green Bay, left the all-star game early in the second quarter with a strained left hamstring and did not return. Davis carried six times for 27 yards before he was hurt.
For the first time in memory, if not Pro Bowl history, two players were ejected for fighting: Denver defensive end Neil Smith and San Francisco guard Kevin Gogan. The two even continued jawing at each other as the left the field and headed to their respective locker rooms.
Young completed 5-of-11 for 103 yards, including touchdown passes of 22 yards to Detroit's Herman Moore and 36 yards to Arizona's Rob Moore. Young now has thrown a Pro Bowl record four TD passes in his career.
Green Bay's Dorsey Levens added a 12-yard scoring run just before halftime to extend the NFC lead to 21-7.
The other NFC scoring came on a 35-yard field goal by Detroit's Jason Hanson early in the fourth quarter for his team's final points.
Chandler, like Moon, was a late replacement. The Atlanta quarterback filled in for Green Bay's Brett Favre.
Both Favre and Elway missed the game because they face minor surgery during the offseason.
©1998 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed