Johnson Nips Shell for NFL Coach of Year
NEW YORK — Jimmy Johnson, having guided the Dallas Cowboys to a six-game improvement and into playoff contention this season, won NFL Coach of the Year honors today.
Johnson, in his second year with the Cowboys, got 18 1/2 votes from 80 sports writers and broadcasters in balloting conducted by the Associated Press. He edged Art Shell of the Raiders by 2 1/2 votes.
This season, Dallas was 7-7 and needed a victory in either of its final two games to make the playoffs as a wild card. But quarterback Troy Aikman was injured and the Cowboys couldn’t recover.
Shell helped restore the Raiders’ winning tradition. The team returned to the playoffs for the first time in five years.
In another vote, Shell was named United Press International’s AFC Coach of the Year in a poll of football writers.
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