Silver and BlueBlood

How do you heal a broken heart?

It was the best of times (for some). It was the worst of times (for us).

And so it ends. In a few days hence, just like that, the clock strikes midnight, Dec. 31, 2009, and the first decade of the 21st Century draws to an end.

It came in like a lion, with the threat of worldwide computer failure—the presumed result of the Y2K bug that so many experts feared would cripple the computers of the world, impacting everything from drinking water to banking systems. (Of course, the whole thing was much ado about nothing.)

It came in like a lion, as just one year into the decade, on the 11th day of the ninth month, terror struck at the heart of America. No one would ever utter the phrase 9/11 the same way again.

And now, with Congress locked in what seems an interminable debate over health care reform, with the economy stuck in the deep freeze of recession, with the election of the first black president and the declaration of Camelot II already losing its luster…this decade goes out like a lamb, slipping into the vault of human history, waiting its turn to be prodded, analyzed, labeled, and forever put on the shelf—another volume in the ever-expanding library of Father Time.

But what, you ask, of the NFL?

For the National Football League, the 2000s (old timers would call this decade The Aughts) will be remembered as the decade of dominance. The league took center stage on the American sports scene, easily outdistancing Major League Baseball to become America’s new pastime.

Glorious new stadiums rose like mighty Sphinxes from the earth to be filled to the brim and boiling over with fans eager to spend their disposable income—and their children’s inheritance, if need be—to be entertained by the American Gladiators, otherwise known as NFL players.

The team of the decade? The New England Patriots, of course.

For the Patriots, it was the best of times. They became the second team to win three Super Bowls in four years. They became the first NFL team to finish the regular season 16–0. They came within a miraculous Eli Manning-led drive of becoming only the second team in history to log an undefeated season, capped with the Super Bowl championship. Under the guidance of the derelict-looking genius head coach—and known cheater—Bill Belichick, the Patriots put together as good a decade as any team ever did.

But what, you wonder, of the Dallas Cowboys?

Ah, now we get to the meat of this New Year’s Eve dinner. You waded through this lengthy introduction to get down to the nitty gritty: How about them Cowboys?

Unfortunately, my anxious friend with the quiver in your voice and the gleam of hope in your eye, for your Cowboys, the Aughts (OK, the 2000s) were the worst of times.

Any way you slice it, the fifth decade of the NFL’s flagship franchise was as forgettable as a Friday night at home. It was far and away the worst decade in team history, and it came right after the best. Not a single Lombardi Trophy was added to the collection at Valley Ranch. In fact, there was not so much as a playoff victory to add to team lore.

The decade began with a volatile little madman named Dave Campo ranting and raving on the sideline and will conclude with the docile, doughy, take-it-all-in-stride Wade Phillips wandering aimlessly through another so-so season, all while relishing moral victories and congratulating his team on “fighting hard.”

Sandwiched between them was the football genius—if you don’t believe me on the “genius” part, ask him or anyone from New Jersey—Bill Parcells, doing his dead-level best to maneuver around the interferences of Jerry Jones to return the franchise to its rightful place of football glory.

Parcells failed to manage glory, but he did at least restore a level of respectability and left in his wake a roster many describe as being “as talented as any team in football.” (Maybe they are. If so, what a sad indictment on the whole team, from management to coaching to the players on the field. Such underachievement.)

I see the doubt on your face. You just cannot believe that, as bad as it was, this was the worst decade in team history. Fine. I will break it down, decade by decade.

Are your sitting down? Here goes…

The 1960s

Coach: Tom Landry

Record: 67 – 65 – 6

Winning Percentage: 50.7%

Playoffs: Four times

Championships: None

Remember now, this decade includes the birth of the franchise—and that first 0-11-1 season of theirs. The Cowboys did not even have the benefit of a draft their first year but were forced to pick up the castoffs and leftovers from the established franchises in order to field a team.

Still, with the steady hand of the fedora-topped Tom Landry at the helm, the Cowboys would play in their first Conference championship game in 1966. They would make the Conference championship again in 1967 and would make the divisional round in ’68 and ’69.

The 1970s

Coach: Tom Landry

Record: 105 – 39 – 0

Winning Percentage: 75.9%

Playoffs: NINE times!

Championships: Two

The 1970s Dallas Cowboys were as much the team of the decade as the Steelers. Their ridiculous winning percentage, their nine trips to the playoffs in those 10 years, their five Super Bowl appearances and two championships all put them in the rarefied air of a true dynasty. The ’70s Cowboys were 13-7 in playoff games.

The 1980s

Coaches: Tom Landry, Jimmy Johnson

Record: 79 – 73 – 0

Winning Percentage: 51.9%

Playoffs: Five times

Championships: None

The 1980s saw the ascendancy of Danny White to starting quarterback, due to Roger Staubach’s retirement after the ’79 season. The decade also saw the greatest run of winning football in league history finally come to an end, as Landry’s team aged and poor drafts led to the dilution of talent near the end of the decade.

The decade ended with the brash Arkansas wildcatter named Jerry Jones storming into Dallas, buying the team, and summarily firing the greatest—and most revered—legend in the city’s history, Tom Landry. The decade that began with three trips to the NFC championship game would end with Jimmy Johnson cleaning house and going 1-15 in his initial season, featuring, essentially, a bunch of rag-tag vagabonds and a rookie quarterback named Troy Aikman.

The 1990s

Coaches: Jimmy Johnson, Barry Switzer, Chan Gailey

Record: 101 – 59 – 0

Winning Percentage: 63.1%

Playoffs: Eight times

Championships: Three

The ’70s Cowboys can be argued to be one of the teams of that decade, but you might not win the argument if it is conducted against a Steelers fan flashing four Super Bowl rings in your face.

The ’90s Cowboys, however, were without question the team of their decade. To that point, no team in modern NFL history had been so dominant. No team had ever won three Super Bowls in four years.

Led by Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, and Michael Irvin—the Triplets—that team left an indelible mark on NFL history. They were so good that even a coaching change from Jimmy Johnson to Barry Switzer could not deter them from winning it all.

The 2000s

Coaches: Dave Campo, Bill Parcells, Wade Phillips

*Record: 79 – 74 – 0

*Winning Percentage: 51.6%

*Playoffs: Three times

*Championships: None

*These figures are through Week 13 of the 2009 season. The Cowboys’ final record and playoff fate is yet to be decided.

In every decade before the 2000s, the Dallas Cowboys contended for multiple championships. In two of those four decades, they won multiple championships. But from the years 2000 to 2009, unless the football gods are crazy or go on extended holiday at this, the end of the ’09 season, the Cowboys will finish having never contended for a single championship. In fact, they have not so much as posted a playoff victory in 13 years.

Before this decade began, Cowboys fans considered the 1980s to be the Dark Ages of team history, with the ultimate demise of the Schramm/Landry regime, and that dreadful 1–15 season at the end of that decade. Compared to the so-so product Jerry Jones and Company have put on the field over the past 10 years, however, the 1980s look like the halcyon days of team history.

Soon it will be New Year’s Eve, and around the world people will raise a glass of Champagne to toast the New Year. Some will drink to remember; others to forget. And then they will sing together that old Scottish refrain…

Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind? Should old acquaintance be forgot and auld lang syne?

And, if you are a Cowboys fan…and if the “old acquaintance” is The Aughts…the answer will be a resounding “Yes! Let’s forget all about it, the whole thing. Just…forget it.”

And then raise your glass and toast a new year, a new decade, a new head coach, a new direction…and new hope.

Maybe, just maybe, the best of times are yet to come.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Never Forget!

With insincere apologies to Quentin Tarrantino for pilfering his wonderful movie title (I even kept the curious spelling because it just seems to fit the blood-and-gluts glory of yesterday’s NFL: you know, before they instituted a glorified game of two-hand touch football), I give you the ten most underrated Dallas Cowboys in team history.

Some of the names on my list are anything but anonymous faces in Cowboys lore. Time and distance, however, have eroded their memory, until their names are seldom called and – for a new generation of Dallas Cowboys fandom – relatively unknown and completely unappreciated.

These men may be underrated for any number of reasons, ranging from never having won the ultimate title of Super Bowl champion to laboring under the long shadow of someone better – or at least better known. But they made their mark. They contributed more than time and effort to the team for which they labored. They brought talent, too. They brought grit and determination. And they enjoyed a measure of success.

George Andrie, DE (1962 – 1972)

George Andrie was 6’6”, 250 pounds, which made him a big dude in the 1960s NFL. At Marquette University, he played

George Andrie

both ways. He  led the team in receptions and was among the team’s leaders in tackles, as well.

Andrie earned the starting job at right defensive end his rookie season with the Cowboys. He proceeded to earn a spot on the NFL’s All-Rookie team. Andrie would go on to forge a fine career for himself, earning Pro Bowl honors five consecutive times from 1965 – 1969. He would also receive first-team All Pro honors in 1969.

Overshadowed by Bob Lilly, the defensive tackle known as Mr. Cowboy, Andrie was a sold player for a decade and a major contributor to the DoomsDay Defense and the emergence of the Cowboys as a championship contender.

Walt Garrison, FB (1966 – 1974)

Walt Garrison was once, twice, three times a Cowboy. He played for The Oklahoma State Cowboys in college, the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL, and participated as a bona fide bronc-riding cowboy in the professional rodeo circuit.

One of the most colorful players in Cowboys’ history, Garrison served both as a steady runner of the football and a devastating lead blocker for the halfback. He was a fan and media favorite. Any Cowboys fan who was a child of the late sixties, early seventies remembers Walt Garrison pitching his favorite smokeless tobacco, Skoal. And which of us never tried it out to see if his assertion that “just a pinch between your cheek and gum gives you full tobacco flavor without lighting up” wasn’t true?

I know I did.

The Cowboy's Cowboy

Walt Garrison was only named to one Pro Bowl team, after the 1972 season. But he played a significant role in a Cowboys’ offense that participated in Super Bowls V and VI. He played well in both games, too, rushing for 65 yards on 12 attempts in a losing effort against the Baltimore Colts, and gaining 74 yards on 14 carries against the Miami Dolphins in the Cowboys’ first Super Bowl victory.

Don Meredith, another colorful Cowboy and the Cowboys quarterback for the first part of Garrison’s career, once said of Walt Garrison, “If it was third down, and you needed four yards, if you’d get the ball to Walt Garrison, he’d get ya five. And if was third down and ya needed 20 yards, if you’d get the ball to Walt Garrison, by God, he’d get you five.”

Everson Walls, CB (1981 – 1989)

After recording a slow time in the 40-yard dash, NFL scouts backed away from Everson Walls, believing him to be too slow to make it as a cornerback in the National Football League. Consequently, he went undrafted.

Everson Walls’ hometown team, the Dallas Cowboys, offered him a free agent rookie contract. Walls paid them back by snagging 11 interceptions his rookie season, good enough to lead the NFL. Walls would go on to play in four Pro Bowls and be named All-Pro once. He recorded 44 interceptions in nine years with the Cowboys.

Unfortunately, many simply remember Walls as the defender futilely swiping at the ball San Francisco’s Dwight Clark caught against the Cowboys in the NFC Championship Game of the 1981 season. The play became known simply as “The Catch,” and it forever changed the fortunes of the two teams. Walls’ coverage was not bad on that play. Clark simply made a great play on a ball only he could reach.

Ralph Neely, RT-LT (1965 – 1977)

Ralph Neely and hall-of-famer Rayfield Wright secured the tackle positions on a stellar Cowboys offensive line for more than a decade. Wright has rightfully been honored for his prowess by being inducted into both the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor and the National Football League Hall of Fame. Ralph Neely, through no fault of his own, has yet to be invited to either place.

Neely was drafted in the second round of the 1965 draft by both the Houston Oilers of the AFL and the Baltimore Colts of the NFL. He initially signed with the Oilers, but when the Colts traded his rights to the Dallas Cowboys, he reneged on the agreement with the Oilers and signed with the Cowboys.

At 6’ 6” and 265 pounds, Ralph Neely was a big, strong, versatile lineman. The first half of his career he played the right tackle position. He was moved to left tackle in 1971. Neely was named to the NFL All-Pro team three times from 1967 to 1969. He played in two Pro Bowls, 1967 and 1969. He participated in four Super Bowls and retired after the Cowboys won Super Bowl XII in 1977.

Nate Newton, LG (1986 – 1999)

Nate Newton fell into bad company and made poor choices after his professional football career was concluded. Caught transporting over 200 pounds of marijuana in Louisiana, he was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison.

While many choose to focus on Newton’s moral and legal failures, it should be pointed out that since his release from prison, he has apparently turned his life around and is doing his part to encourage kids not to repeat his mistakes.

None of that has any bearing on what Newton accomplished on the football field. A huge man – and powerful – the 6’3 lineman played at a reported 318 pounds, but that may be short-selling him. Though Nate was a jolly fellow and always good for a quote before or after a game, he was fierce competitor and significant contributor to an offensive line some have called the best in history. Newton played in six Pro Bowls and was named All-Pro twice.

Nate helped pave the way for Emmitt Smith to run for more yards from scrimmage than any back in league history. He also helped create the pocket for statuesque Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman. Newton and his compatriots bowled over the competition, becoming the first team in NFL history to win three Super Bowls in four years.

Billy Joe DuPree, TE (1973 – 1983)

Too cool

Bill Joe DuPree has one of those cool Louisiana surnames that just sticks with you. But he was more than just a cool name in a Cowboys uniform; he was the starting tight end for a very good Roger Staubach (and later, Danny White) led offense for all of his eleven years with the team. At 6’ 4”, 225 pounds, DuPree was a good run blocker and an excellent receiver.

DuPree played in three Pro Bowls during his career. He also recorded a 25 reception, 225 yard game against the Saint Louis Rams in 1975. The following year, he would go off for 195 yards against the Saints. Impressive showings for a tight end. DuPree  would finish his career having recorded 41 touchdown receptions. He averaged 13.4 yards per reception.

Ed “Too Tall” Jones, DE (1974 – 1989)

Ed Jones was the first player taken in the 1974 draft. It was a good pick by the Dallas Cowboys.

Ed was Nicknamed “Too Tall” because, at 6’ 9”, he was the tallest man in the NFL. He used his height to great advantage, swatting passes back into the faces of frustrated quarterbacks throughout his career. Jones was the starting left defensive end for the Cowboys from 1975 until he retired in 1989.

The NFL did not begin officially recording sacks until 1982. Once they did, Jones would record 57.5 sacks from 1982 – 1989, an average of just over eight per season. He recorded 13 sacks in 1985 and 10 in 1987.

Jones was named to the Pro Bowl for three consecutive seasons, from 1981 – 1983. He was also named first-team All-Pro once, in 1982.

Harvey Martin, DE (1973 – 1983)

Harvey Martin and “Too Tall” Jones were bookend defensive ends on the famed DoomsDay Defense of the 1970s Dallas Cowboys. While Jones was adept at quarterback sacks, he was more of a run-stuffer and pass blocker. Harvey Martin, on the other hand, was a sack machine. Most of his sack count is unofficial due to the fact they weren’t officially recorded by the league until his final two seasons.

Martin’s sack numbers are nonetheless impressive, if not staggering. As a rookie, he recorded eight sacks. He was the first Cowboy (and the only one until DeMarcus Ware matched him in 2008) to record twenty sacks in a season. He finished his stellar career with the unofficial count of 114 sacks.

Martin’s post-football life, like so many before him and many after, was not pretty. He became a substance abuser, suffered bankruptcy, and was arrested for domestic violence.

The former four-time Pro Bowler died of pancreatic cancer in 2001. He was 51 years old.

Danny White, QB-P (1976 – 1987)

Danny White was the Dallas Cowboys’ quarterback-in-waiting behind Roger Staubach from 1976 – ’79. He was also the team’s starting punter. As a punter, he was dangerous. Not only was he among the league’s best at his craft, he was always a threat to throw or run for a first down.

In 1980, White became the Cowboys’ starting quarterback. Staubach, who remains the team’s greatest icon (along with Landry), retired after the ’79 season, and Danny White was finally given the reins he had been chomping at the bit to take.

White wasted no time establishing himself as a more-than-capable replacement for the legendary QB. In his first year as a starter, he guided the team to the NFC championship game, which the Cowboys lost to the Philadelphia Eagles. It was a tough loss and a bitter pill, but gave Cowboy Nation the confidence that their beloved team was in good hands.

In 1981, Danny White’s second year at the helm, the Cowboys returned to the NFC championship game. This time, the game was in San Francisco at Candlestick Park. The 49ers were led by the young upstart quarterback Joe Montana. They were young, talented, and hungry.

The game would prove to be a classic. It was a back and forth battle of gargantuan proportions. Down 27 – 21, Montana led his team down the field, but stalled in the red zone. On a scrambling, desperation play, with Ed “Too Tall” Jones bearing down on him, Montana heaved a prayer into the end zone as he was falling out of bounds. Receiver Dwight Clark, with cornerback Everson Wall trailing him, was crossing the back of the end zone. Clark made an improbable leaping catch on a ball that seemed to be sailing harmlessly overhead. The touchdown gave the 49ers a 28 – 27 lead late in the fourth quarter.

The play was simply called “The Catch,” and stands as one of the most famous plays in the annals of NFL history.

On the ensuing drive, White would lead his team into San Francisco territory, only to be sacked and fumble the ball. What seemed to be an inevitable field goal that would have secured a 30 – 28 victory was not to be. The Cowboys lost.

The following season, the Cowboys would make the NFC championship game for a third straight season. They would lose again, this time to the Washington Redskins.

In his book, “The Catch,” which chronicles the impact the Montana to Clark pass had on the two franchises, the coaches, and the players involved, author Gary Myers says no player’s career was more adversely impacted than Danny White’s. He sees it as the turning point, the catastrophic moment that would mark the beginning of the Cowboys’ slow descent into mediocrity and would keep White from being recognized as a truly great NFL quarterback.

Danny White was selected to just one Pro Bowl, but he closed out his career in possession of many of the franchise’s career records. The numbers he posted were anything but pedestrian:

• 21,959 yards passing
• 1761 completions on 2950 attempts (59.7% completion ratio)
• 155 touchdowns to 132 interceptions
• 482 yards rushing, with eight rushing touchdowns
• He had a 62 – 32 regular season record and was 5 – 5 in the playoffs
• His career quarterback rating was 81.7
• He punted 610 times, averaging 40.4 yards per punt

Don Meredith, QB (1960 – 1968)

Football fans from my generation (I am, ahem, somewhere past 40) remember “Dandy” Don Meredith more for his

Dandy!

work on Monday Night Football, as part of the legendary crew featuring himself, Howard Cosell, and Frank Gifford. Meredith brought homespun wit and humor to the broadcast and often engaged in playful verbal sparring with the brainy – but potentially insane, and decidedly egomaniacal – Cosell.

Who can forget Don Meredith singing, “Turn out the lights, the party’s over,” when he deemed a game out of reach?

Don Meredith was a fan favorite from the start. He was an east Texas boy from the small town of Mount Vernon who had starred at SMU in Dallas and then, via trade with the Chicago Bears, joined the Dallas Cowboys of the NFL.

Meredith joined the Cowboys when they were a fledgling expansion club and not very good. His first two years, he was the backup quarterback to Eddie LeBaron. In 1963, coach Tom Landry named him the starter and by 1966, Meredith had helped to mold the Cowboys into a formidable, championship-contending playoff team.

Meredith suffered two heart-breaking losses in NFL championship games at the hands of Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers. His team hosted the first meeting in 1966 and lost in a wild, high-scoring affair, 34 – 27. The next meeting, in 1967, took place in Green Bay on the coldest day any NFL football game was ever played. The famous “Ice Bowl” game came down to a Bart Starr quarterback dive into the end zone. The Packers won the game 21 – 17.

Don Meredith was named to three Pro Bowl teams. He was the NFL’s player of the year in 1966. During his career, which was cut short by his unexpected decision to prematurely retire, Meredith threw for over 17,000 yards and 135 touchdowns.

Don Meredith is in the Dallas Cowboys’ ring of honor and ought to be in the NFL Hall of Fame. But, as the every loquacious quarterback once quipped, “If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, wouldn’t we all have a merry Christmas?”

Popularity: 34% [?]

Garrett Then and Now

Dateline Thanksgiving Day, 1994 – The Dallas Cowboys staggered into the holiday match-up with the Green Bay Packers – a team they had owned throughout the ’90s – battered and beaten.

A worried Cowboys nation nervously gnawed Turkey legs and anxiously awaited the afternoon kickoff, sure this would not go well. After all, Cowboys hall of fame-bound quarterback Troy Aikman was injured and would not play. To make matters worse, the more-than-capable backup QB Rodney Peete was hurt, as well.

The Cowboys were down to their third string quarterback, a redhead named Jason Garrett. Everyone knew Garrett had the grey matter to play the position. We also knew he lacked the natural physical gifts of a frontline quarterback. With Favre leading his Packers into Texas stadium, it figured to be a long day for the silver and blue.

What it figured to be and what it was turned out to be were two very different things.

The game started just as one would expect. The Cowboys stumbled out of the gate with Garrett at the helm. By halftime, the Packers had established a pretty comfortable 17-6 lead over a team that didn’t look like they were up for putting up much of a second half fight. Just get it over with and get to the turkey and dressing.

But Jason Garrett had other ideas.

Garrett connected on a 45-yard touchdown pass to Alvin Harper. Then, he threw a 36-yard TD to Michael Irvin. Later, he hit Emmitt Smith, who turned the pass into a 63 yard gain that led to another touchdown.

The Cowboys scored on their first five second half drives. Garrett out-dueled the great Brett Favre, passing for 311 yards and two TDs. And the Cowboys won what would become a classic Thanksgiving Day game, 42 – 31.

That game changed the perception of the ruddy redhead with the big brain and the somewhat slight frame. He became a folk hero, a fan favorite. Then, years later, as the Cowboys offensive coordinator, in the 2007 season, he became the hottest commodity in the NFL, after helping to guide the Cowboys to a 13-3 record with his high-powered offense.

My, how times have changed. The genius tag has been pulled and replaced by the “What the @#$%! is he thinking” tag.

Jason Garrett changed the perception of a team and their fan base once upon a Thanksgiving. Can he do it again? The table is set. The turkey has come all the way from the west coast, freshly plucked, gutted, ready to baste and bake.

Come on, Jason. Light that oven. Cook this turkey’s goose. Be our Thanksgiving hero again.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Jerry Jones and the Way We Were

Landry's Long Shadow

Can it already be twenty years? Is it really possible that it was two whole decades ago that Jerry Jones informed the disbelieving Dallas Cowboys nation that he would be involved in (and in charge of) everything regarding the team, right down to the “socks and jocks?”

It has not been easy for old school Cowboys fans to accept the brash, swashbuckling, micro-managing owner’s ways. This isn’t the way we were taught a successful team was built and managed.

Clint Murchison, The beloved and long-since passed original owner of the Cowboys, the man who gave the team life and then entrusted it to the tender loving care of Tex Schramm and Tom Landry, was the antithesis of Jerry Jones. Murchison loved football, obviously, but never fancied himself a football man. Instead, he identified a man with a personality as big as the state after which he was named and a reputation for knowing the game, hired him, and gave him the reins.

Schramm immediately went after the young defensive coordinator of the New York Giants, a man known for his steady ways and extraordinary football acumen, a man destined to become one of the NFL’s most recognized and recognizable figures, the Fedora-wearing, sharp-dressing, seldom-smiling, franchise cornerstone, Tom Landry.

Together, Murchison, Shcramm, and Landry carved out a legacy. They built what would become one of the NFL’s flagship franchises, a team that NFL films would one day dub “America’s Team.”

And then along came Jones. (Of course, there was the Bum Bright interlude, but it is hardly worth remembering, so we will just pretend it wasn’t there, for argument’s sake.)

Jerry Jones and His Coaching Carousel Versus Clint Murchison, Tex Schramm, and Tom Landry

Twenty years is long enough for Jones to have established a legacy. Since Murchison only owned the team four years longer than Jones has at this point, it is not too early or unreasonable to compare eras and try to answer the nagging question: which was better?

Old timers will answer without reading another word. “Of course the Murchison years were better! Jones is a total idiot. He couldn’t carry Murchison’s jock strap.”

The kids will say, “Who the heck is Murchison? When were the Cowboys great? They haven’t won a playoff game since I was like 5 or 6. They suck, man.”

The thirty-something crowd will say, “Three Super Bowl Rings, Holmes! Jones wins, hands down, even if he is an idiot.”

Inside the Numbers

But what do the facts say? If we compare the two eras side by side, how does one measure up against the other?

Glad you asked.

I have compiled some data for your consideration. We will look at winning percentages, playoff appearances, Conference championship appearances, Super Bowl appearances, and Super Bowl wins.

1. Winning Percentages. Each regime got off to a slow start. The Murchison era because it was an expansion franchise with little on-field talent, and the Jones era because it was an aging team in decline when he bought it and subsequently blew it up to essentially start from scratch.
   • The Murchison Record: 223-126-6. That is a winning percentage of 64%
   • The Jones Record: 179-149-0. Winning percentage of 55%
   • Edge: Murchison by a healthy nine percentage points.
2. Playoff Appearances.
   • Murchison, Schramm, and Landry: 17 playoff appearances in 25 years (68% of the time), including one streak of eight consecutive years (1966-1973) and another of nine straight years (1975-1983). Those streaks were only separated by one aberrant season, meaning they made the post-season 17 times in 18 years.
   • Jones and Company: Eleven playoff appearances in 21 seasons (53%), including a streak of six consecutive years (1991-1996), and eight times in nine years.
   • Edge: Murchison, Schramm and Landry (and not even close.)
3. Conference Championships.
   • Murchison (Old School): Landry’s teams appeared in a whopping twelve conference championship games in those first twenty-five years, winning five of them (42%).
   • Jones (Old Fool): Jones’ teams (most would correct this to Jimmy Johnson’s teams) made four consecutive conference title games, from 1992 to 1995. They won three of the four (75%).
   • Edge: Murchison for the sheer numbers, but Jones’ teams had an incredible success rate in the big games, so that narrows the gap some, but not enough to give Jones the nod.
4. Super Bowl appearances.
   • M-L-S: Five Super Bowl appearances in the 1970s.
   • JJ: Three Super Bowl trips in the 1990s.
   • Edge: Murchison, et al.
5. Super Bowl wins.
   • Murchison, Schramm, and Landry won three of their five Super Bowls (40%)
   • Jones, Johnson, and Switzer won all three of theirs. (That is 100%, if you are keeping score.)
   • Edge: Jones and Company.

So, out of five major categories, Murchison and the dream management team he assembled win four of them. Jones, many might argue, more than redeems himself with three Lombardi Trophies in four years, and that is a valid consideration. However, the current twelve year drought without a playoff victory would seem to dilute that argument just a little.

Outside the Numbers

When you consider intangibles, such as structure and stability, the scale tilts even more in favor of the Murchison team. For its first 28 years, the Dallas Cowboys had one coach, and that coach led them to 12 conference title games and five Super Bowl appearances. In Jones’ first 21 seasons, the team has plowed through five head coaches and is now on its sixth.

On the business side, Jones may be peerless in the NFL. He took one of the great sports brands and built it into a franchise which Forbes Magazine has valued at somewhere around 1.5 billion and rates the number one professional sports franchise in the world.

Confusion of Biblical Proportions

When I think of Jerry Jones and how confusing it can be to determine whether he is one of the best or one of the worst owners in the NFL, I am reminded of a story in the Old Testament, in the book of Ezra. Zerubbabel led a group to rebuild the temple, which had lain in ruins for many years. When it was done, there was a celebration.

Ezra 3:11-13 describes the scene. It tells us that the young men were shouting for joy while the old men, the ones who remembered the glory of Solomon’s temple, wept. The shouting and the weeping mingled together, so that you could not distinguish one from the other.

That is kind of how it feels to be a Cowboys’ fan. You shout for the joy of those unforgettable, magnificent teams of the nineties, but you weep for the glory of the past, a glory that may never be duplicated or restored.

Twenty years of Jerry Jones, and I still don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Popularity: 19% [?]

“Football incorporates the two worst elements of American society: violence punctuated by committee meetings.”

~ George Will, author, commentator, humorist

The game of American football – especially at the professional level – lends itself to copious and memorable quotes, like the one above. The Dallas Cowboys organization has been home to great leaders, singular players, and colorful characters throughout its noble history. Many of them have, with their words, weaved a colorful and rich tapestry, a verbal masterpiece draped on the walls of our memories.

Meredith: Always Quotable

If you are old enough to have been there, and if you can quiet your spirit enough, you can almost hear the even, measured words of  Tom Landry, uttered in that south Texas drawl, words of wisdom, words to play – and to live – by. You can hear the even more Texas twang of the witty Walt Garrison deadpanning about his coach. You can hear the almost musical quality of Meredith’s smooth delivery of yet another masterful bonmot.

It is not easy to sift through these treasures and find the ten most memorable, or ten most representative of the franchise’s history. I doubt I have succeeded in doing so. I am sure you will correct me…and add your own sweet memory to this tapestry.

Number Ten: “That was the triumph of an uncluttered mind.” ~ Blaine Nye on Clint Longley’s Thanksgiving Day performance

Number Nine: “If ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ were candy and nuts, wouldn’t it be a merry Christmas?” ~ Don Meredith

Number Eight: “He couldn’t spell ‘cat’ if you spotted him the ‘c’ and the ‘a.’” ~ Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson on Terry Bradshaw

Number Seven: “There are no traffic jams along the extra mile.” ~ Roger Staubach

Number Six: “Leadership is getting someone to do what they don’t want to do, to achieve what they want to achieve.” ~ Tom Landry

Number Five: “He’s a perfectionist. If he was married to Raquel Welch, he’d expect her to cook.” ~ Don Meredith on Coach Landry

Number Four: “If the Super Bowl is the Ultimate Game, why are they playing it again next year?” ~ Duane Thomas

Number Three: “If it was third down, and you needed four yards, if you’d get the ball to Walt Garrison, he’d get ya five. And if was third down and ya needed 20 yards, if you’d get the ball to Walt Garrison, by God, he’d get you five.” ~ Don Meredith on Walt Garrison

Number Two: “Nope. But I have only been here nine years.” ~ Walt Garrison, when asked if he had ever seen Tom Landry smile.

Number One: “Texas Stadium has a hole in its roof so God can watch his favorite team play.” ~ D.D. Lewis

Like I said, it was quite difficult to narrow them down to just ten. These are my ten. It is entirely possible that the reader remembers ten others that were just as memorable, witty, or astounding. If so, feel free to reply and add your own list…or at least your own favorite quote.

As for me, I will let the most quotable Cowboy of them all get the final word…

“Turn out the lights: the party’s over.”

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Let’s preface this list with an important qualifying statement: the only moments up for consideration are on-the-field occurrences. In other words, this is a list of the ten most devastating plays in team history. Consequently, we won’t be mentioning moments many may consider catastrophic, like the day Landry was fired or the day Jimmy Johnson walked away or the day Switzer was hired. Nor will we talk about the “white house” or the Michael Irvin trial. We may long debate the impact of such happenings on the team. But that is a different discussion.

In selecting the plays included in this list, several factors were considered:

• Was it a catastrophic moment for the team?
• Do Cowboys fans still remember it?
• Does it still hurt?

Number Ten: Cards Make History with Blocked Punt. On October 12, 2008, The Dallas Cowboys would suffer a tough overtime loss to the Arizona Cardinals. The catastrophic moment came in overtime, when, after the Cowboys offense failed to do anything with the opening drive, Mat McBriar was called on to punt the ball away. But the Cardinals’ Sean Morey broke through to block the punt and teammate Monty Biesel scooped up the ball and scored the winning touchdown. The Cowboys would spiral into an 8-8 finish while the Cards would finally break through with a successful postseason and their first-ever Super Bowl appearance. Oh, and McBriar was lost for the season.

Number Nine: Rookie Kicks Cowboys in the Super Bowl Groin. The Cowboys had finally done it. After years of falling just short and being called “bridesmaids” or dubbed “next year’s champs,” they made the Super Bowl. Their opponent was the John Unitas-led Baltimore Colts. Super Bowl V was a mess. The teams combined for eleven turnovers. Some called it the “Blunder Bowl,” or the “Stupor Bowl.” Still, Dallas had a 13-6 lead at the end of three quarters. The Colts, however, would tie the score in the fourth. Then, with five seconds left in the game, rookie kicker Jim O’Brien trotted onto the field and promptly kicked a 32-yard field goal to win the game. Next year’s champs would have to wait…again.

Desecration

Number Eight: T.O. Desecrates the Star. It would have been impossible to imagine on September 24, 2000 that Terrell Owens would some day be dancing into the end zone, scoring TDs with the Cowboys’ star on his helmet. In the ultimate show of disrespect for a franchise and its fans, the lightening rod (some say Nimrod) receiver scored a TD for the 49ers and then dashed to the star at the fifty yard line to rub his success – and their failure – in the nose of the Dallas Cowboys and their longsuffering fans. Owens scored twice that day and made the same trip to the star each time. The second time, safety George Teague knocked him off the star. It was a bad start to a decade that has mostly been unkind to the Cowboys.

Number Seven: “No, Danny! No!” The Cowboys were looking good going into the final weeks of the 1983 season. Then, they ran into the hated Redskins. The ‘Skins held the ‘Boys to a franchise-low 33 yards rushing. Washington had a thin 14-10 lead in the third quarter. Dallas had the ball, fourth and one, at their own 48. Landry instructed quarterback Danny White to use a hard count to try and draw the defense offsides. White, however, changed the play at the line of scrimmage, calling for a Ron Springs run up the middle. Springs lost two yards and the Cowboys lost the game. Cameras caught an animated Tom Landry on the sideline yelling, “No! No, Danny! No!” It was as close as the stoic coach ever came to losing his cool during a game. Moreover, after a decade (the 70s) of five Super Bowl appearances and two wins, the Cowboys would begin a slow spiral through the 80s.

Number Six: The Play-Maker will Play No More Forever. October, 1999. Michael Irvin’s career-ending inury was a catastrophic moment for himself and the Cowboys. It served notice that the Triplets were done. Their marvelous run as the mighty triumverate of football acumen came to an unceremonious end when the polarizing, flamboyant, spiritual leader of the team of the 90’s landed awkwardly on his head after hauling in his last-ever pass from Troy Aikman. To make matters worse, it happened in the worst possible place: Philadelphia. The classless morons making up a significant part of the crowd that day once again proved themselves to be America’s lowest form of sports fan: the kind that cheers the failure of others even more loudly than the success of their own team. (Losers are that way.) CNNSI.com reported the incident this way:

By cheering Dallas Cowboys receiver Michael Irvin as he lay motionless on the turf Sunday with a neck injury, the fans brought the city’s reputation for boorishness to new lows. It disgusted even those who thought they had seen it all in the “City of Brotherly Love.”

“Unspeakable, even for us,” proclaimed a headline in the Philadelphia Daily News.

Number Five: A Disgraceful End to A Glorious Run. It was the final game ever to be played in Texas Stadium, where so many glories of the past had transpired, where so many great Cowboys players had left their indelible mark. The final game was not against a division rival…or any other bitter rival, like maybe the 49ers or Steelers. It was the Ravens. No history there. Well, now there is. The Baltimore Birds made history. First, halfback Willis Mcgahee tied a Texas Stadium record with a 77-yard touchdown run against the Dallas D (the one Wade Phillips had taken over and “improved” in recent weeks). Then, his teammate, Le’Ron McLain broke the record with an 82 yard run. The Dallas defenders looked like matadors on that play.  I know: this is two plays…but they happened so closely together and constituted a single insult. The light that had shined so gloriously through the hole in the stadium’s roof into the North Texas night for 28 years was unceremoniously doused. If Jerry Jones had walked down to the field and fired the excuse-making, underachieving, overmatched, good ole boy head coach right there on the spot, who could have blamed him? But Jerry needs a man who will surrender enough of his manhood for the owner to retain absolute control. Wade Phillips – the world’s doughiest puppet – is his man. (Pardon the veering and venting. It still smarts.)

Number Four: Romo Fumbles Away Playoff Victory. January 6, 2007, Seattle, Washington. First, let us be clear: Romo the quarterback played well enough to defeat the Seattle Seahawks on their own turf and earn a long-awaited and much-needed playoff victory for his franchise. Romo the kickholder did not. I place as much blame on the shoulders of the world’s biggest Tuna as I do on Romo. Why on earth do you need the starting quarterback, the man who has poured everything he has onto the field of battle, to hold the ball for your kicker? Do you also want him distributing Gatorade during timeouts? Maybe he could work a hot dog stand. At any rate, Romo bobbles the hold. The Cowboys fail to score. The Seahawks make sure they don’t get another shot. The playoff drought continues.

Ouch!

Number Three: The Catch. January 10, 1982, San Francisco. It was a prayer, uttered by a desperation-heaving Joe Montana and answered by a right-place-at-the-right-moment Dwight Clark. With Ed “Too Tall” Jones closing in and looming over Montana’s field of vision, the man who would become arguably the game’s greatest clutch quarterback launched his fabled assault on  NFL post-season lore. The Catch, as the play that sealed the NFC championship victory for the Forty-Niners would come to be known, marked the end of one dynasty and the birth of another. The torch was reluctantly passed.

Frigid

Number Two: Ice, Ice, Baby. December 31, 1967, Lambeau Field, Green Bay. The Ice Bowl is one of the most famous games in NFL history. Game time temperature was -13 degrees Farenheit. The wind chill was -48°. The great game came down to a Packers’ third and goal at the Cowboys’ one yard line. Players could be seen stomping at the ground with their cleats, trying to get traction. The Cowboys clung tenaciously to a tenuous 17-14 lead. They expected a pass. A completion would win the game and an incompletion would stop the clock for one last try. Instead, Quarterback Bart Starr ran a QB sneak right at defensive tackle Jethro Pugh and behind guard Jerry Kramer. Starr scored and the Pack won its third consecutive NFL championship, while the Cowboys were foiled and frustrated once again.

Agony

Number One: Jackie Smith. January 21, 1979, Super Bowl XIII. If you are a Cowboys fan 40 years old or older, it is doubtful that any former player’s name brings more gut-wrenching agony than that of Jackie Smith. Smith was a superb tight end who spent his entire career laboring away on a so-so Cardinals’ team. He was thirty-eight when the Cowboys signed him. With Dallas trailing 21-14, Smith dropped a sure-fire touchdown pass in the end zone. The ball just bounced off his chest. The Cowboys settled for a field goal, making Smith’s play a four-point debacle. The Cowboys ultimately lost by those four points, 35-31. If they had won, it would have meant that they and the Steelers each had three Super Bowl victories in the 70’s, with the Cowboys making five appearances to the Steelers’ four. Instead, the Steelers were proclaimed the team of the decade and the Cowboys’ remarkable achievement of appearing in half of the decade’s Super Bowls was relegated to a “nice” accomplishment.

Every team has its share of disappointments, and the Cowboys are no different. No team wins them all. This is the beauty of competition. The games, the plays, the victories, the defeats…they live on inside us. They fuel our heated debates. They fire our imaginations. They fill us with joy…or pain. They remind us of the human condition. They whet our appetite for more.

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