Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down – Best and Worst Dallas Cowboys Regular Season Games
By Jack Daddy
We’re back with another Dallas Cowboys Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down. The best/worst 1st round draft picks got such a heated debate going that I thought I would hit the well again. This time it’s the 10 best regular season wins (I couldn’t limit to just 5) and the 5 worst regular season losses. Again, I’ve limited to the JJ era - it’s just not fun debating the really old stuff, particularly as many of you were too young to remember.
Thumbs Up
1. 16-13, @ New York Giants, January 2, 1994. This was the Emmitt Smith shoulder separation game and the stakes were the division title and home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Still the only time that John Madden left the booth after a game to congratulate a player on his performance.
2. 25-13, @ Philadelphia, December 15, 1991. This game clinched the first playoff berth in the JJ era. The team played without Aikman, who was injured and Steve Beuerlein only completed 9 passes and Kelvin Martin had a HUGE 85 yard punt return TD. This FINALLY got the Eagles monkey off the team’s back.
3. 35-32, @ New York Giants, September 15, 2003. This was the first win of the Bill Parcells era, and a big one at that. While I hated the New Jersey con-man and his stubborn ways (it’s like he chooses character over talent just to prove he can win that way – here’s a thought, find players with both!), this win was huge for turning the team around. The finish was spectacular, from the out-of-bounds NYG kickoff, to the huge sideline grab by Antonio Bryant and finally the field goal to put the game into OT in the last seconds.
4. 24-21, @ Washington, November 24, 1991. The Redskins were undefeated going into this week 12 match up. The Cowboys were coming off back-to-back losses to drop them to 6-5 and desperately needed to win to keep their playoff hopes alive (they didn’t lose again until the second round of the playoffs). Aikman was injured in the second quarter and once again Beuerlein was at the helm for the victory. Jimmy Johnson took multiple gambles and famously remarked after the game that when you go to fight a bear, “you don’t just poke em, you hit em with everything you got”. This win served notice to the league (and more importantly, the Cowboys themselves) that they had arrived.
5. 25-24, @ Buffalo, October 8, 2007. This was the crazy game in which Romo turned the ball over 6 times, only to lead the team to 9 points in the final 20 seconds, capped off by the game winning field goal as time expired. This further built the “jedi” reputation of Romo, as fans and experts focused on his comeback efforts. In hindsight, maybe it should have been an early warning signal to his careless ways with the ball. We’ll know more in a few months, right?
6. 42-31, Green Bay, November 24, 1994. I don’t have much to say about this game, because I missed the entire thing while having Thanksgiving dinner with a friend’s family in New York (who doesn’t plan their meal around the game?). Also, I choose not to think about much related to this season, as it still galls me that we blew the NFC Championship game to SF later that year. Besides, hasn’t enough about the game and the “Red Baron” already been written?
7. 37-27, Green Bay, November 29, 2007. Now, this on the other hand, I do have much to say about. Primarily because (a) I was at the game, (b) it was the first time that I had ever tail-gated at a game (better than the game itself), (c) for all intents and purposes it was for home field in the NFC playoffs and matched 2 one-loss teams, (d) the game was awesome and (e) it was a Thursday night game and the crowd was crazy (from both sides – there must have been 20,000 Packer fans there). It had all the elements of a classic. If the Cowboys hadn’t wasted the season, this could easily have landed in the top 2. As it is, the team peaked in this game and has been on a downhill spiral ever since.
8. 23-10, Washington, September 7, 1992. This game was huge because the Redskins were coming off their Super Bowl Championship, the Cowboys had beat them the last time they played (see #4), it was the season opener on Monday Night Football, and it was to be a measuring stick regarding which team was going to be the team to beat in the NFC East that year. The special teams were huge as Ike Holt blocked a punt for a safety early and Kelvin Martin iced it late with a 79 yard TD punt return (I didn’t appreciate until now that Kmart had 2 returns in the 8 biggest wins in Cowboys regular season, since 1989, according to me!).
9. 23-10, @ Philadelphia, October 31, 1993. Remember this Halloween treat played in a torrential rainstorm? As all Cowboys fans know, Troy couldn’t handle a wet ball (that’s what she said) and so the team’s fate was in Emmitt’s hands. Thankfully, he had the biggest rushing day in team history, going for 237 yards including a 62 yard TD to ice the game late.
10. 41-10, Phoenix, December 16, 1990. Why this game? Again, I was at it, so I can verify the electricity in the crowd, which was probably the highest it had been since the early 80s. More importantly, this was the win that finally got the Cowboys to .500 in a season under Jimmy (at 7-7 after starting out 3-7), Emmitt scored 4 spectacular touchdowns (you’ve heard the Dale Hansen audio on one of them, where he seemingly climaxed in his announcer pants). It also put them in the Wild Card hunt. Now, they fell short due to the shoulder separation that Troy suffered the next week against Philly, but it was after this game that the fans really started to believe and have hope again and that The Triplets were born.
Thumbs Down.
1. 6-44, @Philadelphia, December 28, 2008. Couldn’t this list really start and end with this debacle? All they had to do was win to make the playoffs and they gave us this disgraceful showing.
2. 14-16, Miami, November 25, 1993. Leon Lett, Thanksgiving Day, Ice Game. You know the details. The bright side, we didn’t lose again that year, all the way through the Super Bowl.
3. 17-42, New Orleans, December 10, 2006. The team rolled into this game having won 5 of 6, with the only loss being that crazy game at Washington, where the Skins blocked our game winning field goal and immediately nailed their own as time expired (which game just barely missed this list). Optimism was building in what appeared to be a wide open NFC and this game just took the wind out of the team’s and the city’s sails. They just kicked the ever-living hell out of us.
4. 24-33, Baltimore, December 20, 2008. Again, they could have clinched a playoff berth with a win. Instead they ushered out Texas Stadium with the two longest touchdown runs by an opponent on back-to-back drives to end the game. For all intents and purposes, this ended the season. Let’s hope in a few years we don’t point to this game as ending this short little era.
5. Tie: 7-31, @ Philadelphia, October 5, 1992 and 17-20, @ Philadelphia, December 10, 1995. Both these games were crushing defeats at the time.The bright side was that we won the Super Bowl both years, avenging each loss with a playoff victory over the Iggles.
We’re back with another Dallas Cowboys Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down. The best/worst 1st round draft picks got such a heated debate going that I thought I would hit the well again. This time it’s the 10 best regular season wins (I couldn’t limit to just 5) and the 5 worst regular season losses. Again, I’ve limited to the JJ era - it’s just not fun debating the really old stuff, particularly as many of you were too young to remember.
Thumbs Up
1. 16-13, @ New York Giants, January 2, 1994. This was the Emmitt Smith shoulder separation game and the stakes were the division title and home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Still the only time that John Madden left the booth after a game to congratulate a player on his performance.
2. 25-13, @ Philadelphia, December 15, 1991. This game clinched the first playoff berth in the JJ era. The team played without Aikman, who was injured and Steve Beuerlein only completed 9 passes and Kelvin Martin had a HUGE 85 yard punt return TD. This FINALLY got the Eagles monkey off the team’s back.
3. 35-32, @ New York Giants, September 15, 2003. This was the first win of the Bill Parcells era, and a big one at that. While I hated the New Jersey con-man and his stubborn ways (it’s like he chooses character over talent just to prove he can win that way – here’s a thought, find players with both!), this win was huge for turning the team around. The finish was spectacular, from the out-of-bounds NYG kickoff, to the huge sideline grab by Antonio Bryant and finally the field goal to put the game into OT in the last seconds.
4. 24-21, @ Washington, November 24, 1991. The Redskins were undefeated going into this week 12 match up. The Cowboys were coming off back-to-back losses to drop them to 6-5 and desperately needed to win to keep their playoff hopes alive (they didn’t lose again until the second round of the playoffs). Aikman was injured in the second quarter and once again Beuerlein was at the helm for the victory. Jimmy Johnson took multiple gambles and famously remarked after the game that when you go to fight a bear, “you don’t just poke em, you hit em with everything you got”. This win served notice to the league (and more importantly, the Cowboys themselves) that they had arrived.
5. 25-24, @ Buffalo, October 8, 2007. This was the crazy game in which Romo turned the ball over 6 times, only to lead the team to 9 points in the final 20 seconds, capped off by the game winning field goal as time expired. This further built the “jedi” reputation of Romo, as fans and experts focused on his comeback efforts. In hindsight, maybe it should have been an early warning signal to his careless ways with the ball. We’ll know more in a few months, right?
6. 42-31, Green Bay, November 24, 1994. I don’t have much to say about this game, because I missed the entire thing while having Thanksgiving dinner with a friend’s family in New York (who doesn’t plan their meal around the game?). Also, I choose not to think about much related to this season, as it still galls me that we blew the NFC Championship game to SF later that year. Besides, hasn’t enough about the game and the “Red Baron” already been written?
7. 37-27, Green Bay, November 29, 2007. Now, this on the other hand, I do have much to say about. Primarily because (a) I was at the game, (b) it was the first time that I had ever tail-gated at a game (better than the game itself), (c) for all intents and purposes it was for home field in the NFC playoffs and matched 2 one-loss teams, (d) the game was awesome and (e) it was a Thursday night game and the crowd was crazy (from both sides – there must have been 20,000 Packer fans there). It had all the elements of a classic. If the Cowboys hadn’t wasted the season, this could easily have landed in the top 2. As it is, the team peaked in this game and has been on a downhill spiral ever since.
8. 23-10, Washington, September 7, 1992. This game was huge because the Redskins were coming off their Super Bowl Championship, the Cowboys had beat them the last time they played (see #4), it was the season opener on Monday Night Football, and it was to be a measuring stick regarding which team was going to be the team to beat in the NFC East that year. The special teams were huge as Ike Holt blocked a punt for a safety early and Kelvin Martin iced it late with a 79 yard TD punt return (I didn’t appreciate until now that Kmart had 2 returns in the 8 biggest wins in Cowboys regular season, since 1989, according to me!).
9. 23-10, @ Philadelphia, October 31, 1993. Remember this Halloween treat played in a torrential rainstorm? As all Cowboys fans know, Troy couldn’t handle a wet ball (that’s what she said) and so the team’s fate was in Emmitt’s hands. Thankfully, he had the biggest rushing day in team history, going for 237 yards including a 62 yard TD to ice the game late.
10. 41-10, Phoenix, December 16, 1990. Why this game? Again, I was at it, so I can verify the electricity in the crowd, which was probably the highest it had been since the early 80s. More importantly, this was the win that finally got the Cowboys to .500 in a season under Jimmy (at 7-7 after starting out 3-7), Emmitt scored 4 spectacular touchdowns (you’ve heard the Dale Hansen audio on one of them, where he seemingly climaxed in his announcer pants). It also put them in the Wild Card hunt. Now, they fell short due to the shoulder separation that Troy suffered the next week against Philly, but it was after this game that the fans really started to believe and have hope again and that The Triplets were born.
Thumbs Down.
1. 6-44, @Philadelphia, December 28, 2008. Couldn’t this list really start and end with this debacle? All they had to do was win to make the playoffs and they gave us this disgraceful showing.
2. 14-16, Miami, November 25, 1993. Leon Lett, Thanksgiving Day, Ice Game. You know the details. The bright side, we didn’t lose again that year, all the way through the Super Bowl.
3. 17-42, New Orleans, December 10, 2006. The team rolled into this game having won 5 of 6, with the only loss being that crazy game at Washington, where the Skins blocked our game winning field goal and immediately nailed their own as time expired (which game just barely missed this list). Optimism was building in what appeared to be a wide open NFC and this game just took the wind out of the team’s and the city’s sails. They just kicked the ever-living hell out of us.
4. 24-33, Baltimore, December 20, 2008. Again, they could have clinched a playoff berth with a win. Instead they ushered out Texas Stadium with the two longest touchdown runs by an opponent on back-to-back drives to end the game. For all intents and purposes, this ended the season. Let’s hope in a few years we don’t point to this game as ending this short little era.
5. Tie: 7-31, @ Philadelphia, October 5, 1992 and 17-20, @ Philadelphia, December 10, 1995. Both these games were crushing defeats at the time.The bright side was that we won the Super Bowl both years, avenging each loss with a playoff victory over the Iggles.
posted by The Gryphon at 7:05 PM
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