The final game of the year against the Redskins is still the best football game I ever watched. It was literally winner take all. The team that won the game was going to be NFC East Champions. The loser was missing the playoffs and going home.
Even though we were down 34-21 late in the 4th quarter I just had this feeling that Roger Staubach could win it, and that's exactly what he did. I don't think I ever saw him better than in those final 2 drives. It was unbelievable how calm he was and how the team just rallied around him. Even the defense suddenly just played like their lives depended on it.
In the DVD history of the Cowboys Mark Murphy, the Safety for the Redskins talked about how confident his teammates were that the game was in hand and how he just dreaded Roger having the ball and time on the clock.
Before the game some of the Redskins had a black funeral wreath delivered to the Cowboys locker room. After the game "Beautiful" Harvey Martin took the wreath marched over to the Redskins locker room, opened the door, yelled an insult at the Redskins, and threw the wreath into their locker room. Right in the middle of their team prayer.
We lost in the playoffs to the Rams and in March of that off season Roger Staubach retired. I felt like part of me was dying when he did. What a fantastic leader and QB Roger Staubach was, and more importantly, what a great man.
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