[THUMPER]

1985 was the last winning season for Coach Landry and his last playoff appearance. In many ways it was the end of an era, the final year of 20 consecutive winning seasons, something no other team has ever done.

The best part of 1985 was drafting Herschel Walker who was still playing in the USFL and wouldn't join the team until the following year but he would be the key to our winning 3 more SBs in the 90s. Unfortunately, he was the only bright spot in the draft for us.

Tony Hill, Doug Cosbie, and Dorsett continued to play well on offense while Randy White, Everson Walls, and Eugene Lockhart were the stars on defense. Walls led the league in INTs for the 3rd time, the only player in NFL history to do so.

The overall talent on the team was dwindling and our depth was poor. Of the last 8 1st round picks, only Jim Jeffcoat was a starter. Our O-Line in particular lacked talented players with Tom Rafferty as the only top quality player. We did move Mark Tuinei from DT to OL this year but he didn't play much at least not yet, but in the future he would become Troy Aikman's protector at LT.

We started off the season by stomping the Redskins on Monday Night 44-14 and hopes were high when after 10 weeks we were sitting at 7-3 and playing well. Then came the wipe out by the Bears, 44-0! We hadn't been shut out since 1970 when the Cardinals beat us 38-0, but that game was a catalyst for us to win out the rest of the season and go to the SB against the Colts.

This time the result was different though as we looked shell-shocked the rest of the way. Even though we bounced back and beat the Eagles and Cards handily, we were obliterated by Cincinnati 50-24 in week 14 and beaten by the stinking 49ERs 31-16 in the final week of the season.

That loss to the Bears was humiliating. I had never seen a Cowboys team look so weak and pathetic, even in the early years. We could do nothing against them. Couldn't run, couldn't pass, and couldn't stop them. For a good team to be manhandled that way was tough to watch. We weren't the only team the Bears crushed that year on their way to the Title, we were just the worst beating.

We won the division on a tie-breaker as yet again there were 3 teams tied for the lead (Dallas, NY, & Washington) but we won the division due to sweeping both of the other teams.

In the playoffs we faced our old nemesis the Rams who once again knocked us out in the first round. Eric Dickerson ran for 248 yards and 2 TDs as they shut us out 20-0. Danny White again threw 3 INTs for the 3rd time in the 80s as we were unable to run the ball effectively. We were only down 3-0 for the first half but then Dickerson ran for a 55-yard TD early in the 3rd quarter and a 40-yarder in the 4th to keep us down.

Rams QB Dieter Brock only completed 6 of 22 passes for 50 yards and 1 INT but they didn't need to pass much with the way Dickerson was killing us and eating up the clock.

It was a tough way to go out yet again.