Dallas Cowboys 101...1986 - Dallas Cowboys Forum

Hostile · 07-04-2007

Row 1

1 Rafael Septien, K
4 Mike Saxon, P
10 Reggie Collier, QB
11 Danny White, QB
16 Steve Pelluer, QB
22 Victor Scott, DB
23 Johnny Holloway, CB
26 Michael Downs, S
27 Ron Fellows, CB

Row 2

29 Robert Lavette, RB
30 Timmy Newsome, RB
33 Tony Dorsett, RB
34 Herschel Walker, RB
36 Vince Albritton, S/LB
40 Bill Bates, S
42 Darryl Clack, RB
44 Cornell Gowdy, DB
46 Todd Fowler, FB
50 Jeff Rohrer, LB

Row 3

54 Randy White, DT
55 Steve DeOssie, LB
56 Eugene Lockhart, LB
58 Mike Hegman, LB
59 Jesse Penn, LB
60 Donald Smerek, DE
61 Jim Cooper, T
62 Brian Baldinger, OL
63 Glen Titensor, G
64 Tom Rafferty, G

Row 4

65 Kurt Petersen, G
66 Jesse Baker, DE
67 Nate Newton, OL
68 Crawford Ker, G
70 Howard Richards, T
71 Mark Tuinei, OT/DL
72 Ed Jones, DE
75 Phil Pozderac, T
77 Jim Jeffcoat, DE
78 John Dutton, DT

Row 5

Jerry Fowler, Equipment Assistant
80 Tony Hill, WR
81 Karl Powe, WR
82 Mike Renfro, WR
84 Doug Cosbie, TE
85 Thornton Chandler, TE
86 Mike Sherrard, WR
87 Gordon Banks, WR
89 Brian Salonen, TE/LB
99 Kevin Brooks, DT
Buck Buchanan, Equipment Manager

Row 6

Tom Landry, Head Coach
Jim Myers, Coach
Neill Armstrong, Coach
Al Lavan, Coach
Paul Hackett, Coach
Alan Lowry, Coach
Dick Nolan, Coach
Ernie Stautner, Coach
Jerry Tubbs, Coach
Bob Ward, Coach
Ken Locker, Assistant Trainer
Don Cochren, Trainer

Nate Newton
6 time Pro Bowl...1992-96, 98
2 time All Pro...1994-95

1986 Cowboys Draft

1…Mike Sherrard, WR, UCLA
2…Darryl Clack, RB, Arizona State
3…Mark Walen, DT, UCLA
4…Max Zendejas, K, Arizona
6…Thornton Chandler, TE, Alabama
6…Stan Gelbaugh, QB, Maryland
6…Lloyd Yancey, G, Temple
7…Johnny Holloway, WR, Kansas
8…Topper Clemons, RB, Wake Forest
9…John Ionata, G, Florida State
10…Bryan Chester, G, Texas
11…Garth Jax, LB, Florida State
12…Chris Duliban, LB, Texas
12…Tony Flack, DB, Georgia

1986 Cowboys Schedule
7-9

9/8/86…Won vs. New York Giants, 31-28
9/14/86…Won @ Detroit Lions, 31-7
9/21/86…Lost vs. Atlanta Falcons, 35-37
9/29/86…Won @ St. Louis Cardinals, 31-7
10/5/86…Lost @ Denver Broncos, 14-29
10/12/86…Won vs. Washington Redskins, 30-6
10/19/86…Won @ Philadelphia Eagles, 17-14
10/26/86…Won vs. St. Louis Cardinals, 37-6
11/2/86…Lost @ New York Giants, 14-17
11/9/86…Lost vs. Los Angeles Raiders, 13-17
11/16/86…Won @ San Diego Chargers, 24-21
11/23/86…Lost @ Washington Redskins, 14-41
11/27/86…Lost vs. Seattle Seahawks, 14-31
12/7/86…Lost @ Los Angeles Rams, 10-29
12/14/86…Lost vs. Philadelphia Eagles, 21-23
12/21/86…Lost vs. Chicago Bears, 10-24

3-5 @ Dallas
4-4 on the road

Points scored...346, 21.6 ppg
Points allowed...337, 21.1 ppg

1986 Cowboys Stats

All time franchise record...240-141-6
All time Post Season Record...20-16

lurkercowboy · 07-04-2007

The 1986 season started with excitement for Cowboy fans. The USFL folded,
leaving its biggest stars available to NFL teams. One of the biggest of
those stars was running back Herschel Walker. Walker was a superb college
runner, one of the best in history, and he showed no letup in the USFL,
rushing for an incredible 2411 yards in a single season. Dallas drafted
Walker in 1985 and when he joined the team in the summer of 1986, it
promised to be a blessing for Dallas. Not since Tony Dorsett had such a
superstar became a Cowboy. Walker played little in preseason, but showed
flashes of incredible talent. Dallas went 0-5 in the preseason, including a
game in London against the Bears. In other news, Gary Hogeboom was gone and
Steve Pelluer was the backup QB.

The 1986 opener was against the Giants on Monday night. It was the sixth
year out of the last seven that Dallas had played in the first Monday night
game. Part of the Walker story was the reaction of Dorsett, who was used to
being the lead runner in Dallas. Dorsett left the game with an early injury,
but returned to score on a 36 yard screen pass in the first half. The injury
kept Dorsett out of the second half of a wild back and forth game. With a
little over five minutes to go, Dallas led 24-21 but a Giant WR broke free
on a long pass and scored to give NY the lead 28-24. Danny White took the
field with Walker in the backfield. Walker caught a short pass and dragged
Giant defenders for a 23-yard gain to the fifty yard line. White then hit
Tony Hill on a 35 yard pass and, as time ticked away, Dallas sat at the
Giant 10. White went to the shotgun with a little over a minute left on the
clock. He took the snap and handed off to Walker on a draw play. Walker
charged into the end zone giving Dallas the 31-28 win. It was a thrilling
start to the year.

Dallas next blew out the Lions, getting a little revenge for the previous
years loss. Dorsett ran for 117 yards on the day. Dallas lost a wild
thriller to the Falcons the next week. Atlanta hit on a hail mary type of
pass to get in position to kick the go-ahead FG with only seconds left.
Dallas had time for one more play and White hit Hill with a 60-yard bomb and
Hill raced out of bounds but time had expired. I mean barely expired, and
Dallas could not attempt a chip shot game-winner.

Walker started the next week as Dallas dominated the Cardinals on a Monday
night game. Cardinal coach Gene Stallings, the Dallas DB coach in 1985,
tried to pick on Ron Fellows at the start of the game. But that ploy failed.
White threw 2 touchdown passes to make ten for the short season. He was on
pace to throw 40 for the season and the Cowboy offense was rolling.

The next week against Denver, White and Dorsett were both too injured to
play. Pelluer and Walker started, but the Broncos rolled. Especially after
Randy White left the game with an injury. Landry said his team played with
"no intensity," which was a bad thing. Pelluer threw two interceptions, one
at the Denver two yard line.

The next week against the Redskins, Dorsett returned but was not very
effective. It didn't matter as Pelluer played much better and the defense
throttled the Skins. Rookie WR Mike Sherrard made a great play to wrestle
the ball away from Darrell Green on a 27-yard TD pass. Walker dominated as
well, coming back from a poor performance in Denver. Pelluer connected with
Walker on a memorable 69 yard pass in the first half.

Dallas won a nail-biter against Buddy Ryan's Eagles the next week. Pelluer
started but White came on the game-winning possession to lead Dallas down
into FG range. White played the first half of the rematch with the Cardinals
the next week and left the game with Dallas ahead 27-6. Pelluer mopped up
and Dallas went on to win with another strong game from Walker.

So went the first half of the 1986 season.

The Giants and Cowboys had identical 6-2 records at the halfway point of 1986, but Dallas had won the first meeting between the division rivals and this midseason clash was an important game for both teams. It was a typical NFC East brawl from the start. Dallas took a big hit early in the game. Danny White, who had played excellent football despite missing considerable playing time in the first eight games, suffered a broken wrist in the first quarter following a Carl Banks sack. White would not return until the next season. Enter Pelluer, who had played fairly well as a spot starter and relief QB so far.

The Dallas defense held Simms to under 50 yards passing on the day and created six turnovers, but Joe Morris ran all over the Cowboys and scored the only Giants touchdowns of the day. Dallas had six turnovers of their own, but Pelluer passed for well over 300 yards and the score was close throughout the game. As time ran down, the Giants led 17-14 and Dallas had one last possession from around midfield. Pelluer connected with Dorsett on a pass down to the Giant six-yard line. But wait! There was a flag on the play and the refs called “holding, number 75, offense.” No problem, Pelluer tossed a screen pass to Timmy Newsome who ran to the Giant ten-yard line. Easy field goal at least and maybe more right? But wait! There was a flag, a motion penalty on #75. Landry later said it was a bad call, but the unlucky #75 Phil Pozderec, could not catch a break. All in all, there were five Dallas penalties on this snake bit last possession. Then Pozderec gave up a sack and Dallas was forced to attempt a 63-yard FG in a desperate attempt to tie the game. It failed and Dallas lost this hard-fought game.

With Pelluer now the full-time starter, Dallas still had a good record and a chance to make some noise on the season. But White, always an under-rated player, was having an outstanding season and the inexperienced Pelluer would never measure up. The next game against the Raiders, Pelluer threw five interceptions. Dallas also had two touchdowns called back by penalties, plus Walker fumbled on the Raider one-yard line. It was a frustrating sloppy error-filled game and Dallas wasted several chances to put the Raiders away.

The next week against San Diego, the mobile Pelluer was sacked a dozen times and Dallas fell behind 21-10 in the fourth quarter. Aging Charger stars Dan Fouts and Kellen Winslow hooked up for two touchdowns to give San Diego, then 2-8 on the year, a solid lead. But Michael Downs blocked a Charger punt to set up a short Walker TD and Pelluer led a quick drive and ran the ball in himself for the winning points. It was far from a pretty win, but Dallas was now at 7-4 and hanging in the playoff race heading in to another matchup with Washington.

The Washington Redskins have been a measuring stick for the Dallas Cowboys on numerous occasions over the decades, and 1986 was no exception. The Redskins were 9-2 and this was pretty much a must-win for the 7-4 Cowboys if they had a realistic chance to defend the division crown. However, Dallas did not play like a contender. They played like a team over matched and out of its league. The opening kickoff set the tone. Daryl Clack fumbled the ball and Washington recovered and quickly scored a touchdown. They kept scoring at a rapid clip for the rest of the afternoon. Dexter Manley abused an unknown Dallas tackle named Mark Tuinei for two sacks and multiple pressures. The Cowboys looked like a shell-shocked group. After the 41-14 wipeout, the Redskins crowed to the media that it was the biggest blowout in the series history, apparently they forgot their own 44-14 defeat the previous year in Dallas. Walker and Dorsett combined for less than 20 yards rushing.

This loss set the tone for the rest of the year. Dallas scored an early touchdown and then sleepwalked through the first half of the annual Thanksgiving Day game, spotting the Seahawks a 24-7 lead and eventually losing 34-14. Next week against the Rams, Pelluer threw an early pick that was returned for a score and Dallas lost 29-10. Another uninspired performance and Coach Landry left the game because of a death threat. By then, the Cowboys were only mathematically alive for the playoffs and Landry cited the many injuries as the main reason.

Dallas, once 6-2, now had a 7-7 record and faced the 4-9-1 Eagles at home. Walker came alive in this game, gaining 292 yards of total offense and breaking two spectacular long yardage touchdowns, a run and a pass each covering 84 yards. It was not enough however, as the Dallas defense could not stop Matt Cavanaugh and the Eagles. (Matt Cavanaugh?) Dallas had two possessions following the final Eagle score but could not move the ball. This 23-21 loss put Dallas at 7-8, officially ending the twenty-year streak of winning records.

In the final game against Chicago, Landry decided to start Reggie Collier at QB. Collier was a former USFL player and once a highly touted prospect. The defending Super Bowl champion Bears were again a powerhouse in 1986 and came into the game with a 13-2 record led by a dominating defense. They had their own injuries at QB and started Doug Flutie in his first game as an NFL starter. Needless to say, the Bears handled the punchless Cowboys easily and the final score was 24-10, made closer by a last second Pelluer TD pass.

Overall, there was little good to take from the 1986 season. It was a story of two halves, the first half of the year Dallas played well. It was no coincidence that when Danny White went down with injury, the entire team suffered. Pelluer was not ready to assume the full-time starting role and struggled when thrust into the position. Walker and Dorsett had some good moments, but neither one flourished sharing the running duties. Tony Hill declined rapidly in 1986, Mike Sherrard looked like the WR of the future and flashed signs of great talent. The offensive line was in shambles, ravaged by injuries so much that the Cowboys had to sign a Redskin castoff named Nate Newton. The defense lacked playmakers as the aging vets grew even older and faded down the stretch. The best hope for Dallas was the presence of Walker and Sherrard, and the chance that Pelluer would improve in his fourth year.

bbgun · 07-04-2007

I still have that St. Louis MNF game on VHS. It was basically Sherrard's coming out party. Sadly, it would not be a sign of good things to come. Fans who thought we tanked down the stretch in 2006 should take a hard look at 1986; talk about a total collapse. Even if we pulled the Giants game out, I don't think that would have changed things much with a raw Pelluer at the helm. For instance, that Raider game was very winnable, but his inexperience doomed us. No Pro Bowlers that year either, as the slide toward mediocrity picked up pace.