2021 season countdown thread

[Jake]

51 days to Tampa Bay

Dave Manders, Anthony Dickerson, and Ken Norton immediately come to mind.

I'll go to my grave swearing Manders, not Billy Ray Smith, recovered Duane Thomas' fumble on the Colts 1 yard line SB V. Still can't believe Dallas lost that game, but had they won it they likely don't win SB VI the following season. Craig Morton probably holds the starting QB gig into 1971 and perhaps it is Staubach who is sent packing? It's quite possible losing that game was better in the long run, but I'm still mad about losing it because fan.

Dickerson died in 2019. He was only 61 years old.

Ken Norton, Jr. won 3 consecutive Super Bowls in the 90s. The downside is only the first two came as a member of the Cowboys.

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

I read the title as "2021 season meltdown thread".

 

[Jake]

I read the title as "2021 season meltdown thread".

Those threads will start late in the evening on September 9th, and there will definitely be more than one of them.

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

Those threads will start late in the evening on September 9th, and there will definitely be more than one of them.

YEP!

 

[Hagman]

Dave Manders was signed as a free agent in 1962, but left camp to return to Michigan State for an engineering degree. After working for General Mills for two years, he rethought his choices and called Gil Brandt, who asked him if he still had his speed and could snap the ball. Gil sent him a pair of shoes and a football to get in shape.

He made the team in 1964 as backup center to Mike Connelly, and started the next season. He played in the Pro Bowl in 1966, but blew his knee out in a preseason game the next year and was told that he'd have a limp for the rest of his life and never play football again. He ignored the medical advice and kept working out and won the starting center position in 1970 and was a team captain. He retired in 1975 and has operated a landscaping company around Dallas since then.

He said in the article: "I'm just thrilled to death to play, thrilled to death to have the opportunity, and thrilled to be able to play for the people I played for and with. The people like Tom Landry and Clint Murchison and Tex Schramm, You don't find those kinds of people around any more."

You got that right, Dave. And I wish that there were more players still around like you.
https://www.dallascowboys.com/news/cowboys-alumni-series-catching-up-with-dave-manders-338666

 

[Hagman]

As I kid I absorbed everything and anything about the Cowboys. I remember these quotes from Dave Manders from back in the day, but can't find links to them now.

"Center is a snap"
When asked if he got up before blocking one of the league's best before a game, he said : "Heck no, I'd rather block a dog any day."

 

[Jake]

Anthony Dickerson was undrafted in 1978. He signed with the Toronto Argonauts but was waived in camp. A year later he signed with Calgary but was released 10 games into the season. He spent 1980 first working as a maintenance clerk at the Burbank, CA airport, then moved to Houston to continue his education at U of H. That was when he received a call from the Cowboys, who remembered him from his days at SMU.

His first season as a Cowboy he was their special teams player of the year. He then became a starter at linebacker in 1982 before being traded to the Bills in 1985. The Cowboys had drafted Billy Cannon Jr, expecting him to take over at LB. Obviously, that plan didn't quite work out. 1985 was Dickerson's last NFL season.

 

[maryquality]

50 more days!! D.D. Lewis and Sean Lee are the players that come to mind for me. Currently, there are no players wearing #50.

 

[Bobhaze]

50 more days!! D.D. Lewis and Sean Lee are the players that come to mind for me. Currently, there are no players wearing #50.

D.D. Lewis is another long time underrated Cowboy who had a long productive career. He took over when the great Chuck Howley retired in ‘73 or ‘74. Lewis had 2 interceptions in the ‘75 NFC Championship win over the Rams and played in 3 SBs. He will forever be remembered for almost sacking Joe Montana on the infamous “The Catch” play in the 1981 NFC championship game.

 

[Hagman]

 

[Jake]

50 days to Tampa Bay

The #50 is all about D.D. Lewis and Sean Lee, two of the better LBs to ever wear the star. Both spent their entire NFL careers as Cowboys.

 

[Hagman]

Jerry Tubbs was one of the ,original Dallas Cowboys. He was drafted by the Chicago Cardinals--before they moved to St. Louis and was traded to the 49ers the next year. The Cowboys took him 1960 in the expansion draft, and he started at middle linebacker, starting in the fourth game of 1960, beginning a dynasty of Cowboys middle linebackers that went from him, to Lee Roy Jordan to Bob Breunig. He was one of the first players named to the Pro Bowl for Dallas. He became a player-coach in 1965, and after a year working at a savings and loan was brought back by Landry to back up Jordan. He retired in 1967, and became the Cowboys linebacker coach for 21 years, making him an important part of the Doomsday Defenses that went to five Super Bowls and won two.

He died in 2012 at the age of 77.

So here's to one of the original Cowboys who meant so much to the team for so long.

 

[maryquality]

49 more days!! I couldn't find any decent past players who wore this number. There was Jamize Olawale. A google search turned up 3 names, and they were all TE's. They were Johnny Huggins, Brett Pierce, and Jason Pociask. I also encountered in my search that Tom Landry wore #49 when he played for the Giants. Does that count? LOL
Current player wearing #49 is Artayvious Lynn.

 

[Hagman]

49 more days!! I couldn't find any decent past players who wore this number. There was Jamize Olawale. A google search turned up 3 names, and they were all TE's. They were Johnny Huggins, Brett Pierce, and Jason Pociask. I also encountered in my search that Tom Landry wore #49 when he played for the Giants. Does that count? LOL
Current player wearing #49 is Artayvious Lynn.

Yes, not very many Cowboy immortals have one number 49. So if a player wanted to make this number is on the possibilities are endless.

 

[Jake]

49 days to Tampa Bay

Tom Landry was a lot of things: fighter pilot, father, husband, player, leader, and innovator, among others. He and Staubach are why this Ohio kid grew up a Cowboys fan, (and is suffering through the Jerry years with the rest of you). Landry left college to serve his country in WW2. He eventually did 30 combat missions as a pilot, even surviving the time his plane crashed in Belgium after running out of fuel. We were all lucky he survived. Landry's first and only head coaching gig began with an expansion team in in Dallas in 1960 - without even the benefit of the college draft - and 5 years later he began a run few (if any) can even begin to compare.

His 20 consecutive winning seasons remain the NFL record. The longest current streak is Pete Carroll and Seattle at 9 years. The Cowboys went toe-to-toe with some of the greatest teams of all-time: Lombardi's Packers, Shula's Dolphins, and Noll's Steelers, to name a few. Landry invented the Flex defense, a run-stopping scheme that was a big part of that 20 year run. He brought the Shotgun back to the NFL, now every team playing football uses it most of the time. He also took the first wild card team to the Super Bowl, the year after the only time in that 20-year run that his team had missed the playoffs.

Landry is a legend. If I ever play for the Cowboys you can believe I'm wearing #49.

 

[Hagman]

https://delanceyplace.com/view-arch...n 1942, future hall of,a bomber pilot as well.)

Having led the Mission High School Eagles to a state championship, Tom went on the play for the Longhorns. During the 1942 season, the family got word that his older brother, Robert, had died when his B-17 exploded near Iceland. No remains were ever found and an empty casket containing only Robert's replacement was buried. Tom soon after began his service as a pilot, facing the heavy fighting and crash that Jake described. The pain of that loss was incredible, but you never heard Tom talk about it.

Tom Landry wasn't just a football hero. He was a real hero whose loss and sacrifice needs to be celebrated by all Cowboys fans forevermore.

 

[Motorola]

Oops...I missed yesterday's guys. The best #54's, in my opinion, were Randy White and Chuck Howley!! Currently, we have no #54 as J. Smith changed his number to 9.

I'm glad he did it.

 

[Bobhaze]

49 days to Tampa Bay

Tom Landry was a lot of things: fighter pilot, father, husband, player, leader, and innovator, among others. He and Staubach are why this Ohio kid grew up a Cowboys fan, (and is suffering through the Jerry years with the rest of you). Landry left college to serve his country in WW2. He eventually did 30 combat missions as a pilot, even surviving the time his plane crashed in Belgium after running out of fuel. We were all lucky he survived. Landry's first and only head coaching gig began with an expansion team in in Dallas in 1960 - without even the benefit of the college draft - and 5 years later he began a run few (if any) can even begin to compare.

His 20 consecutive winning seasons remain the NFL record. The longest current streak is Pete Carroll and Seattle at 9 years. The Cowboys went toe-to-toe with some of the greatest teams of all-time: Lombardi's Packers, Shula's Dolphins, and Noll's Steelers, to name a few. Landry invented the Flex defense, a run-stopping scheme that was a big part of that 20 year run. He brought the Shotgun back to the NFL, now every team playing football uses it most of the time. He also took the first wild card team to the Super Bowl, the year after the only time in that 20-year run that his team had missed the playoffs.

Landry is a legend. If I ever play for the Cowboys you can believe I'm wearing #49.

Perfect for 49!

 

[Jake]

Moooooooooooooooooooooooooose!

48 days to Tampa Bay

 

[maryquality]

Love "Moose" Johnston!!!! Best #48 we ever had!! Current player wearing #48 is Jabril Cox.