71 Cowboys 8th best ever NFL team

[KINGBRICE_28]

I almost went nutz there......I thought they were saying the 71 Cowboys were #8 ever overall........I guess they meant for thier time.......geeez....

The cowboys last year would beat the 71's no sweat......different time......

 

[Mavs Man]

When I got to the so-called fifth-best NFL team of all-time, the list lost all credibility with me.

Next.

 

[Cbz40]

The 1993 Dallas Cowboys were the best team ever, and that's simply the end of any discussion. For them not to be on this list is an outrage, they would easily beat everyone on that list but the 89 49ers and the 1985 Bears.

The Bears vaunted defense never faced an offense like that team had, though.

I would have to agree with that.......in my opinion one the best, if not the best, teams ever assembled.

The 71 Cowboys will always be my favorite......simply because they won trophy #1.

 

[Juke99]

The 71 team had more great players then any other Cowboy team. Simple as that. More HOF, and should be in the HOF then any other Cowboy team.
And they had incredible depth as well.
.

On the nosey.

 

[dwmyers]

The 71 team had more great players then any other Cowboy team. Simple as that. More HOF, and should be in the HOF then any other Cowboy team.
And they had incredible depth as well.
By the way: Babe Ruth was quite a GOOD fielder- better then Bonds ever was. He was also on his way to being a HOF pitcher as well, he held one world series record for something like 70 years. Add to the fact that his batting average is much higher then Bonds, and also never used steroids, and Bonds can't carry his cleats.

The batting average argument is, I think, the weakest of the comparisons. Defensive skill has risen a lot over the years and the stadiums grew larger and roomier as well. Night baseball. Relief pitchers. I think Bill James once projected Babe into the era of the 1990s and his projection had him with an average (this from memory, mind you) around .260 to .280, but with much the same unreal power numbers of his time.

It also has to be mentioned that the young Babe wasn't exactly pear shaped either, any more than the young Barry was this elephant walking around the bases.

David.

 

[dwmyers]

You know, I think we're way too hard on the 7x Dolphins. They made the Super Bowl in 71, they were the class of the league in 72 and 73 and in 74 it was quite an upset when Oakland beat them in the playoffs on a play made very late in the game. They had a terrific receiver in Paul Warfield, they had excellent running backs and a solid ground game, and their defenses were often innovative, if unheralded (the "No Name defense", and the 53 defense date to this period).

 

[riggo]

Notes: Washington in 1991 gets docked because they played against a league in transition. Parcells had left New York, Randall Cunningham was out for the season, Dallas was still building, San Fran was changing QB's, Atlanta was the best team in the West, the great Saints, Bears, and Rams teams of the 80's were in decline, and Detroit had a journeyman QB behind Barry Sanders.

Washington had the easiest ticket to the Superbowl I've ever seen (with the exception of the 1972 Dolphins who had they lost even a single game might not have even made that list). Atlanta and Detroit at home. The 1992-1993 Cowboys would whip that 91 Washington team 8 times out of 10. I saw both teams up close and in person and there's no doubt in my mind.

eh? forget beating the 91 skins- the 92 cowboys lost to a 9-7 skins team in game 2.

the 92 boys were ranked 2nd in O, 5th in D. the 91 skins were ranked 1 and 2 in O and D respectively.

the 91 skins went 14-2. the 92 boys went 13-3. still, gibbs pulled his starters in the third quarter of the last game of the season with the team at 14-1. it ended as a 24-22 loss to philly.

the 91 skins D ranked 13th all time in points allowed in a season. the 92 boys are somewhere below that.

as far as an easy road to the super bowl, the skins had the 4th toughest strength of schedule in 91. in 92, only 4 teams had an easier SOS than the boys. in 91, the skins beat the lions 42-10 in playoff game #2 - one week after the lions beat the boys. its an odd thing to criticize the skins for having two home games to reach the super bowl- they earned them with their 14-2 record, after all. had the boys had a better record, they would have had two home games as well.

one could argue that in 92 there was alot of transition, with handley and gibbs both in their last seasons with the giants and skins. phil simms didnt play much in 91- same with 92. the whole division was better in 91 than it was in 92, making the skins 14-2 record even more impressive.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/s/epstein/greatestteams.html

using a power index and factoring in strength of schedule, epstein actually ranks the 71 cowboys - who didnt make your top 10- as the fourth best team all time while the 92 skins rank 8th.

 

[JackMagist]

The 1993 Dallas Cowboys were the best team ever, and that's simply the end of any discussion. For them not to be on this list is an outrage, they would easily beat everyone on that list but the 89 49ers and the 1985 Bears.

The Bears vaunted defense never faced an offense like that team had, though.

I have to agree. The 93 / 94 Cowboys could have taken any team on that list and spanked them like naughty schoolgirls. This is really hard for me to say with the 71 Cowboys on the list; they were one of my all time favorite teams and the last team to beat the Dolphins before their 17-0 Superbowl run.

 

[Established1971]

Ok the '71 Cowboys are the number 8 team overall....but since I am way to young to know for sure...arent' the 94 cowboys even better?

http://www.tenmojo.com/sports/football/football_nfl_best_teams_all_time.htm

94 Cowboys didnt make the super bowl, so which do you mean the 93 Boys, the 2nd win over Buffalo or 95 Boys who beat the Steelers? Either way, absolutley not. The 71 team though they got off to a mediocre start went on a serious tear, demolishing teams in a 7 game (10 if you count posteason) win streak. Look up the scores. Then they held the Dolphins to under a TD, still the only team in SB history to not give up a touchdown. They won 24-3 and it would have been 31-3 had Calvin Hill not fumbled on the 1 yeard line.

 

[ravidubey]

eh? forget beating the 91 skins- the 92 cowboys lost to a 9-7 skins team in game 2.

the 92 boys were ranked 2nd in O, 5th in D. the 91 skins were ranked 1 and 2 in O and D respectively.

the 91 skins went 14-2. the 92 boys went 13-3. still, gibbs pulled his starters in the third quarter of the last game of the season with the team at 14-1. it ended as a 24-22 loss to philly.

the 91 skins D ranked 13th all time in points allowed in a season. the 92 boys are somewhere below that.

as far as an easy road to the super bowl, the skins had the 4th toughest strength of schedule in 91. in 92, only 4 teams had an easier SOS than the boys. in 91, the skins beat the lions 42-10 in playoff game #2 - one week after the lions beat the boys. its an odd thing to criticize the skins for having two home games to reach the super bowl- they earned them with their 14-2 record, after all. had the boys had a better record, they would have had two home games as well.

one could argue that in 92 there was alot of transition, with handley and gibbs both in their last seasons with the giants and skins. phil simms didnt play much in 91- same with 92. the whole division was better in 91 than it was in 92, making the skins 14-2 record even more impressive.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/s/epstein/greatestteams.html

using a power index and factoring in strength of schedule, epstein actually ranks the 71 cowboys - who didnt make your top 10- as the fourth best team all time while the 92 skins rank 8th.

Power indices and strength of schedule are stats that can be manipulated any way one wants.

It's all about relative strength, there is no question that the league around Washington was weaker in 1991. That 1992 Dallas team went through the Randall Cunningham-Reggie White Eagles, the Steve Young-Jerry Rice 49ers in San Fran, and whipped the Bills 52-17 to win the Superbowl.

Still, all said I still rank Washington's 1991 team on my own personal top ten list. It was brilliantly coached, maybe the best-coached team of all time. There were stars as well in Green, Lachey, Marshall, and the Posse, but that season was all on Joe Gibbs and Richie Petitbon's ability to prepare a team, call plays, send substitutions at the right time, and make adjustments at halftime. Beathard's swansong trades for Riggs and Byner-- two solid but unspectacular players -- and Plan B acquisitions of Buck, Geathers, Johnson, Edwards, and Copeland (castoffs from other teams) put Washington over the top under Gibbs and Petitbon because these coaches used them all just right.

Anyone who actually saw the Cowboys teams of the 1990's realizes how extraordinary they were in spite of the competition they faced. They were loaded with raw talent, were also well-coached, and had a great QB.