90's Cowboys vs 70's Steelers Computer Generated on NFLN Now

[wxcpo]

Check out the website whatifsports.com You can select any Football team to play any other team from another era.

Because of this thread, I picked the 92 Boys against the 78 Steelers. The Boys won 17-3 at Pittsburgh with Ike Holt picking off a Bradshaw pass for a TD and Irvin catching a 5 yarder from Aikman.

You can also choose whose other stadiums, weather conditions, etc.

I ran the same game and had the Cowboys winning 29-0. Emmitt ran for 186 yards and 2 TDs and Kelvin Martin caught 2 TD passes from Aikman.

 

[calico]

I remember watching this years ago and laughing my *** off.

There is not enough steroids in the galaxy that the Steelers could take to hang with the 90s Cowboys.

 

[mmillman]

players have more sophisticated training regimens, but don't kid yourself
HGH and steroids have contributed to the size differential more than anything.

 

[adamknite]

It really is a joke...

The early 90's Cowboys would destroy the 70's era Steelers. The Steelers weren't big enough or fast enough...

I agree completely. It's a shame that this Cowboys biased would blind people from the blatantly obvious.

 

[flashback]

Can you imagine Charles Haley rushing against a guy who didn't outweigh him by 50+ lbs? And Tolbert played at about 290, right? I don't think a 6'2", 260 lb guy would even slow him down. Webster would be playing great if he forced Leon Lett to jump over him every play to get in the backfield. At least he was in the way...

I don't blame the guys who put together the video. It sure seems like they reverse engineered the game from the desired result. But these are teams from 2 different eras. How entertaining would it be to see the Cowboys run 90 plays for 600 yards of offense, and the Steelers run 18 plays for -60 yards? Not very.

 

[kingwhicker]

Can you imagine Charles Haley rushing against a guy who didn't outweigh him by 50+ lbs? And Tolbert played at about 290, right? I don't think a 6'2", 260 lb guy would even slow him down. Webster would be playing great if he forced Leon Lett to jump over him every play to get in the backfield. At least he was in the way...

I don't blame the guys who put together the video. It sure seems like they reverse engineered the game from the desired result. But these are teams from 2 different eras. How entertaining would it be to see the Cowboys run 90 plays for 600 yards of offense, and the Steelers run 18 plays for -60 yards? Not very.

And that is pretty much exactly the way that game would play out. I'm telling you, there is NO WAY the 70s Stealers would even score. But it wouldn't only be the 90s Cowboys that would crush them- basically any team from around 83 on up would make them bite them pillow. The Hogs and the Giants would've torn them apart, the 49ers would have passed them into unconsciousness, and the `85 Bears would have sodomized them. Now, some of the more recent teams might be closer- I think the 78 Stealers could maybe hang with the `05 Stealers.

 

[Rackat]

I went to whatifsports.com. Ran 10 simulations of the 92 Boys versus the 78 Steelers. Settings:

Dallas - Away
Pitts. - Home
N.O. Superdome
70 degrees

Dallas won 9 out of 10.
16-13
23-17
16-7
26-7
20-3
6-21
35-14
28-10
31-0
21-14

 

[THUMPER]

It is foolish to try to compare teams from one era with another in the context of how well they would play against each other. The only way to accurately measure (as far as is possible) teams/players from different era is by how well they did against their competition.

A few players could probably play in any era and do well but they most likely wouldn't have the same level of dominance that they had back in the day. Also, the game has changed over the year, in some cases dramatically, so that a guy like Deacon Jones who dominated in the 60s would not be allowed to use many of the techniques that helped him get by opposing OLs (head slap, etc.).

Jim Brown would probably be a very good RB in today's game but he wouldn't dominate like he did in the late 50s & early 60s. With modern training techniques he would be faster and stronger than he was back then but he would not have the size advantage that he had in his era. He played at @ 228 lbs but most DLs were @245-250 and most LBs were @215-230. Going up against DLs who range from 270-330 and LBs who run from 235-255 he would no longer be close to their size and wouldn't be as dominant.

The 1978 Stealers were a great team who dominated their competition and should be judged on that not on how they would play against a team from another era, it just doesn't work. The Stealers were the biggest and baddest team of their era and used that combination of size & strength to full advantage. The 70s Cowboys were just as talented but relied more on skills and innovation than on raw size and strength.

The Stealers advantage in size that they enjoyed in the 70s would be completely nullified going up against the 92 Cowboys. Joe Green was one big, tough guy at 264 lbs (what he was listed at in 1978) but he would be manhandled by the likes of 300+ lb Nate Newton. That's simply too much bulk to give up no matter how good you are and Nate was no fat slouch, he was a massive, talented, and incredibly strong player who dominated the best DT of his day. Can you imagine 250 lb LC Greenwood facing Erik Williams? Williams dominated 290 lb Reggie White so how would Greenwood do against him?

It just doesn't work to compare different era teams against each other head to head.

That said, I do believe that the 1992/93 Cowboys would beat any and every team that has ever existed. They were the culmination of football and had an incredible combination of talent, coaching, size, strength, speed, endurance, and most importantly, depth. Once FA and the Salary Cap came into effect it destroyed a team's ability to build and retain a team with that amount of talented players.

As good as the Patriots have been they would be no match for those Cowboys (or the 49ERs & Bills of those years for that matter) and they are the best the 2000s have to offer.

There may come a time when the game catches up to the early 90s again but it isn't in the foreseeable future IMO.

 

[Carl23]

Using Whatifsports... the 91 Commanders matched up well against us. Almost a 50/50 split when playing at RFK...

 

[kingwhicker]

1992 Dallas Cowboys at 1978 Pittsburgh Steelers
Three Rivers Stadium
Final - 2/14/2007 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total
1992 Dallas Cowboys 3 14 0 13 30
1978 Pittsburgh Steelers 0 0 3 0 3

Scoring Summary
1st Quarter
DAL 9:54 FG Lin Elliott 43 yds. 3-0

2nd Quarter
DAL 6:44 TD Jay Novacek 10 yd. pass from Aikman (Elliott kick) 10-0
DAL 1:20 TD Emmitt Smith 3 yd. pass from Aikman (Elliott kick) 17-0

3rd Quarter
PIT 5:17 FG Roy Gerela 37 yds. 17-3

4th Quarter
DAL 12:29 TD Emmitt Smith 55 yd. run (Elliott kick) 24-3
DAL 10:18 FG Lin Elliott 35 yds. 27-3
DAL 0:30 FG Lin Elliott 40 yds. 30-3

Team Statistics
1992 Dallas Cowboys 1978 Pittsburgh Steelers
First Downs 15 12
- Rushing 7 4
- Passing 7 7
- Penalty 1 1
3rd Down *** 6/16 3/16
4th Down *** 0/0 0/2
Rushes-Yards 42-175 32-93
Avg Rush 4.2 2.9
Comp-Att-Int 13-24-2 9-31-1
Passing Yards 109 83
Sacks-Yards 0-0 3-15
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-1
Punts-Avg 7-39.4 7-40.0
KR-Avg 2-20.0 7-21.7
PR-Avg 7-11.7 7-11.0
Penalties-Yard 3-15 4-20
Time of Possession 33:46 26:14


1992 Dallas Cowboys Individual Stats
Rushing
Att Yds 20+ L TD
'92 Emmitt Smith 27 141 1 55 1
'92 Daryl Johnston 3 28 0 17 0
'92 Curvin Richards 8 7 0 8 0
'92 Troy Aikman 2 2 0 3 0
'92 Tommie Agee 2 -3 0 -1 0

1978 Pittsburgh Steelers Individual Stats
Rushing
Att Yds 20+ L TD
'78 Franco Harris 19 62 0 10 0
'78 Rocky Bleier 11 30 1 20 0
'78 Terry Bradshaw 1 4 0 4 0
'78 Sidney Thornton 1 -3 0 -3 0

Receiving
Rec Yds 20+ 40+ L TD
'92 Jay Novacek 4 35 0 0 10 1
'92 Michael Irvin 3 31 0 0 16 0
'92 Emmitt Smith 3 19 0 0 11 1
'92 Alvin Harper 1 13 0 0 13 0
'92 Daryl Johnston 1 9 0 0 9 0
'92 Kelvin Martin 1 2 0 0 2 0

Receiving
Rec Yds 20+ 40+ L TD
'78 Randy Grossman 2 28 1 0 23 0
'78 Lynn Swann 2 22 0 0 11 0
'78 John Stallworth 1 15 0 0 15 0
'78 Franco Harris 2 15 0 0 10 0
'78 Jim Smith Jr. 1 11 0 0 11 0
'78 Rocky Bleier 1 7 0 0 7 0

Passing
Comp. Att. Yards TD INT
'92 Troy Aikman 13 24 109 2 2

Passing
Comp. Att. Yards TD INT
'78 Terry Bradshaw 8 28 87 0 1
'78 Mike Kruczek 1 3 11 0 0

Defensive
Tackles Sacks INT
'92 Darren Woodson 5 0 0
'92 Robert Williams 5 0 0
'92 Russell Maryland 4 1 0
'92 Leon Lett 3 0 0
'92 Jimmie Jones 3 0 0
'92 Jim Jeffcoat 3 1 0
'92 Tony Tolbert 2 1 0
'92 Robert Jones 2 0 0
'92 Charles Haley 2 0 0
'92 Thomas Everett 2 0 0
'92 Larry Brown Jr. 2 0 0
'92 James Washington 1 0 0
'92 Vinson Smith 1 0 0
'92 Ken Norton Jr. 1 0 0
'92 Clayton Holmes 1 0 0
'92 Dixon Edwards 1 0 0
'92 Ray Horton 0 0 1

Defensive
Tackles Sacks INT
'78 Mike Wagner 7 0 0
'78 Nat Terry 7 0 0
'78 Ron Johnson 6 0 0
'78 Tony Dungy 6 0 0
'78 Loren Toews 5 0 0
'78 Jack Ham 5 0 0
'78 Mel Blount 3 0 0
'78 Larry Anderson 3 0 0
'78 Donnie Shell 2 0 1
'78 Jack Lambert 1 0 1

Field Goals
Made Missed
'92 Lin Elliott 43,35,40 -

Field Goals
Made Missed
'78 Roy Gerela 37 39,47,47


Player of the Game:
'92 Emmitt Smith (1992 Dallas Cowboys)

 

[Teague31]

Erik Williams would make Joe Greene his ***** by the end of the first quarter.