America's Game (The story of the 95 Cowboys)

[Achozen]

NFL Network is gonna air it, in about 15 minutes.

Just a heads up.

 

[yimyammer]

Gawd, this brought back a flood of emotions. That team was the last dying breath of a dynasty & I really don't think they would have won the Super Bowl if San Francisco hadn't lost home field advantage and to Green Bay in the playoffs.

It's so sick to be reminded of the stunts Jimmy Johnson and Jerry Jones pulled in that they couldn't set aside their damn egos to work together to go for the three peat. Not to mention the cocky and stupid decisions many of the players made that ultimately lead to suspensions, auto accidents that hurt Eric Williams knee, etc.

When I think of this team and organization, the phrase "Pride goeth before the fall." comes to my mind.

Gotta love Emmit though, he stayed true to his beliefs and displayed great character in spite of the chaos around him.

I guess I'm being greedy, but I think this team and organization really blew it and should have even more Super Bowls and competitive years than they did.

They were never the same after Jimmy left, due to his departure as well as the damn Salary cap that caused us to lose guys like Norton, Stepnoski and Harper.

Having said that, it sure was sweet while it lasted and gave me immense joy. Especially beating San Francisco in back to back championship games. What a rivalry, Man that was a circus!!

Am I being a punk or does anyone else who experienced this era feel some similar emotions?

 

[TEUFELI]

94 NFC Championship haunts me. Watching that, I really got an eery feeling listening to Moose talk about the lack of discipline that came with the "players coach" Barry Switzer. (Gosh, what a weazel Barry Switzer was/is)

I cant help but be worried about our team, with the guys we got already, who may need a strong personality coach who can put the fear of God into the players (TO, Tank, Roy Wily - who just flat out has a HORRIBLE attitude that i pray isnt infectuous).....and then add to that PacMan. The inevitable Romo paparazi (which isnt and wont be fair, but it doesnt matter). I think this team will be the most talented team in the league next yr, really. Ahead of NE, SD, INDY. But I fear that something is gonna happen. I cant predict exactly what obviously, but I really fear the lax attitude that permeates from "I love cheeseburgers" coach Wade. (and i personally like him, but it is what it is)

 

[RCowboyFan]

Heck, I watched the entire 95 SB game, that they re-aired on NFL network couple of weeks ago.

I remember why Cowboys were lucky to win the game. Their Defense was still good enough. But boy, that offense, was sure fading big time. They dominated 1st half and couldn't move the ball second half at all.

 

[big dog cowboy]

I guess I'm being greedy, but I think this team and organization really blew it and should have even more Super Bowls and competitive years than they did.

At least one more super bowl should have been ours. After winning super bowl XXX it was clear our team wasn't the same and I knew our run of championships was likely over.

 

[jmac]

yeah that 1994 title game is still one of the worst days of my life. There was no doubt that we would 3-peat and I was just crushed when we lost.

 

[adamknite]

Yeah, I still say we should have been the first team to 3 peat as superbowl champions and 4 peat as well.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

94 NFC Championship haunts me. Watching that, I really got an eery feeling listening to Moose talk about the lack of discipline that came with the "players coach" Barry Switzer. (Gosh, what a weazel Barry Switzer was/is)

I cant help but be worried about our team, with the guys we got already, who may need a strong personality coach who can put the fear of God into the players (TO, Tank, Roy Wily - who just flat out has a HORRIBLE attitude that i pray isnt infectuous).....and then add to that PacMan. The inevitable Romo paparazi (which isnt and wont be fair, but it doesnt matter). I think this team will be the most talented team in the league next yr, really. Ahead of NE, SD, INDY. But I fear that something is gonna happen. I cant predict exactly what obviously, but I really fear the lax attitude that permeates from "I love cheeseburgers" coach Wade. (and i personally like him, but it is what it is)

Don't worry... When Wade gets fired after next year, RJ will make everything A-OK...

Right?

 

[yimyammer]

At least one more super bowl should have been ours. After winning super bowl XXX it was clear our team wasn't the same and I knew our run of championships was likely over.

I knew (well, believed very strongly) SBXXX was that teams last shot and that's why I ponied up the money and got a ticket and went to the game. It was great, but if Neil O'Donnel hadn't gift wrapped those two int's, I think we might have lost it. That game was like the season of that year. Started strong and faded in the finish. Thank God they had enough to pull out the win.

It was a great time. My buddies mom worked for the Cowboys and got us tickets about 30 rows up at about the 15 yard line & then we got to go to the Cowboys after party with the players and cheerleaders. I think I slept about 6 hours in 3 days, it was a blast.

One interesting observation about the Super Bowl is that there isn't a strong fan base for either team since the tickets are purchsed by so many people with different rooting interests. Having said that, the Steelers had the advantage big time as the majority of the crowd was waving terrible towels and made a lot more noise. When they got the onside kick and then scored, it was looking pretty damn scary.

Good times though. It was truly a magical era for the Cowboys and their fans that has spoiled me rotten.

 

[dbair1967]

geez...some of you people act like that team had no business winning a championship

breaking news people- that was still a great team...it'd probably smoke any of the teams that won the championship since

sure the Steeler game ended up being closer than most of us would like...but the Steelers got SEVERAL huge breaks from the officials, and never did anything offensively save a bunch of 3-5 yd completions...we'd have scored more pts if the Steelers would have been correctly flagged for one or two obvious PI calls (one non called PI saved what would have been a long TD to Kevin Williams)...despite all the poor mouthing by some, Dallas still won all 3 of those postseason games that yr by double digits

losing Ray Donaldson to a broken leg late in the season really hurt them (he was having an awesome yr, and was replaced by 375-400lb Derek Kennard) and Kevin Williams gave the team absolutely ZILCH as the 2nd WR that yr...in fact he didnt do anything until the final game of the regular season that yr

David

 

[theebs]

they could have renamed this the why jerry jones is a tard edition.

that was the theme. they even have aikman and garret shaking their head and complaining about Jerry talking up the drafted players, aikman saying your not going to hit on all of them!!!!

It is pretty funny of all the possible people to be on camera they chose Rich Dalrymple because it was such a circus.

 

[ABQcowboyJR]

I hope the beginning of a new dynasty of blue and silver starts soon.:starspin

 

[aleator]

If Jimmy stays; we absolutely win against the 49'ers in the Championship game.

 

[Achozen]

I hope the beginning of a new dynasty of blue and silver starts soon.:starspin

Pacman is the missing piece.

 

[rcaldw]

geez...some of you people act like that team had no business winning a championship

breaking news people- that was still a great team...it'd probably smoke any of the teams that won the championship since

sure the Steeler game ended up being closer than most of us would like...but the Steelers got SEVERAL huge breaks from the officials, and never did anything offensively save a bunch of 3-5 yd completions...we'd have scored more pts if the Steelers would have been correctly flagged for one or two obvious PI calls (one non called PI saved what would have been a long TD to Kevin Williams)...despite all the poor mouthing by some, Dallas still won all 3 of those postseason games that yr by double digits

losing Ray Donaldson to a broken leg late in the season really hurt them (he was having an awesome yr, and was replaced by 375-400lb Derek Kennard) and Kevin Williams gave the team absolutely ZILCH as the 2nd WR that yr...in fact he didnt do anything until the final game of the regular season that yr

David

You are spot on David, and I also thought that the pass interference call on Michael Irvin was weak, and it took away another TD.

 

[Danny White]

they could have renamed this the why jerry jones is a tard edition.

that was the theme. they even have aikman and garret shaking their head and complaining about Jerry talking up the drafted players, aikman saying your not going to hit on all of them!!!!

It is pretty funny of all the possible people to be on camera they chose Rich Dalrymple because it was such a circus.

The other 4 Cowboys "America's Game" episodes were great... but this one I thought was awful. It had more the feel of a hit-piece.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

If Jimmy stays; we absolutely win against the 49'ers in the Championship game.

Couldn't agree more. There is NO WAY a Jimmy coached team would have ran out there and thrown down 3 turnovers in the opening 7 minutes.

What I believe, many people forget, is despite spotting them 21 points we STILL should have won the game. Two things stick out that killed that.

#1: The defense putting Brown man to man on Rice with under 30 seconds remaining in the first half. We'd cut the lead to 24-14 by that point. If you force them to take the field goal, and don't put the greatest WR ever in man to man right before the half, at worst you go into the locker room down by 13.


That said...#2 is the big one.

#2: DESPITE the awful end to the first half late in the game (bout 6 and a half minutes left) we're down 38-28 when Irvin gets behind Deion and beats him so clean it was a thing of beauty. Deion did the only thing that Deion could do and he mugged him. CLEARLY interfered to save the touchdown.

But no flag.

That non call is really the only one, in my life, that I've ever been so pissed off about that I still can't let it go. Instead of having first and goal, inside the 5, with over 6 minutes remaining in the game we wind up with 3rd and forever (after Barry got a 15 yard flag for bumping the ref) and punted.

If they make that call I have ZERO doubt that we score, 99.9% certain it would have been an Emmitt Smith off the left side touchdown run, and then the score is 38-35 with just under 6 minutes left.

If that happens I know we win. I know it. Mainly because the Niners would have died at that point. After seeing a 21-0 lead wiped away to a 3 point lead with just under 6 minutes left that would have taken their heart out.

That non-PI call has haunted me because I do believe it's the single biggest reason that we didn't go on to win 3 straight, and probably 4 straight.

Don't get me wrong I was pissed about the 3 turnovers early but this team, no one can tell me didn't have the heart of a Champion. They were down that much, that quickly, they could have just quit. They could have quit trying. But they didn't. They fought till the end. So the 3 turnovers don't bug me nearly as much as that missed call.


As a side note to that...it cracks me up how the Americas Game, or something else I saw on NFLnetwork, credits the Niners win that day largely to the way Deion covered Irvin.

Really? If memory serves me correctly, and I'm certain it does, Irvin has 12 catches for nearly 200 yards and 2 or 3 TD catches in that game. So Deion, other than mugging him to save another TD and not getting called, didn't do jack in that game to slow down Irvin.