Biggest Cowboy Mistake - Ever

[step]

[FONT=tahoma, new york, times, serif]OK, well, I'm still sore from the reality smack the other night, but in an effort to lighten the mood, I was thinking about where this recent loss falls in the biggest Dallas failures? I mean, it qualifies on so many levels: a play the holder should make a million times, the possible misuse of clock (no time out to get organized? or, maybe better yet, take the FG on 3rd down instead of 4th, etc etc), the potential to crush the mojo of an up and coming star qb, the potential to end a hall of fame coach's career, and on and on... so, i ask you, which is the worst cowboys moment:[/FONT]

[FONT=tahoma, new york, times, serif]* Romo vs the snap[/FONT]
[FONT=tahoma, new york, times, serif]* Lett's FG mistake in the Miami thanksgiving game[/FONT]
[FONT=tahoma, new york, times, serif]* Jackie Smith's dropped TD in Super Bowl XIII[/FONT]
[FONT=tahoma, new york, times, serif]* 4th and 1 [/FONT]
[FONT=tahoma, new york, times, serif]* Ice Bowl[/FONT]
[FONT=tahoma, new york, times, serif]* Allowing the 49ers "The Catch" (creating a 49ers dynasty)[/FONT]
[FONT=tahoma, new york, times, serif]* Swann, in Super Bowl X, bobbling but holding on to a 53-yard pass, which most consider the most spectacular and acrobatic catch in Super Bowl history. And the Cowboys lose to the Steelers - sound familiar? [/FONT]

[FONT=tahoma, new york, times, serif]I almost added "firing Landry" and "letting Jimmy go", but I'm limiting this to on the field stuff. ;-)[/FONT]

[FONT=tahoma, new york, times, serif]For the record, I vote for Jackie Smith. Haunted the guy forever, and was a sure-fire TD which likely wins us a game against the dreaded Steelers, not to mention, if all else stayed the same, our Super Bowl record would then be 6-2. No one is even close to that. Although, erasing that 49ers play from history would be great too. Maybe then we go on to beat the Bengals. Sheesh, think about it, take away Jackie Smith's bad play and the Joe Montana play, and we could realistically be 7-2 in Super Bowls! What do you think?? [/FONT]

[FONT=tahoma, new york, times, serif]Anyway, glad to be here -- I know some of you here. I left my old message boards for this site, looking forward to hangin with those of you I havent met yet![/FONT]

[FONT=tahoma, new york, times, serif]Step[/FONT]
[FONT=tahoma, new york, times, serif] [/FONT]

 

[the kid 05]

How about letting Swann and The other Steelers Legendary WR (his name is escaping me now) get passed by in the draft?

 

[AdamJT13]

For the record, I vote for Jackie Smith.

Roger Staubach blames himself, not Jackie Smith, for that play. He said Smith was so wide open, he could have punted the ball to him, but he threw a bad pass.

 

[the kid 05]

Roger Staubach blames himself, not Jackie Smith, for that play. He said Smith was so wide open, he could have punted the ball to him, but he threw a bad pass.

is that the play that hits Smith in the chest plate?

 

[Don Corleone]

Roger Staubach blames himself, not Jackie Smith, for that play. He said Smith was so wide open, he could have punted the ball to him, but he threw a bad pass.

Staubach is pure class. He would never place blame on his receivers. It doesn't matter that the pass wasn't perfect. In a game like that, in that particular situation, the ball has to be caught.

 

[SALADIN]

Roger Staubach blames himself, not Jackie Smith, for that play. He said Smith was so wide open, he could have punted the ball to him, but he threw a bad pass.

Roger is all class, and although there may be some truth to that I wouldn't expect anything less from him.

 

[Biggems]

[FONT=tahoma, new york, times, serif]OK, well, I'm still sore from the reality smack the other night, but in an effort to lighten the mood, I was thinking about where this recent loss falls in the biggest Dallas failures? I mean, it qualifies on so many levels: a play the holder should make a million times, the possible misuse of clock (no time out to get organized? or, maybe better yet, take the FG on 3rd down instead of 4th, etc etc), the potential to crush the mojo of an up and coming star qb, the potential to end a hall of fame coach's career, and on and on... so, i ask you, which is the worst cowboys moment:[/FONT]

[FONT=tahoma, new york, times, serif]* Romo vs the snap[/FONT]
[FONT=tahoma, new york, times, serif]* Lett's FG mistake in the Miami thanksgiving game[/FONT]
[FONT=tahoma, new york, times, serif]* Jackie Smith's dropped TD in Super Bowl XIII[/FONT]
[FONT=tahoma, new york, times, serif]* 4th and 1 [/FONT]
[FONT=tahoma, new york, times, serif]* Ice Bowl[/FONT]
[FONT=tahoma, new york, times, serif]* Allowing the 49ers "The Catch" (creating a 49ers dynasty)[/FONT]
[FONT=tahoma, new york, times, serif]* Swann, in Super Bowl X, bobbling but holding on to a 53-yard pass, which most consider the most spectacular and acrobatic catch in Super Bowl history. And the Cowboys lose to the Steelers - sound familiar? [/FONT]

[FONT=tahoma, new york, times, serif]I almost added "firing Landry" and "letting Jimmy go", but I'm limiting this to on the field stuff. ;-)[/FONT]

[FONT=tahoma, new york, times, serif]For the record, I vote for Jackie Smith. Haunted the guy forever, and was a sure-fire TD which likely wins us a game against the dreaded Steelers, not to mention, if all else stayed the same, our Super Bowl record would then be 6-2. No one is even close to that. Although, erasing that 49ers play from history would be great too. Maybe then we go on to beat the Bengals. Sheesh, think about it, take away Jackie Smith's bad play and the Joe Montana play, and we could realistically be 7-2 in Super Bowls! What do you think?? [/FONT]

[FONT=tahoma, new york, times, serif]Anyway, glad to be here -- I know some of you here. I left my old message boards for this site, looking forward to hangin with those of you I havent met yet![/FONT]

[FONT=tahoma, new york, times, serif]Step[/FONT]
[FONT=tahoma, new york, times, serif] [/FONT]

I am sorry but you cannot make every single big play...not gonna happen.
after Jackie Smith, I don't really consider the rest of the list a mistake.....Clark made a great catch and we still could have won on the ensuing drive, but didn't.


Jackie Smith dropping a point blank pass is the worst mistake to me, cause it cost us the SB.....

Now the worst mental mistake would be trading 2 firsts for Joey Gallowaste.....

Letting Emmitt go and keeping Hamhock....brutal mistake

and another mistake would be our collective drafts from 96-02.....other than Ellis, Coakley, and Dat....those drafts were pure garbage.

 

[CaptainQuint]

Leon Lett's play was the low point, even though it didn't result in a loss.
All of the others involved players trying their best to mke the play.

 

[k19]

If you're going to put Romo's dropped hold on the field goal then you need to add TG's fumble, T-news dropped INT, Roys miss on the cler shot at Alexander on 3rd down which led to the TD pass to Stevens. There were MANY mistakes that cost us that game and it just ended with Romo

 

[jackrussell]

Leon Lett's play was the low point, even though it didn't result in a loss.

I'm afraid it did.

 

[THUMPER]

As far as on the field "mistakes" go I would have to say that the biggest was Jackie Larue Smith's drop.

The guy was such a sure-handed receiver throughout his career with the Cardinals and we signed him for depth after they had let him go. He didn't catch a pass all year until the playoffs. He caught a couple of passes against the Falcons, including a TD, in the Divisional playoff game but none against the Rams in the NFC Championship game.

The only pass thrown to him in the SB was the one he dropped. A Hall-of-Fame career will always be remembered for that one dropped pass rather than the 480 he caught with the Cards.

As for the game vs the Stealers, the ball was a little bit behind him and he had to stop running across to get it but it hit him in the chest and there is no excuse for not making that catch. It wasn't a great throw but it was certainly catchable and would have changed the game. We might still have lost as it was still in the 3rd quarter and Pittsburgh spent the last part of the 4th trying to run out the clock. They obviously would have been trying to score if we had been tied or ahead at that point.

I believe that we would have won that game though. The play killed the momentum we had at that point and then a series of mistakes & referee issues turned the tide in their favor.

As for big mistakes, this one likely cost us the SB so it has to rank up there as the worst IMO.

 

[burmafrd]

Jackie was falling backwards in the end zone and Roger put the ball just right in his hands. Roger is a total class act and will always claim it was a bad pass but I was watching and it was as catchable a ball as it could be. It just happened; Smith had a GREAT career and its terrible that that is how he is remembered; just like Bill Buckner who had a great career but all people talk about is the ball between the legs; the point THERE is that Buckner was known to be weak defensively and SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN IN THERE.
Smith was in at the right time and if the football gods had been FAIR would have caught that pass.

 

[Rampage]

Roger Staubach blames himself, not Jackie Smith, for that play. He said Smith was so wide open, he could have punted the ball to him, but he threw a bad pass.

a 4 year old would have caught that pass

 

[dbair1967]

Roger Staubach blames himself, not Jackie Smith, for that play. He said Smith was so wide open, he could have punted the ball to him, but he threw a bad pass.

yeah he says that, but wonder if he really believes it himself

like most, I've seen the replay a bazillion times...the ball should have been caught

David

 

[EndGame]

The only two that should be up for consideration are the Romo drop and the Smith drop. I'd vote for the Smith drop since it likely lost us a Super Bowl.

 

[lurkercowboy]

I think bad moments are worse when you have your hopes up and they are dashed.

Worst moment in Cowboys history since I have been a fan? I remember thinking at the time that the Smith drop was no big deal. The pass interference call against Barnes bothered me much more. Staubach throwing the pass to Herb Scott to close out the 1979 playoffs was pretty bad. The catch was of course bad, but I thought the ensuing "fumble" was worse. The 1983 (No Danny no!) and 1984 late season losses to the Commanders were both low points, plus the season-ending loss to Miami in 1984 was crushing because of how it ended. The season-ending loss to Atlanta in 1990 was demoralizing because the playoffs were on the line. The 1998 playoff loss to Arizona was one of the franchise low-lights, especially when the triplets all looked so awful. This years bobbled hold was pretty bad as well.

I'm glad I had this chance to cheer everyone up!

 

[Kangaroo]

The hiring of Dave Campo the puppet with Jerry hand up his arse was not on the list. :shootfoot

 

[Yeagermeister]

The hiring of Dave Campo the puppet with Jerry hand up his arse was not on the list. :shootfoot

And the hiring of Switzer, yes we won a SB, but it started the decline.

 

[THUMPER]

The hiring of Dave Campo the puppet with Jerry hand up his arse was not on the list. :shootfoot

That's because it was "on the field" mistakes only. Otherwise, I would agree.

 

[joseephuss]

How about letting Swann and The other Steelers Legendary WR (his name is escaping me now) get passed by in the draft?

In the 1974 draft, Dallas picked Ed "Too Tall" Jones #1 overall. Pittsburgh drafted Lynn Swann with the 21st pick. I don't think Dallas should receive any grief for passing on Lynn Swann.

If anything, maybe Dallas should have drafted Jack Lambert at #22 instead of running back Charley Young that same year. Althought some stuff I read in the past suggests that Young was a good choice. In hind sight it wasn't.

Pittsburgh didn't draft John Stallworth until the 4th round of that same 1974 draft, so every team passed on him including Pittsburgh until that round. You can't fault Dallas for that.

Dallas also took Danny White in the 3rd round of that draft.

I don't hold Lett's dumb mistake against Miami to any high level. Dallas lost that game, but then went undefeated after that on their way to winning another Superbowl. In context, that mistake means nothing.

I heard Dan Patrick compare the Romo fumble to Lett in Superbowl XXVII. I thought that was stupid. Lett's showboating play meant absolutely nothing to the outcome of that game. It was a blowout. I wish Romo's fumble had been in that same context.

Sure Jackie Smith's drop hurt Dallas that game, but it wasn't the only bad play.

Randy White fumbled a kick off return. Why was he on the kick off return team? He had a cast on his arm. Why did he even try running the ball when it came to him? He should have just down the ball and given it to Staubach and crew.

Why did Dorsett and Pearson drop a simple hand off early in the game on a reverse. They ran reverses all the time back then, so it should have been pretty standard. Instead they fumbled.

Why did Hollywood Henderson do cocaine during the game? If he isn't high, maybe he makes more plays.

Why did Landry get away from running Dorsett? The Steelers had trouble slowing Tony down(16 carries for 96 yards).

Jackie Smith is unfairly criticized. He made a bad play, but he isn't the only reason Dallas lost that game. His single play was not the reason Dallas lost. It did not help Dallas win, but the defense did give up 35 points. That is quite a bit.