cowboyjoe
Well-Known Member
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Nobody gave us a chance, but we thought we could win if we played our game..."
-George Allen, Oct 3, 1971, after winning at the Cotton Bowl for the first time since 1967, score 20-16. The Commanders shocked the world by beating the defending NFC Champions who had won 9 of their previous 10 games and had only lost one of their previous sixteen games at home going back three years. Washington improved to 3-0, making them the only unbeaten, untied team in the National Football League, while simultaneously crushing the egos of the Dallas Cowboys. The Commanders were for real and a ten-year old rivalry was re-ignited. Thousands upon thousands of fans jammed Dulles International Airport that evening to welcome their heroes home.
"Forty men together can't lose!"
- George Allen, December 31st, 1972, just before the NFC Championship coin flip.
We came to Washington thinking we'd just float by the Commanders, but they had something for us. They beat us soundly..."
- Mel Renfro, referring to the 1972 NFC Championship
"We were all on top of the world after that game."
- Ron McDole
"George Allen never used to say 'the Dallas Cowboys', it was always 'the ********* Dallas Cowboys.' It's the Cowboys' uniform. It strikes hate and loathing in my mind, almost in a Pavlovian sense."
-John Wilbur
"Die you dogs. Die you Dallas dogs."
- Sam Wyche
"Roger Staubach can't read defenses and wears skirts..."
- Ron McDole to the press, when asked about what he thought of the Cowboys quarterback
"I picked him up and pushed him back... It wasn't a smooth play, it was a desperation play. It was such an eerie feeling when it happened. There wasn't any noise in the stadium for maybe three seconds. All of a sudden... the place went crazy. I had never seen anything like it."
-Ken Houston, on stopping Walt Garrison at the one yard line in the final seconds of the Monday night game in October, 1973
"I wouldn't shake hands with him, but I shook hands with everyone else, just to irritate him."
Diron Talbert, on when Talbert and Staubach gathered at midfield with the other captains
"Any helicopter that came over (the practice field), the coaches would look up and say 'Damn, that's George Allen up there with a notebook.'"
-Walt Garrison
"If you knock Staubach out, you've got that rookie facing you. That's one of our goals."
- Diron Talbert (Staubach was knocked out in the 3rd quarter, Thanksgiving Day, 1974, with the Commanders leading 16-3 -- but the rookie, Clint Longley, came in to beat Washington, 24-23)
"Who in the hell is Longley???"
-Diron Talbert to the press after the game.
"Next time they'll have to kill me."
-Roger Staubach, when asked his thoughts of being targeted in a future Commanders game
"When you sign with Washington, you sign a contract to hate the Cowboys."
-Charles Mann
"I'm coming over you."
Billy Kilmer, Nov 2, 1975, to right guard Walt Sweeny in the huddle while calling a sneak at the one yard line in overtime, a play which hadn't been used all year because it wasn't even in the playbook. Kilmer scored and the Commanders won, 30-24.
"Losing to Dallas was the worst feeling in the world. You'd rather have your arm cut off."
-Diron Talbert
"Tom Landry, hahahaha. Tex Schram, hahhaha. Roger Staubach, hahahha."
-George Allen to a television camera, after beating Dallas in Texas Stadium in 1976.
"If you grow up in metro Washington, you grow up a diehard Commanders fan. But if you hate your parents, you grow up a Cowboys fan."
-Jim Lachey
"If you came out of the (Dallas) game and you weren't bleeding, you hadn't played."
- Ken Houston
"We don't like them, they don't like us."
- Roger Staubach
"We were all pissed off. But you've got to understand, with the Cowboys and the Commanders playing each other, and the Commanders get up on you, why not kick a field goal? I'd do the same thing to them. Same thing. Get them down and keep beating them."
-Harvey Martin, commenting on the Nov 18, 1979 game when the Commanders were leading 31-20 and called a time out with 14 seconds on the clock so they could kick a 45-yard Mark Moseley field goal to win 34-20.
"We loved to play them. It was always the perfect setting - Monday Night, Thanksgiving Day, a 4 o'clock start, RFK. Those kinds of games still give me goose bumps."
- Ken Houston
"He (Randy White) would follow me after third downs. I'd turn around and he'd stand there on the hash mark and flip me the bird. And I was like 'Screw him,', he doesn't sign my paycheck."
-Mark May, describing the personal rivalry he had with Randy White
"Yeah, but only after he went for my knees three times."
-Jack Pardee, after being accused of trying to knee Dallas receiver Lance Alworth in the head.
"My front four will be faced with the task of beating the sweat-hogs. It's my belief that to be a defensive lineman, you have to have a personal hate for your opponent."
- Ernie Stautner, defensive coordinator, Dallas
Be sure... you learn how to get to the airport, will you?"
- Tom Landry, Head Coach, Dallas, to his players prior to the 1982 NFC Championship game
"Plain & Simple - WE HATE DALLAS"
- home made sign hung at RFK Stadium during the 1982 NFC Championship game.
"Joe Theismann is a garbage-mouth little SOB. He's such a hot dog that all he needs is a bun."
-John Dutton
"He's a hot dog and a showboat and I hate him."
-Randy White, referring to Joe Theismann
"It was like walking into a dungeon of thieves..."
- Danny White, commenting on entering RFK Stadium.
"This is 'DD Day.' That is, 'Defeat Dallas Today!'"
-Jack Kent Cooke, Jan. 22, 1983, just prior to kickoff
"That's the loudest the stadium's ever been. You could hear it in the locker room. 'We want Dallas! We want Dallas!' Everybody was pretty pumped up."
-Russ Grimm
"The stadium was unbelievable. Those stands were moving three feet ... up and down..."
-Joe Gibbs
"I felt the ground shake beneath my feet - literally."
- Joe Theismann
"We're standing there for the national anthem. When it's over, Joe (Bugel) looks over to the other sideline at Ernie Stautner, who's the Cowboys defensive line coach. Joe yells over to him and flips him off."
-Joe Jacoby
"I got to the line, and I said to Randy White, 'Our coaches love you. We're going to run it over you again and again.' Randy wasn't very happy, but after three or four times, he didn't say a word."
-Jeff Bostic
"I wanted to just... put his lights out ....because, you know, ...Dallas sucks..."
- Dexter Manley, referring to Danny White whom he knocked out of the first half of the 1982 NFC Championship game.
"TOUCHDOWN, WASHINGTON Commanders! I DON'T BELIEVE IT!!!"
-Frank Herzog, live on WMAL radio, after Darryl Grant's 4th quarter interception return
"We can accomplish miracles. We're not real talented, we're not real bright, but ******, we're the NFC Champions!"
-Joe Theismann, during the post-game locker room interview
"Never a 'Skins fan. ... But still, I remember as a kid watching this and always comparing it ever since as the wildest scene I've seen for a game ... because they truly hated each other. That entire city was out for Dallas' blood. They chanted it all day long... Best sports scene ever...hands down. And I'm a Dawg Pound guy. No way Dallas was leaving there alive. Washington wanted them that bad. I'll just never forget an entire stadium calling out an opponent like that, telling them they're going to kick their *****, AND THEN DOING IT. Awesome, awesome stuff. "
-Anonymous Cleveland Browns Fan referring to the 1982 NFC Championship game
"It was probably the next morning before I knew where I was,... I must have gotten knocked out. ... I never did regain any memory of that game. From the trip up there, first quarter, second quarter, third or fourth."
-Danny White
"If you wanted to be the best, you had to beat them up. ...You had to take the ball and ram it down their throats. (We) closed the door on the Doomsday Defense and opened the door for the Hogs."
-Mark May
"When you're in a game like that and it's back and forth and back and forth, who's gonna blink? Who's gonna blink first? They blinked. ...It was the most incredible moment -- in my life."
-Joe Theismann, referring to winning the 1982 Championship game.
"The one game that really gave us confidence in the 1980s was that NFC Championship game against Dallas."
-Jeff Bostic
"They were so demoralized. They were so pissed. The officials had to drag them out of the locker room, they wouldn't come out."
-George Stark, referring to the final play of the game after players had prematurely retired to the locker room with 12 seconds on the clock. This was the 3rd NFC Championship in a row Dallas had lost.
"This is controlled delirium. This is a coagulation, a community of interest here that is astonishing in its depth. All over this city. The rich, the poor. The black, the white. The communists, the socialists. The affluent, the unpossessed. All are bound together in this city on this day by these Commanders."
-Jack Kent Cooke, moments after the NFC Championship win against Dallas in January, 1983.
"It showed our mindset. We honestly felt like we were going into battle."
-Neal Olkewicz, describing the team wearing battle fatigues and black combat boots as they arrived at Dallas International Airport on Dec 10, 1983, dominating the Dallas television news that night. The previous matchup, Commanders had squandered a 23-3 lead to lose 31-30. Commanders record at Texas was 1-9 over the past ten years. Both teams were 12-2, the #1 seed was on the line. The following afternoon, the Commanders dominated the game, winning 31-10.
"No, Danny! No!"
-Coach Tom Landry, in an uncharacteristically emotional moment, from the sidelines to his QB Danny White, during a 4th and inches play after it became clear the drawing the Commanders offsides ploy wouldn't work. The Cowboys win-loss record at the time was 12-2, and Dallas victories, both in the regular season and the post-season, were routine. White was supposed to call a timeout, but instead, he continued the snap count, and the ball was snapped. Cowboys lost yardage, the ball, and the game, December 11, 1983. The Cowboys went on to lose three in a row and were knocked out of the 1983 wild card round. That single moment seemed to mark the end of an era of Cowboys dominance in the league. They would not win a playoff game again until 1991.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JOE, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUUU..."
-the Texas Stadium crowd on Sept 9, 1985, singing to Joe Theismann on his 36th birthday, after he had thrown five interceptions in a 44-14 loss.
"There are three great things in life: Winning the lottery, having a baby, and beating the Cowboys..."
- Mark May, after a 41-14 route of Dallas in 1986.
"I'll never forget Joe Bugel telling Ed Rubbert (QB) in warmups to throw the ball at Ernie Stautner. Hit him in the shoulder. That showed me how much the Commanders hated the Cowboys."
-Mark Carlson, replacement player
"Randy got up and spit in my face and said 'You can't block me, kid'. And I said, 'Oh, yes I can.'"
-Darrick Brilz, replacement player, Oct 19, 1987. Commanders won, 13-7.
"...Mikhail Gorbachev is here. Its kind of slowing things down. I wish he’d get the hell out of town. The Commanders – Cowboys game is bigger than what’s happening at the summit."
- Dexter Manley, 1987
"I saw the ball coming and thought 'It's mine!'"
-Alvin Harper, Nov 24, 1991, on grabbing Troy Aiman's hail mary pass in the endzone to end the first half. Cowboys (6-5) broke the Commanders (11-0) 11 game winning streak to win 24-21.
"Joe and Ritchie maintained good composure on the sideline, but in the locker room, they were pretty angry. Everybody was looking around like 'What is happening? I don't know what's happening.' They were killing our defense. We were getting handled and it was a bad feeling.
-Charles Mann, Nov 5, 1989, at halftime, referring to the 0-8 Cowboys who were winning.
"They had a rag-tag team, so we walked in there thinking 'These guys can't beat anybody.'
-Darryl Grant, Nov 5, 1989. The Cowboys won the game at RFK Stadium, 13-3. The Cowboys finished the season with a 1-15 record, cementing their spot as the worst team in Cowboys history, but avoiding a winless season thanks to the Commanders. The Commanders finished with a 10-6 record, but did not qualify for the playoffs.
"They were easier to hate."
-Charles Mann, referring to Jimmy Johnson's new team of young, brash players
"If you really wanted something real badly, it was that opening game against Dallas. We wanted it for Ritchie (the new Head Coach). We wanted to show the world that the Commanders were still there. How do we show it? By going out there and thrashing the Cowboys. Everybody was extremely focused. We just systematically whipped their behinds. We went crazy in the locker room. We knocked them off their high horse.
-Charles Mann, Sept 6, 1993, after beating the Superbowl Champion Cowboys 35-16
"This sparks us. This lights it up again between us and Washington. We owe them big time now. Forget the 49ers. The rematch of this game is the one we're going to point to as the biggest in the rest of our regular season."
- Nate Newton, Oct 1, 1995, after his undefeated Cowboys (4-0) lost to the Commanders (1-3). Dallas would win six of the next seven games while Washington lost six of their next seven. The Dallas Cowboys (10-2) met the Commanders (3-9) at Texas Stadium on December 3rd, where they lost again, 24-17.
"You just despised that team. It was genuine... I despise them even more now, because they are so flamboyant.
- Joe Jacoby, 1996
"Because of my position, I'm not supposed to think that way. But in the back of my mind, in my heart, I never want to see them win. It's just inbred in my blood since I was a Commander. I bleed burgundy and gold. I will always have that in my soul - to hate the silver and blue."
- Mark May, TV network analyst, 1996
"I saw him and I thought 'Okay, here we go, right here at the airport..."
-Mark May, 1997, mentally preparing himself for a fistfight at the New Orleans Airport baggage claim, upon unexpectedly running into Randy White. White had made earlier comment to reporters that he couldn't stand May and would meet him anywhere to fight.
"I know we don't have any Dallas people here — they are the ugliest people in the world."
- Joe Gibbs during Fan Day, Training camp, 2005.
"This is my moment, this is my chance to make a difference, and you know, I just went for the ball, I attacked it, and I went and got it, ... I was gonna catch that ball, regardless of what happens..."
- Santana Moss, referring to the first touchdown during the Monday Night Miracle vs Dallas in Sept, 2005.
"I remember uh,... Coach Byner coming to me, he say 'hey, we goin' back atcha, get ready...'. To me, that was all I wanted to hear, you know. 'We goin' back atcha...'"
- Santana Moss, referring to what was said on the sidelines after the first TD catch
"One on one, that's all I want. I knew right then and there, I had him. I just ran a straight, you know, bee line post, man, you know, and it was on the money."
-Santana Moss, referring to his second TD catch
"This ****'s for the TRIO!",
-Santana Moss, to a video camera immediately after catching his 2nd TD pass at Texas Stadium in September, 2005. The trio he was referring to was Troy Aikman, Emmit Smith, and Michael Irving, who were being honored and included on the Ring of Fame at Texas Stadium that day.
"I mean, there wasn't a lot of hope for that one, yet we found out, you know, we found a way to win that game, AGAINST our rival, at their place, on Monday night, and uh, the locker room was just -- it was just unbelievable."
-Mark Brunell, Sept. 2005
"...one of the greatest moments for me in sports"
- Joe Gibbs after the game at Texas Stadium, September, 2005.
"The one person over there on our defense that you'd want to pick it up - got it."
-Joe Gibbs, referring to the Sean Taylor blocked kick return with :00 time left on Nov. 5, 2006
"We always seem to have these big, crazy endings. It's unbelievable."
- Renaldo Wynn, after beating Dallas with a Sean Taylor blocked kick runback and a Nick Novak field goal with zero time on the clock, Nov. 5, 2006
"Ever since I've been here, our games against Dallas have ... been wild."
-Jon Jansen, Nov. 5, 2006
"I'll tell you what - if you attend a Cowboy-Commanders game, you better not leave 'til that clock hits zero..."
-Joe Gibbs, Nov. 5, 2006
"**** Dallas"
- Chris Cooley, as autographed on one of his photos on his site
"These guys are done...we can do whatever we want now...",
- Tony Romo to a teammate on the bench, just after throwing a TD pass to Owens to open the second half and tie the game at 17 on Sept 28th, 2008 at Texas Stadium. Dallas would not score again until the final minute. Commanders won 26-24.
"Any Cowboys fan that thinks the Commanders game is just another game is either very young or very stupid."
-Anonymous veteran Dallas fan
"... pro football's greatest rivalry is raging once again."
-Pat Summerall, 1983
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYjIVw8af5o#t=03m38s
-George Allen, Oct 3, 1971, after winning at the Cotton Bowl for the first time since 1967, score 20-16. The Commanders shocked the world by beating the defending NFC Champions who had won 9 of their previous 10 games and had only lost one of their previous sixteen games at home going back three years. Washington improved to 3-0, making them the only unbeaten, untied team in the National Football League, while simultaneously crushing the egos of the Dallas Cowboys. The Commanders were for real and a ten-year old rivalry was re-ignited. Thousands upon thousands of fans jammed Dulles International Airport that evening to welcome their heroes home.
"Forty men together can't lose!"
- George Allen, December 31st, 1972, just before the NFC Championship coin flip.
We came to Washington thinking we'd just float by the Commanders, but they had something for us. They beat us soundly..."
- Mel Renfro, referring to the 1972 NFC Championship
"We were all on top of the world after that game."
- Ron McDole
"George Allen never used to say 'the Dallas Cowboys', it was always 'the ********* Dallas Cowboys.' It's the Cowboys' uniform. It strikes hate and loathing in my mind, almost in a Pavlovian sense."
-John Wilbur
"Die you dogs. Die you Dallas dogs."
- Sam Wyche
"Roger Staubach can't read defenses and wears skirts..."
- Ron McDole to the press, when asked about what he thought of the Cowboys quarterback
"I picked him up and pushed him back... It wasn't a smooth play, it was a desperation play. It was such an eerie feeling when it happened. There wasn't any noise in the stadium for maybe three seconds. All of a sudden... the place went crazy. I had never seen anything like it."
-Ken Houston, on stopping Walt Garrison at the one yard line in the final seconds of the Monday night game in October, 1973
"I wouldn't shake hands with him, but I shook hands with everyone else, just to irritate him."
Diron Talbert, on when Talbert and Staubach gathered at midfield with the other captains
"Any helicopter that came over (the practice field), the coaches would look up and say 'Damn, that's George Allen up there with a notebook.'"
-Walt Garrison
"If you knock Staubach out, you've got that rookie facing you. That's one of our goals."
- Diron Talbert (Staubach was knocked out in the 3rd quarter, Thanksgiving Day, 1974, with the Commanders leading 16-3 -- but the rookie, Clint Longley, came in to beat Washington, 24-23)
"Who in the hell is Longley???"
-Diron Talbert to the press after the game.
"Next time they'll have to kill me."
-Roger Staubach, when asked his thoughts of being targeted in a future Commanders game
"When you sign with Washington, you sign a contract to hate the Cowboys."
-Charles Mann
"I'm coming over you."
Billy Kilmer, Nov 2, 1975, to right guard Walt Sweeny in the huddle while calling a sneak at the one yard line in overtime, a play which hadn't been used all year because it wasn't even in the playbook. Kilmer scored and the Commanders won, 30-24.
"Losing to Dallas was the worst feeling in the world. You'd rather have your arm cut off."
-Diron Talbert
"Tom Landry, hahahaha. Tex Schram, hahhaha. Roger Staubach, hahahha."
-George Allen to a television camera, after beating Dallas in Texas Stadium in 1976.
"If you grow up in metro Washington, you grow up a diehard Commanders fan. But if you hate your parents, you grow up a Cowboys fan."
-Jim Lachey
"If you came out of the (Dallas) game and you weren't bleeding, you hadn't played."
- Ken Houston
"We don't like them, they don't like us."
- Roger Staubach
"We were all pissed off. But you've got to understand, with the Cowboys and the Commanders playing each other, and the Commanders get up on you, why not kick a field goal? I'd do the same thing to them. Same thing. Get them down and keep beating them."
-Harvey Martin, commenting on the Nov 18, 1979 game when the Commanders were leading 31-20 and called a time out with 14 seconds on the clock so they could kick a 45-yard Mark Moseley field goal to win 34-20.
"We loved to play them. It was always the perfect setting - Monday Night, Thanksgiving Day, a 4 o'clock start, RFK. Those kinds of games still give me goose bumps."
- Ken Houston
"He (Randy White) would follow me after third downs. I'd turn around and he'd stand there on the hash mark and flip me the bird. And I was like 'Screw him,', he doesn't sign my paycheck."
-Mark May, describing the personal rivalry he had with Randy White
"Yeah, but only after he went for my knees three times."
-Jack Pardee, after being accused of trying to knee Dallas receiver Lance Alworth in the head.
"My front four will be faced with the task of beating the sweat-hogs. It's my belief that to be a defensive lineman, you have to have a personal hate for your opponent."
- Ernie Stautner, defensive coordinator, Dallas
Be sure... you learn how to get to the airport, will you?"
- Tom Landry, Head Coach, Dallas, to his players prior to the 1982 NFC Championship game
"Plain & Simple - WE HATE DALLAS"
- home made sign hung at RFK Stadium during the 1982 NFC Championship game.
"Joe Theismann is a garbage-mouth little SOB. He's such a hot dog that all he needs is a bun."
-John Dutton
"He's a hot dog and a showboat and I hate him."
-Randy White, referring to Joe Theismann
"It was like walking into a dungeon of thieves..."
- Danny White, commenting on entering RFK Stadium.
"This is 'DD Day.' That is, 'Defeat Dallas Today!'"
-Jack Kent Cooke, Jan. 22, 1983, just prior to kickoff
"That's the loudest the stadium's ever been. You could hear it in the locker room. 'We want Dallas! We want Dallas!' Everybody was pretty pumped up."
-Russ Grimm
"The stadium was unbelievable. Those stands were moving three feet ... up and down..."
-Joe Gibbs
"I felt the ground shake beneath my feet - literally."
- Joe Theismann
"We're standing there for the national anthem. When it's over, Joe (Bugel) looks over to the other sideline at Ernie Stautner, who's the Cowboys defensive line coach. Joe yells over to him and flips him off."
-Joe Jacoby
"I got to the line, and I said to Randy White, 'Our coaches love you. We're going to run it over you again and again.' Randy wasn't very happy, but after three or four times, he didn't say a word."
-Jeff Bostic
"I wanted to just... put his lights out ....because, you know, ...Dallas sucks..."
- Dexter Manley, referring to Danny White whom he knocked out of the first half of the 1982 NFC Championship game.
"TOUCHDOWN, WASHINGTON Commanders! I DON'T BELIEVE IT!!!"
-Frank Herzog, live on WMAL radio, after Darryl Grant's 4th quarter interception return
"We can accomplish miracles. We're not real talented, we're not real bright, but ******, we're the NFC Champions!"
-Joe Theismann, during the post-game locker room interview
"Never a 'Skins fan. ... But still, I remember as a kid watching this and always comparing it ever since as the wildest scene I've seen for a game ... because they truly hated each other. That entire city was out for Dallas' blood. They chanted it all day long... Best sports scene ever...hands down. And I'm a Dawg Pound guy. No way Dallas was leaving there alive. Washington wanted them that bad. I'll just never forget an entire stadium calling out an opponent like that, telling them they're going to kick their *****, AND THEN DOING IT. Awesome, awesome stuff. "
-Anonymous Cleveland Browns Fan referring to the 1982 NFC Championship game
"It was probably the next morning before I knew where I was,... I must have gotten knocked out. ... I never did regain any memory of that game. From the trip up there, first quarter, second quarter, third or fourth."
-Danny White
"If you wanted to be the best, you had to beat them up. ...You had to take the ball and ram it down their throats. (We) closed the door on the Doomsday Defense and opened the door for the Hogs."
-Mark May
"When you're in a game like that and it's back and forth and back and forth, who's gonna blink? Who's gonna blink first? They blinked. ...It was the most incredible moment -- in my life."
-Joe Theismann, referring to winning the 1982 Championship game.
"The one game that really gave us confidence in the 1980s was that NFC Championship game against Dallas."
-Jeff Bostic
"They were so demoralized. They were so pissed. The officials had to drag them out of the locker room, they wouldn't come out."
-George Stark, referring to the final play of the game after players had prematurely retired to the locker room with 12 seconds on the clock. This was the 3rd NFC Championship in a row Dallas had lost.
"This is controlled delirium. This is a coagulation, a community of interest here that is astonishing in its depth. All over this city. The rich, the poor. The black, the white. The communists, the socialists. The affluent, the unpossessed. All are bound together in this city on this day by these Commanders."
-Jack Kent Cooke, moments after the NFC Championship win against Dallas in January, 1983.
"It showed our mindset. We honestly felt like we were going into battle."
-Neal Olkewicz, describing the team wearing battle fatigues and black combat boots as they arrived at Dallas International Airport on Dec 10, 1983, dominating the Dallas television news that night. The previous matchup, Commanders had squandered a 23-3 lead to lose 31-30. Commanders record at Texas was 1-9 over the past ten years. Both teams were 12-2, the #1 seed was on the line. The following afternoon, the Commanders dominated the game, winning 31-10.
"No, Danny! No!"
-Coach Tom Landry, in an uncharacteristically emotional moment, from the sidelines to his QB Danny White, during a 4th and inches play after it became clear the drawing the Commanders offsides ploy wouldn't work. The Cowboys win-loss record at the time was 12-2, and Dallas victories, both in the regular season and the post-season, were routine. White was supposed to call a timeout, but instead, he continued the snap count, and the ball was snapped. Cowboys lost yardage, the ball, and the game, December 11, 1983. The Cowboys went on to lose three in a row and were knocked out of the 1983 wild card round. That single moment seemed to mark the end of an era of Cowboys dominance in the league. They would not win a playoff game again until 1991.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JOE, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUUU..."
-the Texas Stadium crowd on Sept 9, 1985, singing to Joe Theismann on his 36th birthday, after he had thrown five interceptions in a 44-14 loss.
"There are three great things in life: Winning the lottery, having a baby, and beating the Cowboys..."
- Mark May, after a 41-14 route of Dallas in 1986.
"I'll never forget Joe Bugel telling Ed Rubbert (QB) in warmups to throw the ball at Ernie Stautner. Hit him in the shoulder. That showed me how much the Commanders hated the Cowboys."
-Mark Carlson, replacement player
"Randy got up and spit in my face and said 'You can't block me, kid'. And I said, 'Oh, yes I can.'"
-Darrick Brilz, replacement player, Oct 19, 1987. Commanders won, 13-7.
"...Mikhail Gorbachev is here. Its kind of slowing things down. I wish he’d get the hell out of town. The Commanders – Cowboys game is bigger than what’s happening at the summit."
- Dexter Manley, 1987
"I saw the ball coming and thought 'It's mine!'"
-Alvin Harper, Nov 24, 1991, on grabbing Troy Aiman's hail mary pass in the endzone to end the first half. Cowboys (6-5) broke the Commanders (11-0) 11 game winning streak to win 24-21.
"Joe and Ritchie maintained good composure on the sideline, but in the locker room, they were pretty angry. Everybody was looking around like 'What is happening? I don't know what's happening.' They were killing our defense. We were getting handled and it was a bad feeling.
-Charles Mann, Nov 5, 1989, at halftime, referring to the 0-8 Cowboys who were winning.
"They had a rag-tag team, so we walked in there thinking 'These guys can't beat anybody.'
-Darryl Grant, Nov 5, 1989. The Cowboys won the game at RFK Stadium, 13-3. The Cowboys finished the season with a 1-15 record, cementing their spot as the worst team in Cowboys history, but avoiding a winless season thanks to the Commanders. The Commanders finished with a 10-6 record, but did not qualify for the playoffs.
"They were easier to hate."
-Charles Mann, referring to Jimmy Johnson's new team of young, brash players
"If you really wanted something real badly, it was that opening game against Dallas. We wanted it for Ritchie (the new Head Coach). We wanted to show the world that the Commanders were still there. How do we show it? By going out there and thrashing the Cowboys. Everybody was extremely focused. We just systematically whipped their behinds. We went crazy in the locker room. We knocked them off their high horse.
-Charles Mann, Sept 6, 1993, after beating the Superbowl Champion Cowboys 35-16
"This sparks us. This lights it up again between us and Washington. We owe them big time now. Forget the 49ers. The rematch of this game is the one we're going to point to as the biggest in the rest of our regular season."
- Nate Newton, Oct 1, 1995, after his undefeated Cowboys (4-0) lost to the Commanders (1-3). Dallas would win six of the next seven games while Washington lost six of their next seven. The Dallas Cowboys (10-2) met the Commanders (3-9) at Texas Stadium on December 3rd, where they lost again, 24-17.
"You just despised that team. It was genuine... I despise them even more now, because they are so flamboyant.
- Joe Jacoby, 1996
"Because of my position, I'm not supposed to think that way. But in the back of my mind, in my heart, I never want to see them win. It's just inbred in my blood since I was a Commander. I bleed burgundy and gold. I will always have that in my soul - to hate the silver and blue."
- Mark May, TV network analyst, 1996
"I saw him and I thought 'Okay, here we go, right here at the airport..."
-Mark May, 1997, mentally preparing himself for a fistfight at the New Orleans Airport baggage claim, upon unexpectedly running into Randy White. White had made earlier comment to reporters that he couldn't stand May and would meet him anywhere to fight.
"I know we don't have any Dallas people here — they are the ugliest people in the world."
- Joe Gibbs during Fan Day, Training camp, 2005.
"This is my moment, this is my chance to make a difference, and you know, I just went for the ball, I attacked it, and I went and got it, ... I was gonna catch that ball, regardless of what happens..."
- Santana Moss, referring to the first touchdown during the Monday Night Miracle vs Dallas in Sept, 2005.
"I remember uh,... Coach Byner coming to me, he say 'hey, we goin' back atcha, get ready...'. To me, that was all I wanted to hear, you know. 'We goin' back atcha...'"
- Santana Moss, referring to what was said on the sidelines after the first TD catch
"One on one, that's all I want. I knew right then and there, I had him. I just ran a straight, you know, bee line post, man, you know, and it was on the money."
-Santana Moss, referring to his second TD catch
"This ****'s for the TRIO!",
-Santana Moss, to a video camera immediately after catching his 2nd TD pass at Texas Stadium in September, 2005. The trio he was referring to was Troy Aikman, Emmit Smith, and Michael Irving, who were being honored and included on the Ring of Fame at Texas Stadium that day.
"I mean, there wasn't a lot of hope for that one, yet we found out, you know, we found a way to win that game, AGAINST our rival, at their place, on Monday night, and uh, the locker room was just -- it was just unbelievable."
-Mark Brunell, Sept. 2005
"...one of the greatest moments for me in sports"
- Joe Gibbs after the game at Texas Stadium, September, 2005.
"The one person over there on our defense that you'd want to pick it up - got it."
-Joe Gibbs, referring to the Sean Taylor blocked kick return with :00 time left on Nov. 5, 2006
"We always seem to have these big, crazy endings. It's unbelievable."
- Renaldo Wynn, after beating Dallas with a Sean Taylor blocked kick runback and a Nick Novak field goal with zero time on the clock, Nov. 5, 2006
"Ever since I've been here, our games against Dallas have ... been wild."
-Jon Jansen, Nov. 5, 2006
"I'll tell you what - if you attend a Cowboy-Commanders game, you better not leave 'til that clock hits zero..."
-Joe Gibbs, Nov. 5, 2006
"**** Dallas"
- Chris Cooley, as autographed on one of his photos on his site
"These guys are done...we can do whatever we want now...",
- Tony Romo to a teammate on the bench, just after throwing a TD pass to Owens to open the second half and tie the game at 17 on Sept 28th, 2008 at Texas Stadium. Dallas would not score again until the final minute. Commanders won 26-24.
"Any Cowboys fan that thinks the Commanders game is just another game is either very young or very stupid."
-Anonymous veteran Dallas fan
"... pro football's greatest rivalry is raging once again."
-Pat Summerall, 1983
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYjIVw8af5o#t=03m38s
