Cowboys-Dolphins Question

BundyAl

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After watching the YouTube clip of when T.O. "rolled footage" against Miami, I got to wondering about the last time Dallas had played down there... I think it was in 1996, Switzer's third year.

I have heard that game against the Fins was a big deal and it was immensely hyped.

A few questions:

1. I heard that game had a nickname. Anybody know?

2. Why was there so much hype for that game?

3. I know Dallas won, but who played the biggest role in that game?
 

AmericasTeam81

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Irvin caught 12 passes that day, Emmitt scored on a pass reception. It was hyped because it was the first time Jimmy Johnson coached against his former team. The nickname I believe was the commotion by the ocean
 

Nors

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I was personally at that game. Aikman and Irvin had a great game. It was Johnson's first game coaching against Dallas. We won rather easily.
 

tyke1doe

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BundyAl;1858859 said:
After watching the YouTube clip of when T.O. "rolled footage" against Miami, I got to wondering about the last time Dallas had played down there... I think it was in 1996, Switzer's third year.

I have heard that game against the Fins was a big deal and it was immensely hyped.

A few questions:

1. I heard that game had a nickname. Anybody know?

2. Why was there so much hype for that game?

3. I know Dallas won, but who played the biggest role in that game?

1. The Image Bowl.

2. This was the first time Jerry Jones was playing against Jimmy Johnson (Miami's head coach) following their bitter breakup.

3. Irvin. He had 12 catches for 186 yards and a touchdown. He was playing in front of his home crowd (remember, he grew up in Miami) and was fresh because he had served a four-game suspension due to drug use. This was his third game back from suspension. Of course, Aikman also had a great game 33-41-0-363 yards and 3 TDs.
 

kbman

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Tuesday, October 22, 1996

Miami-Dallas: more about hope than hype
By Greg Cote
Knight-Ridder Newspapers
(Oct. 22, 1996)

MIAMI (KRT) - What once seemed impossible now occurs. There is something bigger than the hype. There is something more vital to Dolphins-Cowboys than all of the Jimmy/Jerry/Barry stuff simmering and roiling on the periphery.

Desperation, it is called.

The T-shirts call Sunday's football game here The Commotion by the Ocean, but this is no heavyweight championship. The shirts trumpet Jimmy Does Dallas, but this is no personal grudge - not first nor foremost.

This is a game between 4-3 teams in a rugged patch of schedule that could effectively jettison either from the NFL playoff race right quick.

For all the luster and anticipation and guaranteed TV rating, Miami-Dallas arrives as a game humbled by its participants' own failings. The matchup is less about hype than hope. See, the loser won't have much.

The loser will be a .500 team at midyear. For Dallas, Miami is followed by a treacherous troika of Eagles, 49ers and Packers. For Miami, on deck is a long, tough run of Patriots-Colts-Oilers-Steelers-Raiders.

Jimmy Johnson did his best Monday to soft-pedal the soap opera and hit at the core of the game. This was a hard sell. Keep in mind J.J. was addressing a media multitude that hoped one juicy anti-Jerry Jones quote from Jimmy (or vice versa) would be the axis on which the entire week would spin.

No such luck.

Give Double-J a juggernaut team and he'll guarantee a victory and dare you to put it in a three-inch headline. Give him a team coming off its third loss in four games and he will be what comes so unnaturally: modest.

"We're 4-3," he said, eyebrows pinched in a V to betray his displeasure. "Our focus all week should be us playing up to our capabilities."

This wasn't just media Pablum. He said the same in a team meeting Monday. Steering focus will be a lot of what Johnson does this week.

"He's a lot more concerned right now trying to end up 5-3," said quarterback Bernie Kosar, one of Miami's three ex-Cowboys along with defensive end Daniel Stubbs and cornerback Robert Bailey. "There's no downplaying this game is important to him personally. But that's not his priority."

Better not be. J.J. letting his personal feelings go unpenned this week would be a stick of dynamite under his team's focus.

It (almost) goes without saying there is personal animus at work here. Johnson gave Cowboys owner Jerry Jones two Super Bowl titles, but by the end their great, clashing egos won out and Jones drew blood with the parting shot, claiming "any of 500" coaches could have won with Dallas' talent.

Then Jones picked Johnson's arch rival to replace him, as if by design. J.J.'s dislike of Barry Switzer is such, Johnson banned Dallas writer Kevin Sherrington from Dolphins camp this week. Why?

Because Sherrington asked Johnson for a reaction to a strange tale supposedly told to the writer by Switzer - that Johnson's ex-wife has been keeping in contact by letter ... with Switzer.

Johnson's response is muted by design when you ask about his relationship with Jones and Switzer.
"That's really a distraction for our team," he says. "I don't think that has anything to do with the game. I won't even address it."

J.J. addresses a somewhat more pressing matter this week:
Saving his season.

(Greg Cote is a sports columnist for the Miami Herald. Write to him at: Miami Herald, One Herald Plaza, Miami, Fla. 33132.)
All content copyright 1996, KRT, The Abilene Reporter-News and Reporter OnLine
 

Dodger12

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Nors;1858908 said:
I was personally at that game. Aikman and Irvin had a great game. It was Johnson's first game coaching against Dallas. We won rather easily.

I was at that game as well. The following day, Jimmy Johnson was roasted in the Miami papers for his perceived failure to adjust the D, as Aikman and Irvin just literally played pitch and catch all day with the CB's playing 10 yards off of our WR's. It was painful to watch for Miami fans, as the game was never in doubt and we just dominated on both sides of the ball. I guess people just thought that Jimmy had some magical formula to stop our O since he coached them in Dallas but that team was such a machine than even Switzer had a hard time screwing it up.
 

joseephuss

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I remember Dan Marino fumbling a ball deep in Dallas territory and Darren Woodson picking it up and started racing down field for what should have been an easy TD. The refs came in and ruled it a incomplete pass and not a fumble. It was a bad call.
 
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