Cowboys-Steelers have a great history

[Rayman70]

I think you’re mixing up years.

The Atlanta game was the year they had to beat Philly on the last day of the regular season…and by a lot of points…to win the division. They won but not by enough, as total points were some sort of tiebreaker. Beat the Rams at home in the WC round, then came the Atlanta game, then lost at Philly in CG game, which I’m fully confident they would have won if at home.

The following season they won the division, but didn’t have the one seed, so the CG was at SF, another Im fully convinced they win if at home. That was the catch game….and yeah that play at the end goes forgotten. Made it all that tougher to deal with.

Your right. Philly had to play the Raiders in the SB in 81.

 

[ArtClink]

Randy White doesn't get nearly enough blame for that gaffe because people like piling on Jackie Smith but it's that fumble that basically lost the game.

It was an accidental flubbed kick and Randy White had a cast on one hand. Sometimes stuff happens. Im not a guy to blame refs but they threw zero flags on Pittsburg. Come on.

 

[Cowboys5217]

One more trivia note: The first win the Cowboys ever had in the regular season was against the Steelers on 9-17-1961, the opening game. This was also the first opening game of a season the Cowboys ever won.

 

[ArtClink]

Those losses to the Steelers were rough but I died the day Montana threw it to Dwight Clark in SF. And then to see Drew Pearson almost run for a long TD after the 49ers TD …

The catch game still hurts.

 

[MarcusRock]

It was an accidental flubbed kick and Randy White had a cast on one hand. Sometimes stuff happens. Im not a guy to blame refs but they threw zero flags on Pittsburg. Come on.

Then maybe handle the ball in your good hand and avoid contact if you can't hold on or cover up. There was no excuse for that. None. And the Steelers had 5 penalties in that game. Looking up the boxscore is pretty easy. Come on.

 

[ClappingCarrot]

Zeke's touchdown run against the Steelers in 2016 is one of my favorite moments from the current era (not that there are many).

After Ben faked the spike and threw the touchdown to Antonio Brown, everyone in the building thought the game was over. My Pittsburgh buddy wouldn't talk to me for a month.

Wasn't alive for the 1970's Super Bowls, but I can imagine most of the boomers here had to have been sick of Lynn Swann and John Stallworth.

 

[ArtClink]

Then maybe handle the ball in your good hand and avoid contact if you can't hold on or cover up. There was no excuse for that. None. And the Steelers had 5 penalties in that game. Looking up the boxscore is pretty easy. Come on.

I wasn’t saying come on to you but the refs. I do remember the Steelers were not penalized when one of their players picked up Cliff Harris and body slammed him on his head. Hey we were not the better team but the better team doesn’t always win.

 

[lurkercowboy]

I know they were less important games, but the starters used to play more in preseason and it was more intense. The Cowboys would often play the Steelers in the late 70s and early 80s and they were entertaining. Here is one from 1979 with Bradshaw and Staubach dueling it out to the end.

 

[FrankM]

Then maybe handle the ball in your good hand and avoid contact if you can't hold on or cover up. There was no excuse for that. None. And the Steelers had 5 penalties in that game. Looking up the boxscore is pretty easy. Come on.

I’m wondering why they had Randy White a starting DT on special teams. And on the receiving team with a cast on. That had disaster written all over it. Imagined if something like that happened today the head coach would get destroyed.

 

[noshame]

Wonderful, Bob, you had to post this right before dinner.

 

[DallasDW00ds0n]

Steelers are about to throttle this team

 

[KJJ]

You mean them shooting up roids in the 70’s and stealing the rings off our fingers?

Take off your fan cap, the Cowboys simply got beat. I was around to watch them. Even Landry admitted they were more physical. The Cowboys had a finesse team and made a lot of mistakes. The Steelers of the 70s were one of the all-time great teams. They won back-to-back Super Bowls twice within six years. Physical teams always got the better of the Cowboys in the big games except for our 90s teams which were very physical teams. There was no finesse when Jimmy arrived. It was pure physicality.

 

[Cowboys5217]

There was mental aspect to the Steelers Cowboys in the 1970s that lasted into the early 1980s. The Steelers won 5 in a row and it seemed like Dallas simply couldn't beat them. They could beat everyone else, even teams that could occasionally beat Pittsburgh like Denver, but they were whipped dogs with Pittsburgh.

Not only the two SB losses, but a loss during 1977 where Dallas looked like they might go undefeated, and they did beat Denver in the SB.

In 1979 they lost twice to Pittsburgh, SBXIII in January, and a regular season loss in October.

There was also a loss in the 1982 strike season when the Cowboys were a much better team on paper.

 

[links18]

If you are a Steelers fan, sure.

 

[Point-of-the-Star]

Any long time fans of the Dallas Cowboys will certainly remember that mentioning the name of the Pittsburgh Steelers can still induce heartburn and frustration. In the 1970s, the steelers were the only team that stood in the way of the Cowboys winning four SBs in that decade instead of two.

To this day, the loss in SB XIII is the toughest loss I’ve ever felt as a long time Cowboys fan. That 35-31 loss was so full of “what could have been” plays like the infamous Jackie Smith drop in the end zone or the phantom PI call on Benny Barnes or the crazy kickoff fumble by Randy White. I’m feeling all that frustration all over again as I type this. But I digress.

Hoping the Cowboys can find a way Sunday to pull one out. This is a great series between two of the most storied franchises in NFL history.

Well, they really should have won the SB against the Balt. Dolts. So technically there could have been 3 more wins.

Ahhh . . . you had to bring up SB XIII.

Hardest loss I ever endured (like you) as a fan. I was in my early 20's and was really beginning to understand the game some. This game is when I started calling the Pittsburg team the Stealers. The DPI on Barnes was total BS. And Lambert should have been ejected for picking up Cliff Harris and slamming him head first onto the ground AFTER the play. There wasn't even a penalty. Rooney's refs I called them after that game. And for sure Dallas made their bad plays especially the Jackie Smith drop. Roger was magnificent though as Captain Comeback !

That day is burnt into my old brain's memory banks. As I drove home from my grandparent's house and noting that deer season had ended just a week or so earlier, 2 huge bucks ran across the road right in front of me and one slipped and fell right in the middle of the road. I was laughing and crying at the same time.

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

The same thought occurred to me this morning as I was thinking what game was on and when. Gosh such a long time ago! But two mighty foes and heart breaks for sure! Golden age of football.

 

[leeblair]

Any long time fans of the Dallas Cowboys will certainly remember that mentioning the name of the Pittsburgh Steelers can still induce heartburn and frustration. In the 1970s, the steelers were the only team that stood in the way of the Cowboys winning four SBs in that decade instead of two.

To this day, the loss in SB XIII is the toughest loss I’ve ever felt as a long time Cowboys fan. That 35-31 loss was so full of “what could have been” plays like the infamous Jackie Smith drop in the end zone or the phantom PI call on Benny Barnes or the crazy kickoff fumble by Randy White. I’m feeling all that frustration all over again as I type this. But I digress.

The Cowboys hold a 17-16 all time series lead over the Steelers, which includes the Steelers 2-1 lead in playoff wins, all in SBs. These two teams have played some of the greatest games in NFL history. SB X and SB XIII were both close 4 point Cowboys losses. The Cowboys got a dose of revenge in SB XXX when Larry Brown essentially became Steeler QB Neil O’Donnell‘s best receiver. Unfortunately the Steelers have 6 SB wins to our 5.

Some interesting tidbits of this series:

• In regular season games, both teams have played 15 games at their respective home stadiums. Dallas is 9-6 and Pitts is 8-7.
• Pittsburgh leads in the playoff matchups 2-1. SBs X and XIII were both in Miami. Our SB XXX win was in Arizona.
• The series started 64 years ago with the Steelers winning the first game 34-27 in Sept, 1960 at the Cotton Bowl.
• The last meeting took place at AT&T in 2020 and the Steelers won 24-19.
• The Cowboys longest winning streak in the series was 7 straight between 1964-72. The longest steeler streak was 5 straight between 1975 -82.
• Since 2000, the Steelers are 3-2 against the Cowboys.
• The last time the two teams met in Pittsburgh was in 2016 in that great Cowboys comeback win where Zeke scored late to seal a thrilling 35-30 win.
• Some recent Cowboys players who also played for the Steelers include Flozell Adams, Chaz Green, Taco Charlton and Mat McBriar.

Hoping the Cowboys can find a way Sunday to pull one out. This is a great series between two of the most storied franchises in NFL history.

Dallas was the better team in the 35-31 loss to the Steelers-and it wasn't close.
I am mad at you, Bob, for bringing up this memory. It hurt all over.
From the opening drive to Hollywood Henderson's strip sack of Bradshaw for a touchdown, to Bradshaw's interceptions, the Cowboys dominated the Stealers. That is,until the referees got involved. The PI call on Barnes infuriated Cowboys fans and signaled who the refs were favoring.
A little trivia for you: Do you know who the Cowboys running back was that broke Jack Lambert's ribs that night?
It was Scott Laidlaw, who executed a textbook blitz pickup on Lambert on the very play that allowed Staubach to find Jackie Smith wide open in the end zone.
Lambert went to the bench fighting for breath as Septien kicked the field goal.
It was a heartbreaking loss, but for those who watched it we knew that the Cowboys were the better- surprisingly much better- team.
By the way: Staubach was quoted in one book as saying the dropped pass was his fault because Smith was so wide open he was surprised and took some velocity off of the ball to make sure Smith caught it, but it made the ball come slightly behind Smith, causing him to drop it.

 

[FrankM]

I’m wondering why they had Randy White a starting DT on special teams? And on the receiving team with a cast on his hand. That had disaster written all over it.

Does anyone remember if Tom Landry got criticized for that? Imagined if something like that happened today the head coach would get destroyed.

 

[Rayman70]

We were so good in 80-83..the games kinda run together. I mean we KNOW how good we were in the 70's but what gets lost on many is how close we were to a SB in the early to mid 80's. Landry was doing it with guys like Pearson, Timmy Newsome, Ron Springs lol... of course, can't forget Newhouse and Tony D. The team was supposed to be declining but Tom sure got more out of less back then. Atlanta should have beaten us in that playoff game at Fulton County Stadium. But the shear will power of the team took over late.

 

[Pipelayer72]

For me the catch game marked a point in Cowboy history where a slow decline started. I remember the Cowboys getting to the NFCCG against Washington and losing. Not sure but I think the Cowboys lost in the NFCCG 3 years in a row. It's always tough when your favorite team gets so close that many times but it's still exciting to be in contention regularly.