Epic game from 1986; Atlanta At Dallas week 3!

[Vtwin]

I remember that game. It was on a small tv in the kitchen I was working in at the time so I was only getting bits and pieces as I snuck back when I could. I did ignore everything I was supposed to be doing to watch the final drive. I couldn't watch the replays without running the risk of being fired. I remember being ticked off at Tony Hill for not stepping out of bounds to set up the field goal. After seeing this it looks like it would have been closer than I thought at the time. I may have been to hard on him.

I also remember not being able to shake the feeling that the Cowboys arrow was pointing down for the first time in a long time.

Thanks for posting this.

 

[physeter]

Sherrard was a rookie in 1986 and had a promising season. He broke his leg in 1987.

Because Sherrard didn't pan out, the Cowboys selected another WR in the first round of the 1988 draft. A guy from the U named Michael Irvin

 

[physeter]

I remember that game. It was on a small tv in the kitchen I was working in at the time so I was only getting bits and pieces as I snuck back when I could. I did ignore everything I was supposed to be doing to watch the final drive. I couldn't watch the replays without running the risk of being fired. I remember being ticked off at Tony Hill for not stepping out of bounds to set up the field goal. After seeing this it looks like it would have been closer than I thought at the time. I may have been to hard on him.

I also remember not being able to shake the feeling that the Cowboys arrow was pointing down for the first time in a long time.

Thanks for posting this.

However, the arrival of Herschel Walker and of coach Hacketf made a difference to the offense. They were a scoring machine and the team started 6-2, until D. White broke his wrist during the second game against the Giants. Lack of depth (Steve Pelluer and Reggie Collier) at the QB position was too much to overcome that year. First losing season in a long time.

 

[JohnsKey19]

These are the guys I grew up as a kid watching. Downs, Cosbie, Walls, Septian and Too Tall to name a few. After the loss to the Skins in the NFC Title game in 83, we never really contended for anything in the 80s but the team was always entertaining to watch for the most part until they bottomed out late in the decade.

 

[DandyDon1722]

Because Sherrard didn't pan out, the Cowboys selected another WR in the first round of the 1988 draft. A guy from the U named Michael Irvin

Yep - what's interesting is Sherrad was from UCLA and liked running on the beach and the team told him in no uncertain terms no training on the beach - so of course he does it anyways breaks his leg and we draft my favorite player of all time.

Thank you Mike Sherrad!

 

[unionjack8]

Our drafts in the 80s pretty much all sucked. That's why the organization fell apart in the late 80s.

they fell apart because gil brandt got old and its no good knowing the name of a college seniors pet goldfish or having a story about when he fell out of a tree when he was 9 if you select the wrong players. Gil blew it in the 80's, blew it bad.

 

[chagus]

Dorsett's speed was still evident. Man, could he fly!

 

[lane]

First game against the Giants that season

One of my favorite memories..I have this game on dvd.

bought it off e bay..blurry..but still good.

I wish someone would post the 1984 thanksgiving game against the Patriots..that game holds special memories for me because of many reasons.

 

[lane]

Could you imagine if Michael and Everson played in our secondary in the past ten years.we damn sure would have at least one ring .

Michael was the ringleader of Thurman's Thieves..and he did a fantastic job of leading that group.

 

[lane]

Tom Rafferty is one of my favorite Cowboys ever.

 

[Hardline]

If Tony Hill would have ran out of bounds on that last play one second sooner, Septien would have kicked the game winner

 

[windjc]

That was a game Dallas literally gave away with flags and turnovers. Not fun to watch. Sorry.

 

[KJJ]

What!?!.... you couldn't show the playoff game at Atlanta- Fulton County Stadium where Danny White led the
Cowboys to a come-from-behind victory????.....

That was arguably the best game of Danny White's career unfortunately he followed it up with possibly the worst game of his career in Philly with a SB birth on the line.

 

[lwehlers]

thank you for the old replay games. they were great to watch. I never saw the falcons game because back in the eighties we of course did not have the ticket and only had to watch the network game In my are which was the chiefs or cardinals. the only games I really got to watch was the Monday night football games or the three o'clock games when the cowboys were on.

 

[KJJ]

1986? What a horrible year to remember.

It got much worse a couple of years later but the 86 season was officially the beginning of the end for the Landry era.

 

[KJJ]

The late 80s were tough years for the Cowboys. But this was a great game. And this was probably our best team till the 90s. Started 6-2, gave New York one of their 2 losses that year the first game of the season and were very close to a 4-0 start that year.

Unfortunately 7 wins was the best the Cowboys could muster until the 91 season. You could tell the floor was about to cave in the way the 85 season finished with blowout losses to SF in the season finale and the Rams in the playoffs. The team was aging and the bad drafts finally caught up with the Cowboys.

 

[KJJ]

Our drafts in the 80s pretty much all sucked. That's why the organization fell apart in the late 80s.

The demise of the Cowboys were a result of the bad drafts that caught up with the team by the mid 80's, Danny White reaching the end of the line and Landry's inability to change with the times. Landry was stuck in the 60's and 70's and it's hard to teach an old coach new tricks. The younger innovative coaches like Gibbs and Walsh were out coaching Landry and were building better teams. The Cowboys had so much success for 2 decades doing things a certain way it was all they knew and eventually everyone caught up to what they were doing.

Landry was married to the flex defense that became so outdated that even his own players were trying to get him to part ways with it by the early 80's. It was developed to stop Lombardi's power sweep in the 60's but it had no answers vs Bill Walsh's west coast offense in the 80's. Although things came apart for Landry and the old regime by the late 80's his best draft during that decade was his final draft in 88 that produced Michael Irvin and Ken Norton Jr with the Cowboys first 2 picks. Both players became very instrumental in the Cowboys championship success during the 90's.

 

[windward]

Unfortunately 7 wins was the best the Cowboys could muster until the 91 season. You could tell the floor was about to cave in the way the 85 season finished with blowout losses to SF in the season finale and the Rams in the playoffs. The team was aging and the bad drafts finally caught up with the Cowboys.

There was also that blowout in Cincinnati right after Thanksgiving. Cowboys were obliterated, 50-24.

 

[joseephuss]

The demise of the Cowboys were a result of the bad drafts that caught up with the team by the mid 80's, Danny White reaching the end of the line and Landry's inability to change with the times. Landry was stuck in the 60's and 70's and it's hard to teach an old coach new tricks. The younger innovative coaches like Gibbs and Walsh were out coaching Landry and were building better teams. The Cowboys had so much success for 2 decades doing things a certain way it was all they knew and eventually everyone caught up to what they were doing.

Landry was married to the flex defense that became so outdated that even his own players were trying to get him to part ways with it by the early 80's. It was developed to stop Lombardi's power sweep in the 60's but it had no answers vs Bill Walsh's west coast offense in the 80's. Although things came apart for Landry and the old regime by the late 80's his best draft during that decade was his final draft in 88 that produced Michael Irvin and Ken Norton Jr with the Cowboys first 2 picks. Both players became very instrumental in the Cowboys championship success during the 90's.

I disagree on Landry not learning new tricks. Dallas did drop the flex defense. On offense Landry got a lot of use out of Herschel Walker with mostly poor QB play at the time. No one would have envisioned Walker catching 76 passes in a season when he made it to the NFL, but that is what Dallas did.

Chad Hennings was also part of that 1988 draft class.

 

[windward]

I disagree on Landry not learning new tricks. Dallas did drop the flex defense. On offense Landry got a lot of use out of Herschel Walker with mostly poor QB play at the time. No one would have envisioned Walker catching 76 passes in a season when he made it to the NFL, but that is what Dallas did.

Chad Hennings was also part of that 1988 draft class.

The offensive line was pretty terrible in this least few years too. With an aging front seven and a mediocre secondary it was no shock the wheels fell off by 88.