How did the Cowboys fall in the 80s?

[Alexander]

you do know San Francisco also used the Flex in the 70's as well?

Sure. But after Landry nobody has attempted it since he exited the league. Nolan never perfected it. Variants sprang out, but just like Ryan's 46, there is only so much a protégé can take from a master.

 

[rpntex]

I would rather hear sources other than Skip Baseless God's Coach. Landry may have been human, but that book was harsh. Having said that, maybe the game was passing him, but other factors were in play:

• How do you replace HoF players like Staubach, White, Pearson (who should be HoF)?
• Was the rest of the NFL catching up with the Cowboys in recruiting?
• Was Gil Brant the one the game was passing him by?

I want to make a case that Bum Bright could be the real villain as he was determined to sell the Cowboys to an owner that would fire Landry. Was the terms as Bright bought the team he could not fire Landry or Schram? Anyway, I would have hoped Bright would have been more patient and not only get a good price for the Cowboys, but screen better for the next owner. I'm OK with it being time for Landry to go, but would have greatly preferred another Murchison, Kraft, or Rooney.

Bum Bright lost his a** in the S&L crash. Thus, what was once a cheap owner became a dirt cheap owner. Remember the QBs we had back in the mid-80's? Clint Stoerner? Gary Hogeboom? Where was the talent on those teams? This was before FA and the cap came into existence, so Bright CHOSE to not spend money on players. When Jerry Jones bought the team, the only player of any value was Hershel Walker.

As another poster put it, it didn't help that the league caught up in the scouting department. The things that set Gil Brandt and the Cowboys' personnel office apart from the rest of the league were no longer unique to Dallas.

I don't necessarily thing the game had passed Landry by, but I think he'd lost the edge he once had on other teams.

 

[jobberone]

Guilty as charged. The pathetic thing is that it is too easy anymore.

Well, yeah, up to a point. But the topic was the demise of the 80's teams not the Jerry Jones' era. So......

 

[jobberone]

The Flex broke into the top ten in 65 and stayed until Landry was gone except for 84 and 87 when they were 11th. So it was never the Flex that was the problem. Landry took the 4-3 to new heights in the 50s then the Flex in the 60s to beat running teams mostly the Packers then used it as a Run Zone defense later on. They didn't do so bad out of that with their pass rush either.

The game never passed Landry by on defense. He just ran out of great QBs and offenses.

 

[Wolfpack]

The drafting in the 80's fell off really bad. Look at the 1st round picks for 80-88 and see how that worked out? The core team was still from the late 70's but no new talent really came on after, IMHO.

 

[Alexander]

The drafting in the 80's fell off really bad. Look at the 1st round picks for 80-88 and see how that worked out? The core team was still from the late 70's but no new talent really came on after, IMHO.

The weird thing is in Brandt's last draft it seemed to get better. Irvin, Norton, Gogan and Hennings. Not too bad.

Nowadays, that would be considered a "Home Run" draft in the Jerry Jones era.

 

[joseephuss]

I don't think the game passed Landry by. He was the only coach to get the most out of Herschel Walker. The problem was the talent. They didn't replace enough of the aging stars and key contributors in the 80s.

 

[lane]

The Flex broke into the top ten in 65 and stayed until Landry was gone except for 84 and 87 when they were 11th. So it was never the Flex that was the problem. Landry took the 4-3 to new heights in the 50s then the Flex in the 60s to beat running teams mostly the Packers then used it as a Run Zone defense later on. They didn't do so bad out of that with their pass rush either.

The game never passed Landry by on defense. He just ran out of great QBs and offenses.

I don't think the game passed Landry by. He was the only coach to get the most out of Herschel Walker. The problem was the talent. They didn't replace enough of the aging stars and key contributors in the 80s.

really hated that thurman's thieves did not have an offense to reward them for all those turnovers.

 

[Alexander]

Since we are sort of on the subject:

Douglas Barricklow‏@HiddenYardage 3h
A nugget from @SullyBaldHead: Shortly b4 Jerry bought Cowboys, Tex Schramm had offered Jimmy Johnson d-coordinator job/head-coach-in-waiting

Gary Myers wrote about this in detail in his book as well.

 

[ScipioCowboy]

Enjoyable thread. Good information. Why did Bum Bright hate Landry?

 

[Doomsay]

80's might have been a little different had "the catch" not occurred, but Landry was clearly running out of magic - scheme and personnel-wise.

 

[Alexander]

Enjoyable thread. Good information. Why did Bum Bright hate Landry?

I cannot remember much being about the real reasons. Dallas was losing, Bright was cheap, he thought that Landry was done.

I do remember they were like oil and water. Different personalties perhaps.

 

[Alexander]

80's might have been a little different had "the catch" not occurred, but Landry was clearly running out of magic - scheme and personnel-wise.

Gary Myers wrote a good book on how the two franchises went in different directions.

That was what was so glorious about how we won our Super Bowls in the 1990s. We walked over the corpses of the 49ers.

 

[Plankton]

Enjoyable thread. Good information. Why did Bum Bright hate Landry?

Landry never gave him the time of day. He apparently gave Bright the cold shoulder at a team Christmas party, and Bright never forgot it, nor forgave him.

Interesting factoid - when Bear Bryant left Texas A&M to return to Alabama in 1958, Tom Landry was interviewed for the position (which ultimately went to Jim Myers, Landry's future offensive line coach with the Cowboys). The man who interviewed Landry? Bum Bright, one of the top regents at Texas A&M.

Bright indicated that he was "summarily unimpressed" with Landry.

 

[Plankton]

I would rather hear sources other than Skip Baseless God's Coach. Landry may have been human, but that book was harsh. Having said that, maybe the game was passing him, but other factors were in play:

• How do you replace HoF players like Staubach, White, Pearson (who should be HoF)?
• Was the rest of the NFL catching up with the Cowboys in recruiting?
• Was Gil Brant the one the game was passing him by?

I want to make a case that Bum Bright could be the real villain as he was determined to sell the Cowboys to an owner that would fire Landry. Was the terms as Bright bought the team he could not fire Landry or Schram? Anyway, I would have hoped Bright would have been more patient and not only get a good price for the Cowboys, but screen better for the next owner. I'm OK with it being time for Landry to go, but would have greatly preferred another Murchison, Kraft, or Rooney.

I have had a desire to write a book treatment on the Cowboys throughout their history, basically looking at 10 year sections. It seems that the years ending in 9 have been important years in Cowboy history.

To me, 1979 is one of those years. In that year:

• The Cowboys lost their final Super Bowl in the Landry era, and missed out on being the team of the 70s.
• The draft moved from January to May, then back to April, which robbed the Cowboys of a huge advantage in the draft. Now that teams had more time to actually scout college players, the information network built up by Brandt was no longer as effective. He began to reach for players, looking for "finds" along the lines of Calvin Hill. In 79, they drafted Robert Shaw, whose career ended in 1981 due to a car accident. They passed up Joe Montana in the third round, despite him being the highest rated player on their board, and selected Doug Cosbie instead - because they had Staubach, Danny White, and Glenn Carano. They deemed Carano to be worth more than Montana.
• Too Tall Jones retired for a year to box. The Cowboys traded multiple draft picks (1st and 2nd rounders in 1980) to the Colts to acquire John Dutton, who did not make up for Jones' absence.
  
• Tony Dorsett injured his foot in the preseason, after dropping a mirror on his foot (sign of bad luck to come?).
• Charlie Waters tore up his knee in a preseason game against the Seahawks, and missed the entire season.
  
• Hollywood Henderson's drug habit mushroomed completely out of control, and he was released after a loss to Washington where he was caught mugging at a sideline camera while the Cowboys were losing.
• Staubach's concussion issues became even more serious, as he was knocked out of games against the Steelers and Eagles.
• Drew Pearson injured his knee spiking the ball after a touchdown against the Giants, and was a shell of himself for the remainder of the season.
• The Cowboys lost the wild card round playoff game against the Rams on a deflected pass to Billy Waddy on a 50 yard pass play, and Staubach completed his final pass in the NFL.....to Herb Scott, the Cowboys LG.
• At the end of the season, Staubach, Cliff Harris and Rayfield Wright all retired.

They were never the same team again after that year. Yes, they made three straight championship games, but they could never get over the hump. The Eagles and Commanders both thumped them pretty good, and the Niner game ripped the heart out of the organization. To me, the biggest reason for failure beyond that year was the drafting falling completely off the cliff.

 

[jobberone]

Gary Myers wrote a good book on how the two franchises went in different directions.

That was what was so glorious about how we won our Super Bowls in the 1990s. We walked over the corpses of the 49ers.

I don't agree with that. The defense was always good. The offense wasn't terrible until 88 ranking 18, 11, 14, 11 then 21st. The fact Landry kept the defense in the top ten for basically 65 until his last year should be enough to say he still had it. He ran the offense too with an aging White and great armed but not good QB in Pelleur and still stayed in the top 15 for the most part. He had 4 divisional titles in nine years and went to 3 CC games, a WC game and a Div game. Not the usual for him but pretty darn good up until the end.

 

[jobberone]

I have had a desire to write a book treatment on the Cowboys throughout their history, basically looking at 10 year sections. It seems that the years ending in 9 have been important years in Cowboy history.

To me, 1979 is one of those years. In that year:

• The Cowboys lost their final Super Bowl in the Landry era, and missed out on being the team of the 70s.
• The draft moved from January to May, then back to April, which robbed the Cowboys of a huge advantage in the draft. Now that teams had more time to actually scout college players, the information network built up by Brandt was no longer as effective. He began to reach for players, looking for "finds" along the lines of Calvin Hill. In 79, they drafted Robert Shaw, whose career ended in 1981 due to a car accident. They passed up Joe Montana in the third round, despite him being the highest rated player on their board, and selected Doug Cosbie instead - because they had Staubach, Danny White, and Glenn Carano. They deemed Carano to be worth more than Montana.
• Too Tall Jones retired for a year to box. The Cowboys traded multiple draft picks (1st and 2nd rounders in 1980) to the Colts to acquire John Dutton, who did not make up for Jones' absence.
  
• Tony Dorsett injured his foot in the preseason, after dropping a mirror on his foot (sign of bad luck to come?).
• Charlie Waters tore up his knee in a preseason game against the Seahawks, and missed the entire season.
  
• Hollywood Henderson's drug habit mushroomed completely out of control, and he was released after a loss to Washington where he was caught mugging at a sideline camera while the Cowboys were losing.
• Staubach's concussion issues became even more serious, as he was knocked out of games against the Steelers and Eagles.
• Drew Pearson injured his knee spiking the ball after a touchdown against the Giants, and was a shell of himself for the remainder of the season.
• The Cowboys lost the wild card round playoff game against the Rams on a deflected pass to Billy Waddy on a 50 yard pass play, and Staubach completed his final pass in the NFL.....to Herb Scott, the Cowboys LG.
• At the end of the season, Staubach, Cliff Harris and Rayfield Wright all retired.

They were never the same team again after that year. Yes, they made three straight championship games, but they could never get over the hump. The Eagles and Commanders both thumped them pretty good, and the Niner game ripped the heart out of the organization. To me, the biggest reason for failure beyond that year was the drafting falling completely off the cliff.

Great post. Just great stuff.

 

[RSM94]

The primary reason that team declined in the 80s was lousy defense. Just go to pro football reference and look at the numbers. White and the offense were good enough to win the Super Bowl in the early 80s, but the rest of the team was not. Was White as good as Staubach.....no. Was he good enough to win a Superbowl.....yes. The early 80s Boys teams were particularly bad at stopping the run....and they intercepted a lot of passes but they gave up a lot of completions too. I remember no-names like Bill Ring and Earl Cooper running all over the Boys in the 1981 NFC Championship game. The Boys had a decent teams in the early-mid 80s through the first half of 1986....then the Giants broke White's wrist and it was all over for the Boys' in the 80s. Years of lousy drafting did them in until Jerry/Jimmy came along.

 

[jobberone]

Thanks for posting that. I went back to look at the numbers again on that site and I've gotten my figures wrong. Sry my bad. You're right. The defense was mediocre in the mid 80s and bad at the end. Again my bad.

 

[RSM94]

No worries....even Staubach could not win the Superbowl unless his defense was one of the best in the league......