HeavyHitta31;1072588 said:
Here's the story of that game and a testement to how talented that team was:
We came in with a horrid game plan, were poorly prepared, and staggered out to a 21-0 deficit, and despite all the bad coaching and all the bad breaks, we were still a no call PI penalty on Deion Sanders from probably winning that game.
That was Aikman's best game ever IMO. After the first quarter he basically said "Screw it, I'm gonna do this myself". And he almost beat SF by himself that day.
Erik Williams out for the season because of his own stupid behavior. Switzer should not be blamed for the teams best lineman not being available for that game. It hurt the team two fold. At the time, Larry Allen a rookie had to play in his place. Second, Tuinei was just not that good that season. If Williams is on the field, then Allen plays left tackle and the line is in great shape. Of course Allen had to play on a pretty sore ankle as well.
Emmitt Smith also played that game with a bad hamstring. He was a non-factor and Blair Thomas who was signed late in the year was no real help. That had nothing to do with Swizer.
Aikman mad a bad read to start the game with a INT returned for a TD. That can't be put on Switzer.
Kevin Williams, a top pick by Jimmy Johnson fumbled a kick off return. Again, how is that Switzer's fault.
Michael Irvin fumbled a ball.
Barry did have some questionable play call scenarios toward the end of the half where they didn't run more of the clock down, but there were also other things that went beyond his control. They missed an easy FG attempt and Jerry Rice just made a great play against decent coverage by Brown. That is why Rice is one of the all time best. You could have decent coverage and he would still beat you.
Switzer was by no means a great NFL head coach. He had his faults and he did play a part in the demise of the Cowboys in the mid 90s, but he gets way too much blame. He was in a no win situation when he came to Dallas. He was never going to get credit if the team won and always going to get the blame when they lost. That was pre-determined before he ever coached a game. I never understood why people despised the guy. He wasn't the best, but he wasn't the worst thing to happen to Dallas either.
