Manster68
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Lion Thoughts
By Manster68
Cowboys Pride Staff Writer
The Detroit Lions:
- A team formerly known as the Portsmouth Spartans from 1930-1933.
- A team who is the dean of the NFL’s Thanksgiving Day games.
- A team, after 77 NFL seasons, has still lost more games than won.
- A team that is on its 23rd Head Coach.
- A team that remembers its last NFL Championship being 1957.
- A team with Hall of Famers such as Bobby Layne, Alex Karras, Joe Schmidt, and Barry and Charlie Sanders (and others).
- A team whose fan base has gotten used to losing.
- A team that trails Dallas 11-10 in all-time head-to-head matchups.
There was a time when the Cowboys supported a 6-1 edge in head-to-head matchups. The Lions only win came during Dallas’ inaugural 0-11-1 1960 campaign. Other than that, the Cowboys ruled during the 60s and 70s. Big blowout wins, like the opening day 59-13 massacre in 1968, were common. The 1975, 36-10 romp, saw the Cowboys rack up 11 sacks on Lions QB Greg Landry. The 37-0 beatdown came during Dallas’ Super Bowl XII Championship season of 1977.
Then the 1980s came along, and Detroit got a 3-1 edge in that decade. The loss most remembered was the 27-24 defeat where Dallas rolled out to a 17-0 2nd quarter lead. John Dutton left the game with an injury and Larry Bethea replaced him. However, Larry replaced Dutton more as a revolving door than a defensive tackle. Detroit just feeding Billy Sims right up that hole and Dallas was suddenly on their heels. With the game tied at 24 apiece, Lions Kicker Eddie Murray kicked a game-winning 47-yard field goal as time expired. Unfortunately for Dallas, wasn’t called was the TWELVE MEN ON THE FIELD for the kick!
That most likely cost the Cowboys home-field advantage throughout the 1981 playoffs. Had the Cowboys won, Dallas would not have lied down to the New York Giants on the final week of the season. The Cowboys would have had a 14-2 season with the 49ers having to go to Dallas for the Championship game. Very likely, the Catch would never have happened!
All thanks to twelve men on the field.
With the exception of Cowboy wins in 1986 and 1992, the Lions ruled the Cowboys in the 1980s and 1990s. The Cowboys got throttled TWICE in 1991 as the lack of secondary play and pass rush reared its ugly head. A heartbreaking 1994 overtime loss on Monday Night saw Barry Sanders run for 199 yards. That was Dallas’ first game in those wretched throwback uniforms.
It was also a Detroit-Dallas game that got pushed back to the final week of the 2001 season due to the tragic events of September 11th. With that game actually played on the first Sunday of 2002, Dallas would lose to the Lions twice that year as well.
During the Parcells era, the Cowboys played the Lions every season. Dallas won the first three games. The 2003 win saw a spectacular TD catch by Terry Glenn, and a pick-6 by Mario Edwards.
However, it was Detroit last December 30th that delivered Parcells his final regular season loss to date. It was a 39-31 air-affair that had many Cowboy fans steaming with anger. The anger not only stemmed from the Cowboys trend of December collapses during the Parcells era, but also from actions and words from a few Lion players.
Between Jon Kitna and Mike Furrey, it is Furrey the one I am most upset with. After his third TD catch, he went of by one of the stars hanging on the retainer wall and spiked the ball on it so hard that the ball knocked it off. Only a few feet above that was a child in one of those special wheel chairs made for children with cerebral palsy. He almost hit him. As angry as Cowboy fans were with Terrell Owens standing on the star in 2000, it seems as though that Furrey has been given a pass on his desecrating the star. Dallas needs to exact justice on him also!
Jon Kitna did not desecrate the star. Instead, he decided to desecrate on the Cowboy defense in an interview that many of us are well aware of by now. Unlike Furrey, this has not gone unnoticed. The punishment of these actions will be witnessed this Sunday in Ford Field in Detroit.
So what does Dallas have to play for?
- A win clinches the NFC Eastern Division title (the Cowboys 20th overall in 48 seasons)
- A win gives the Cowboys a two game lead on head-to-head matchups. A loss will tie it.
- A win will prevent Detroit from Kitna’s prediction of ten wins for the Lions.
- REVENGE!!!!
By Manster68
Cowboys Pride Staff Writer
The Detroit Lions:
- A team formerly known as the Portsmouth Spartans from 1930-1933.
- A team who is the dean of the NFL’s Thanksgiving Day games.
- A team, after 77 NFL seasons, has still lost more games than won.
- A team that is on its 23rd Head Coach.
- A team that remembers its last NFL Championship being 1957.
- A team with Hall of Famers such as Bobby Layne, Alex Karras, Joe Schmidt, and Barry and Charlie Sanders (and others).
- A team whose fan base has gotten used to losing.
- A team that trails Dallas 11-10 in all-time head-to-head matchups.
There was a time when the Cowboys supported a 6-1 edge in head-to-head matchups. The Lions only win came during Dallas’ inaugural 0-11-1 1960 campaign. Other than that, the Cowboys ruled during the 60s and 70s. Big blowout wins, like the opening day 59-13 massacre in 1968, were common. The 1975, 36-10 romp, saw the Cowboys rack up 11 sacks on Lions QB Greg Landry. The 37-0 beatdown came during Dallas’ Super Bowl XII Championship season of 1977.
Then the 1980s came along, and Detroit got a 3-1 edge in that decade. The loss most remembered was the 27-24 defeat where Dallas rolled out to a 17-0 2nd quarter lead. John Dutton left the game with an injury and Larry Bethea replaced him. However, Larry replaced Dutton more as a revolving door than a defensive tackle. Detroit just feeding Billy Sims right up that hole and Dallas was suddenly on their heels. With the game tied at 24 apiece, Lions Kicker Eddie Murray kicked a game-winning 47-yard field goal as time expired. Unfortunately for Dallas, wasn’t called was the TWELVE MEN ON THE FIELD for the kick!
That most likely cost the Cowboys home-field advantage throughout the 1981 playoffs. Had the Cowboys won, Dallas would not have lied down to the New York Giants on the final week of the season. The Cowboys would have had a 14-2 season with the 49ers having to go to Dallas for the Championship game. Very likely, the Catch would never have happened!
All thanks to twelve men on the field.
With the exception of Cowboy wins in 1986 and 1992, the Lions ruled the Cowboys in the 1980s and 1990s. The Cowboys got throttled TWICE in 1991 as the lack of secondary play and pass rush reared its ugly head. A heartbreaking 1994 overtime loss on Monday Night saw Barry Sanders run for 199 yards. That was Dallas’ first game in those wretched throwback uniforms.
It was also a Detroit-Dallas game that got pushed back to the final week of the 2001 season due to the tragic events of September 11th. With that game actually played on the first Sunday of 2002, Dallas would lose to the Lions twice that year as well.
During the Parcells era, the Cowboys played the Lions every season. Dallas won the first three games. The 2003 win saw a spectacular TD catch by Terry Glenn, and a pick-6 by Mario Edwards.
However, it was Detroit last December 30th that delivered Parcells his final regular season loss to date. It was a 39-31 air-affair that had many Cowboy fans steaming with anger. The anger not only stemmed from the Cowboys trend of December collapses during the Parcells era, but also from actions and words from a few Lion players.
Between Jon Kitna and Mike Furrey, it is Furrey the one I am most upset with. After his third TD catch, he went of by one of the stars hanging on the retainer wall and spiked the ball on it so hard that the ball knocked it off. Only a few feet above that was a child in one of those special wheel chairs made for children with cerebral palsy. He almost hit him. As angry as Cowboy fans were with Terrell Owens standing on the star in 2000, it seems as though that Furrey has been given a pass on his desecrating the star. Dallas needs to exact justice on him also!
Jon Kitna did not desecrate the star. Instead, he decided to desecrate on the Cowboy defense in an interview that many of us are well aware of by now. Unlike Furrey, this has not gone unnoticed. The punishment of these actions will be witnessed this Sunday in Ford Field in Detroit.
So what does Dallas have to play for?
- A win clinches the NFC Eastern Division title (the Cowboys 20th overall in 48 seasons)
- A win gives the Cowboys a two game lead on head-to-head matchups. A loss will tie it.
- A win will prevent Detroit from Kitna’s prediction of ten wins for the Lions.
- REVENGE!!!!
