The underrated great teams in Cowboys history by decade

[big dog cowboy]

The loss to Steelers in SB 13 is the most disappointing loss for me ever as a Cowboys fan.

It's 1A for me. 1B and 1C are the '68 loss to Cleveland and the Ice Bowl loss.

If the Cowboys win just those 3 games, the view of their pre-80's history changes dramatically. By light years.

 

[KJJ]

The underachievement award for the 2000s goes to the 2008 and 2010 teams. Practically everyone was picking the Cowboys to go to the Super Bowl after the huge disappointment in 2007 and they missed the playoffs. After their first playoff win in 13 years in 2009 everyone thought they would take off and end up in the Super Bowl in 2010. That team went 6-10 and saw the firing of the first Cowboys head coach during the season.

 

[Flamma]

07, slowly I turned, inch by inch, step by step.......

That was the year of the team and I do not speak of the Cowboys but our division opponent, the NY Football Giants. For I believe if not for them, the Patriots become the first 19-0 team in history because the Cowboys could not have handled them.

I knew the Cowboys were in for street fight when they closed out against NE in the regular season, they were not the same team the Cowboys had swept and swept easily. Too bad the Cowboys didn't realize that.

To go on the road to defeat the 13-3 Cowboys by 4 and then the other 13-3 team, the Packers, and beat them by 3 in OT and then face the team searching for history at 18-0 and looking every bit a 19-0 team but they would beat them by 3 and hold a juggernaut offense to 14 points. A truly great SB run.

I agree. I do not believe the Cowboys or the Packers beat the Patriots in the SB. That Giants team was a different team in the playoffs. And they had to get lucky to win the SB.

 

[Flamma]

That ‘68 team was incredible- look at that point differential- +245! Best in Cowboys history. They just slaughtered people by an avg score of 31-13! They dominated everyone until that playoff game. The ‘68 team was Don Meredith’s last hurrah. I still believe if they had done better in the playoffs that year, he would have played another year or two.

BTW Greggo- my working definition for “underrated” for this thread is teams that were close to greatness we don’t talk about much. I probably shouldn’t have included the 2007 team because it’s talked about a lot. Heck, we haven’t had many teams this century that were really very good anyway.

Too bad I was too young to watch those teams. I missed everything pre '74.

Not that I disagree with your '78 evaluation, it's that I don't think we can call a team that went to the SB underrated. I would go with the '76 team. Even though I don't believe they were as good as '78. But for me too that loss remains the most disappointed I've ever been as a fan. Followed closely by that loss 3 years later to the 49ers.

Keep in mind that in '78 we lost to a ridiculous team talent wise. Relatively speaking of course, that '78 team the Steelers had has to be among the best to ever take the field. They were like a juiced up '79 or '80 chargers team with a HOF RB and a great defense! But it still aggravates me.

 

[DFWJC]

Dude I left my house and went for drive. I was so down for at least a week as well.

freaking Patrick Clayton dropping those game winning Tds

Crushing
Crayton broke his route. Perfect game-winning TD pass that ends the Giants Super Bowl run......but no.

 

[StarBoyz83]

Crushing
Crayton broke his route. Perfect game-winning TD pass that ends the Giants Super Bowl run......but no.

That game was crushing. That was the last season I thought dallas was a contender.

 

[nalam]

That 07 Cowboys team had a great offense, but the defense was not great, especially as the season wore on. The back breaker in that 07 divisional round loss to the giants was when our D allowed that TD right before the half. We had old mo going into the locker room, then boom. Eli leads them down the field in like :30 seconds.

That 07 team was talented, but mental toughness always seemed to escape them. Much like Coach Cupcake.

Defense , especially secondary and run D at time was not good, that 30 sec TD killed the boys just before half time , NYG got the ball back and scored again , isnt it?

 

[Bobhaze]

That game was crushing. That was the last season I thought dallas was a contender.

Me too. Honestly, that was the only team in the last 24 years I thought could at least win the NFC. 2009 and 2014 were longer shots because they were lower seeds. 2016 we had the #1 seed but it was an extremely young team.

 

[Diehardblues]

Ok...that’s your definition of underrated and that’s fine. My definition of “underrated” was simply for this thread and it was meant to mean teams that aren’t talked about much. I’m not trying to be Noah Webster here. If you want to write a thread about underachieving Cowboys teams, please do.

Yea, teams “ that aren’t talked about much” I’m not sure are aligned well with underrated. I get your intent but in some cases I felt is misrepresented and why I responded. Have a good day !

 

[Flamma]

Crushing
Crayton broke his route. Perfect game-winning TD pass that ends the Giants Super Bowl run......but no.

Thanks for this. I really wanted to be depressed. What is wrong with him? Run your route! He had an easy pitch and catch TD. I don't get it. I've played WR all of my young life and I always wanted the ball. He seemed uninterested.

 

[Diehardblues]

Me too. Honestly, that was the only team in the last 24 years I thought could at least win the NFC. 2009 and 2014 were longer shots because they were lower seeds. 2016 we had the #1 seed but it was an extremely young team.

2014 was our best offense this era. As close to championship caliber we’ve had and Romo was most effective with dominant running game.

We’d already beaten Seahawks in Seattle. We would have had much confidence going in there. That was the one that possibly got away from us playing for a championship. We were playing very well in both playoff games. If the “ catch that wasn’t” isn’t overturned this era might have had a different ring to it.

That great offense was never fielded again with those Triplets. To me that was the biggest tragedy in this era.

 

[Bobhaze]

Too bad I was too young to watch those teams. I missed everything pre '74.

Not that I disagree with your '78 evaluation, it's that I don't think we can call a team that went to the SB underrated. I would go with the '76 team. Even though I don't believe they were as good as '78. But for me too that loss remains the most disappointed I've ever been as a fan. Followed closely by that loss 3 years later to the 49ers.

Keep in mind that in '78 we lost to a ridiculous team talent wise. Relatively speaking of course, that '78 team the Steelers had has to be among the best to ever take the field. They were like a juiced up '79 or '80 chargers team with a HOF RB and a great defense! But it still aggravates me.

That ‘78 team was so close to making the Cowboys the team of the 70s. They just ran into one of the best teams in NFL history, the ‘78 Steelers. That SB 13 may have been the SB with THE MOST HOFers in it. I believe there were about 15-16 HOFers in that game. Hard pressed to think of a SB matchup that had more than that one.

 

[Diehardblues]

Ice Bowl loss changed our course of history in 60’s.

SB V was my most heartbreaking loss. That was the one we gave away.

SB XIII , my 1st Super Bowl attended, we weren’t as great a team as SB XII defensively. We were 6 point underdogs. Steelers were most dominating team in the 70’s. And had a better chance of beating them in SB X.

As consistent a contender as we were from 1966- 1985 for the 20 consecutive winning seasons including 18 playoff appearances , 12 championship appearances and 5 Super Bowls is what could have been. And while we lost to many great teams we had enough talent to win more. We could have easily gone to 8-10 Super Bowls in that era and won 5 or more if we made it.

 

[ClappingCarrot]

You could make a case for the 2014 team as well.

Although they didn't have as many names on defense as the 07 squad, that's the most physical team we have fielded since Jimmy left.

 

[ClappingCarrot]

The 07 team is definitely not underrated. It is widely known, that was our best team since the last SB win.


Id go with the 09 team. We actually had an elite defense to go with a good offense.

I think Romo still has nightmares about that Vikings Divisional Playoff game. That offensive line was taken to the wood shed and of course 60 year Favre finally has his game against us in the playoffs.

Joker couldn't beat us in the 90s.

 

[Bobhaze]

Regarding SB XIII- According to my research, there were at least 19 Hall of Famers involved in that game, the most for any one SB game I could find.

 

[nalam]

Me too. Honestly, that was the only team in the last 24 years I thought could at least win the NFC. 2009 and 2014 were longer shots because they were lower seeds. 2016 we had the #1 seed but it was an extremely young team.

2016 young team yes , but defense and slow start killed us in play off, not to mention that guy Aaron Rogers . Still it could have gone to OT , except for that Always Holding GB OLs were not called for that miraculous play which set up the FG.

 

[Diehardblues]

Regarding SB XIII- According to my research, there were at least 19 Hall of Famers involved in that game, the most for any one SB game I could find.

Good stuff Bob!!

I found this on a Google search...

• Quite a few Super Bowls have also included 17 Hall of Famers when you include coaches and owners. The very first Super Bowl between the Packers and the Chiefs had 14 players enter the Hall of Fame, as well as both teams' head coaches, Vince Lombardiand Hank Stram, and the Chiefs' owner LamarHunt, for a total of 17.

 

[Flamma]

SB XIII , my 1st Super Bowl attended, we weren’t as great a team as SB XII defensively. We were 6 point underdogs. Steelers were most dominating team in the 70’s. And had a better chance of beating them in SB X.

I agree that Dallas had a better shot at the in Super Bowl X. But I kind of thought the Cowboys were a better team all around in '78 than they were in '77. I thought they peaked in '78. Then again, I'm just going by memory.

 

[glimmerman]

2016 fielded a great team. If Romo was healthy then he may have had a better season than Dak and when we hit the playoffs Romo I believe would have taken control of the Offense and we could have went further. Romo made up for some of JG down falls because he was in control of the Offense. Dak didn’t have the experience to call audibles and read defenses at that point.

JG always got out coached in the playoffs.