Traipsing Down Cowboys Memory Lane

[Hostile]

I've been wondering about something for quite a while and have never bothered to ask. If you look back on all of the Cowboys previous seasons and their depth at the positions, what years do you consider it absolutely the best in our History.

QB Corps...

RB Corps...

WR Corps...

TE Corps...

OL...

DL...

LB Corps...

Secondary...



I'll post mine in a minute as I look them up. Feel free to explain any of your answers if you wish.

 

[jobberone]

I'll take Roger and Danny over Roger and Morton although its close. Meredith and LaBaron are third.

I have to think about the others.

 

[BoysFanInAustin]

DL is obviously 1992 with Haley, Casillas, Maryland, and Tolbert starting with Jeffcoat, Lett, Jimmie Jones, and Chad Hennings backing them up!

 

[Hostile]

QB Corps...1977 to 1979 for me. Roger was Captain America. I had absolute faith in Danny White, and I thought Glenn Carano could start for some NFL teams. I was wrong about that, but I always liked him.

RB Corps...1970 to 1971. That was when I still believed Duane Thomas could have been great. He could have been if he had kept his head in the game. I loved Calvin Hill. Walt Garrison and Dan Reeves played wonderful roles on those teams. In fact, it was discussions about Dan Reeves and the halfback option pass that got me to thinking about this topic.

WR Corps...1977 to 1978. It is hard for me to put any group over the HOF tandem years of Bob Hayes and Lance Alworth, but the arrival of Tony Hill to join Drew Pearson, Butch Johnson, and Golden Richards had me wanting Roger to throw the ball more than they did in those days. Of course he couldn't it as much as the Air Coryell Chargers because we had Tony Dorsett and they didn't. I always felt that corps of receivers could have rivaled the Chargers if we played the way they did.

TE Corps...Truthfully, Jason Witten is so superior to any TE we have ever had that I will simply say right now.

OL...1992 to 1995. I cannot think of an OL I have ever had more confidence in. Nor do I suspect I ever will. They did not open holes, they blew DLs up. Heaven help you if you were a LB and had to face one of those monsters. The arrival of Larry Allen in 1994 brought the most dominant player our OL has ever seen. I have said it before, I think LA may be the most dominant player we have ever had.

DL...1975 to 1983 minus 1980. When the Cowboys added John Dutton to Ed Jones, Harvey Martin, and Randy White, I thought it was heaven. In 1980 Too Tall decided to box, but every other season they were a force. Prior to Dutton's arrival in 1979 we still had Jethro Pugh whom I always thought was under rated because he played next to Bob Lilly and then Randy White.

LB Corps...1970 to 1972. Two of our three LBs (Jordan and Howley) in these years are in the ROH and one deserves the HOF so bad that it gives me aches. Dave Edwards was one of our most under rated LBs ever and coming off the bench was DD Lewis, who I always had faith in.

Secondary...1970 to 1972. Cliff Harris and Charlie Waters were young pups as the Safety tandem, but oh my goodness did they ever have depth back there. Herb Adderley was there. Mel Renfro was there. Both are Hall of Famers. Cornell Green was also there and I have long contended that he is the most under appreciated star in our History. If you don't know how good Cornell Green was, then I feel awful for you. I think Cliff Harris deserves the HOF. I also think Cornell deserves to be considered. In other words, 4 of our top 5 guys in that secondary are HOF worthy.

 

[jack2]

I would probably go with the 1971 team at almost every position
Qb. Staubach and morton
Rb. Calvin, hill, d thomas and w garrison
Wr. B hayes, l. Rentzel
Te b truax, m ditka
Ol. Neely, niland, liscio, nye and rayfield
Dl. Cole, pugh, lilly and andrie
Lb Howley, jordan and edwards
Db aderley, renfro, harris and Cornell green

 

[CooterBrown]

DL is obviously 1992 with Haley, Casillas, Maryland, and Tolbert starting with Jeffcoat, Lett, Jimmie Jones, and Chad Hennings backing them up!

DL is obviously 1978 with Too Tall Jones, John Dutton, Randy White, and Harvey Martin.

 

[CooterBrown]

QB Corps...1977 to 1979 for me. Roger was Captain America. I had absolute faith in Danny White, and I thought Glenn Carano could start for some NFL teams. I was wrong about that, but I always liked him.

RB Corps...1970 to 1971. That was when I still believed Duane Thomas could have been great. He could have been if he had kept his head in the game. I loved Calvin Hill. Walt Garrison and Dan Reeves played wonderful roles on those teams. In fact, it was discussions about Dan Reeves and the halfback option pass that got me to thinking about this topic.

WR Corps...1977 to 1978. It is hard for me to put any group over the HOF tandem years of Bob Hayes and Lance Rentzel, but the arrival of Tony Hill to join Drew Pearson, Butch Johnson, and Golden Richards had me wanting Roger to throw the ball more than they did in those days. Of course he couldn't it as much as the Air Coryell Chargers because we had Tony Dorsett and they didn't. I always felt that corps of receivers could have rivaled the Chargers if we played the way they did.

TE Corps...Truthfully, Jason Witten is so superior to any TE we have ever had that I will simply say right now.

OL...1992 to 1995. I cannot think of an OL I have ever had more confidence in. Nor do I suspect I ever will. They did not open holes, they blew DLs up. Heaven help you if you were a LB and had to face one of those monsters. The arrival of Larry Allen in 1994 brought the most dominant player our OL has ever seen. I have said it before, I think LA may be the most dominant player we have ever had.

DL...1975 to 1983 minus 1980. When the Cowboys added John Dutton to Ed Jones, Harvey Martin, and Randy White, I thought it was heaven. In 1980 Too Tall decided to box, but every other season they were a force. Prior to Dutton's arrival in 1979 we still had Jethro Pugh whom I always thought was under rated because he played next to Bob Lilly and then Randy White.

LB Corps...1970 to 1972. Two of our three LBs (Jordan and Howley) in these years are in the ROH and one deserves the HOF so bad that it gives me aches. Dave Edwards was one of our most under rated LBs ever and coming off the bench was DD Lewis, who I always had faith in.

Secondary...1970 to 1972. Cliff Harris and Charlie Waters were young pups as the Safety tandem, but oh my goodness did they ever have depth back there. Herb Adderley was there. Mel Renfro was there. Both are Hall of Famers. Cornell Green was also there and I have long contended that he is the most under appreciated star in our History. If you don't know how good Cornell Green was, then I feel awful for you. I think Cliff Harris deserves the HOF. I also think Cornell deserves to be considered. In other words, 4 of our top 5 guys in that secondary are HOF worthy.

Perfect list. WR may change after this season, but so far, all this current group has shown is flashes and potential.

 

[THUMPER]

QB Corps...1977 to 1979 for me. Roger was Captain America. I had absolute faith in Danny White, and I thought Glenn Carano could start for some NFL teams. I was wrong about that, but I always liked him.

RB Corps...1970 to 1971. That was when I still believed Duane Thomas could have been great. He could have been if he had kept his head in the game. I loved Calvin Hill. Walt Garrison and Dan Reeves played wonderful roles on those teams. In fact, it was discussions about Dan Reeves and the halfback option pass that got me to thinking about this topic.

WR Corps...1977 to 1978. It is hard for me to put any group over the HOF tandem years of Bob Hayes and Lance Rentzel, but the arrival of Tony Hill to join Drew Pearson, Butch Johnson, and Golden Richards had me wanting Roger to throw the ball more than they did in those days. Of course he couldn't it as much as the Air Coryell Chargers because we had Tony Dorsett and they didn't. I always felt that corps of receivers could have rivaled the Chargers if we played the way they did.

TE Corps...Truthfully, Jason Witten is so superior to any TE we have ever had that I will simply say right now.

OL...1992 to 1995. I cannot think of an OL I have ever had more confidence in. Nor do I suspect I ever will. They did not open holes, they blew DLs up. Heaven help you if you were a LB and had to face one of those monsters. The arrival of Larry Allen in 1994 brought the most dominant player our OL has ever seen. I have said it before, I think LA may be the most dominant player we have ever had.

DL...1975 to 1983 minus 1980. When the Cowboys added John Dutton to Ed Jones, Harvey Martin, and Randy White, I thought it was heaven. In 1980 Too Tall decided to box, but every other season they were a force. Prior to Dutton's arrival in 1979 we still had Jethro Pugh whom I always thought was under rated because he played next to Bob Lilly and then Randy White.

LB Corps...1970 to 1972. Two of our three LBs (Jordan and Howley) in these years are in the ROH and one deserves the HOF so bad that it gives me aches. Dave Edwards was one of our most under rated LBs ever and coming off the bench was DD Lewis, who I always had faith in.

Secondary...1970 to 1972. Cliff Harris and Charlie Waters were young pups as the Safety tandem, but oh my goodness did they ever have depth back there. Herb Adderley was there. Mel Renfro was there. Both are Hall of Famers. Cornell Green was also there and I have long contended that he is the most under appreciated star in our History. If you don't know how good Cornell Green was, then I feel awful for you. I think Cliff Harris deserves the HOF. I also think Cornell deserves to be considered. In other words, 4 of our top 5 guys in that secondary are HOF worthy.

Pretty good list Hos but I also liked Jack2's idea of the 1971 team as being the best we ever had in terms of depth across the board.

Our 1966/67 DL with George Andrie, Bob Lilly, Jethro Pugh, and Willie Townes was our best IMO. Townes is unknown to most Cowboys fans because he only played a couple of years with us but he got hurt in his 3rd season and never came back from it, but in his first 2 years he was an outstanding player.

The pressure those guys put on QBs and their ability to shut down RBs was amazing. We recorded 60 sacks in 1966 and 45 in 1967 and those were 14 games seasons! (we had 35 last year in 16 games). They held opposing RBs to 3.3 and 3.2 yards per carry respectively. Some of that was the LBs too but most was on the DL.

 

[bbgun]

DL is obviously 1978 with Too Tall Jones, John Dutton, Randy White, and Harvey Martin.

Dutton didn't show up until 1979.

 

[Hagman]

I would probably go with the 1971 team at almost every position
Qb. Staubach and morton
Rb. Calvin, hill, d thomas and w garrison
Wr. B hayes, l. Rentzel
Te b truax, m ditka
Ol. Neely, niland, liscio, nye and rayfield
Dl. Cole, pugh, lilly and andrie
Lb Howley, jordan and edwards
Db aderley, renfro, harris and Cornell green

I like Hostile's list except for the TE position. I think that Witten is the greatest TE in our history, but Ditka-Truax was the best depth.

By the way, at WR Rentzel got into his exposure problem in 1970 and was not part of the 1971 team. Remember that we got Lance Alworth at the position instead. Hayes and Alworth gave us two future HOFs at wide receiver.

 

[BoysFanInAustin]

DL is obviously 1978 with Too Tall Jones, John Dutton, Randy White, and Harvey Martin.

I was stating 1992 for depth purposes. I guess I misunderstood the original post. As a starting D-Line, yes I agree with you 100%. As far as depth goes, I chose 1992, because the backups either were former starters used in a pass-rushing specialist (Jeffcoat) or eventual starters for Dallas (Lett, Hennings) or for other teams (Jones).

 

[Plankton]

Dutton didn't show up until 1979.

And was a relatively average player in Dallas. He was much better in Baltimore playing in a 3-4.

 

[Hagman]

WR Corps...1977 to 1978. It is hard for me to put any group over the HOF tandem years of Bob Hayes and Lance Rentzel, but the arrival of Tony Hill to join Drew Pearson, Butch Johnson, and Golden Richards had me wanting Roger to throw the ball more than they did in those days. Of course he couldn't it as much as the Air Coryell Chargers because we had Tony Dorsett and they didn't. I always felt that corps of receivers could have rivaled the Chargers if we played the way they did.

Sorry, but I haven't figured out the double quote thing on this forum.....

Do you mean the HOF tandem of Bob Hayes and Lance Alworth?

The Bullet and Bambi was a good pairing.

 

[BoysFanInAustin]

Did Dallas at one time have Billy Joe Dupree, Doug Cosbie, and Jay Saldi at TE? I thought all three were very good and serviceable. I want to say this was early 80s.

 

[Hostile]

Sorry, but I haven't figured out the double quote thing on this forum.....

Do you mean the HOF tandem of Bob Hayes and Lance Alworth?

The Bullet and Bambi was a good pairing.

I sure did. Thank you. My bad.

 

[Plankton]

QB - 1976-1979 - With Staubach and White alone, this is pretty good. When you include Carano, and the fact that both Jim Zorn and Steve DeBerg, both pretty good QBs, couldn't make the team in this span, that's a strong group.

RB - 1970-1971 - It doesn't get much better than Duane Thomas, Calvin Hill, Walt Garrison and Dan Reeves. The Cowboy group in 1980 was pretty good as well with Tony Dorsett, Robert Newhouse, Ron Springs, Timmy Newsome and James Jones.

WR - 1965-1967 - Lance Rentzel, Bob Hayes and Frank Clarke.

TE - 2009-present - Jason Witten, Martellus Bennett and John Phillips. Honorable mention to 1979-1983, with Billy Joe DuPree, Doug Cosbie and Jay Saldi.

OL - 1991 through 1995 - We all know the starters. The impressive thing was the depth. Guys like Alan Veingrad, Ron Stone, Frank Cornish and Kevin Gogan were on the bench. Deep and talented, and set a standard for many years, though it's likely that only Larry Allen will make the HOF.

DL - A tie. 1992-1993 - Same as above. Adding Charles Haley to Jim Jeffcoat, Tony Casillas, Russell Maryland, Jimmie Jones, Tony Tolbert and Chad Hennings gave the Cowboys a terrific two deep unit. The 1965-1974 units had Bob Lilly and Jethro Pugh, along with George Andrie, and other ends such as Willie Townes, Pat Toomay, Larry Cole, and at the end of this run, Harvey Martin and Ed Jones. The Cowboys have had some great linemen in their history. A year later they add Randy White.

LB - 1968-1976 - The starting trio of Jordan, Howley and Edwards adds D.D. Lewis in the beginning of this run, and at the end of it, the original trio fades into the sunset, and Hollywood Henderson, Bob Bruenig and Mike Hegman take the baton and run with it.

DB - 1985 - yes, they were burned a lot. But, for one season, the corps of Everson Walls, Ron Fellows, Michael Downs and Dennis Thurman created as many turnovers and big plays as we have seen from a defense in Dallas. Bill Bates and Dextor Clinkscale were also effective during this year. Not a HOF player amongst the group, but they were a lot of fun to watch.

 

[Hostile]

I would probably go with the 1971 team at almost every position
Qb. Staubach and morton
Rb. Calvin, hill, d thomas and w garrison
Wr. B hayes, l. Rentzel
Te b truax, m ditka
Ol. Neely, niland, liscio, nye and rayfield
Dl. Cole, pugh, lilly and andrie
Lb Howley, jordan and edwards
Db aderley, renfro, harris and Cornell green

Pretty good list Hos but I also liked Jack2's idea of the 1971 team as being the best we ever had in terms of depth across the board.

Our 1966/67 DL with George Andrie, Bob Lilly, Jethro Pugh, and Willie Townes was our best IMO. Townes is unknown to most Cowboys fans because he only played a couple of years with us but he got hurt in his 3rd season and never came back from it, but in his first 2 years he was an outstanding player.

The pressure those guys put on QBs and their ability to shut down RBs was amazing. We recorded 60 sacks in 1966 and 45 in 1967 and those were 14 games seasons! (we had 35 last year in 16 games). They held opposing RBs to 3.3 and 3.2 yards per carry respectively. Some of that was the LBs too but most was on the DL.

Players on the 1971 team who are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Roger Staubach
Lance Allworth
Mel Renfro
Bob Hayes
Herb Adderley
Rayfield Wright
Bob Lilly
Forrest Gregg
Mike Ditka

Players on that team who IMO should join them in the Hall of Fame.

Cornell Green
Cliff Harris
Chuck Howley

 

[THUMPER]

Do you folks realize that our 1971 team had 9 HoFers on it? WOW!

Herb Adderley
Lance Alworth
Mike Ditka
Forrest Gregg
Bob Hayes
Bob Lilly
Mel Renfro
Roger Staubach
Rayfield Wright

Granted the first 4 on that list played the majority of their careers elsewhere but it is still cool.

Then there are the guys who SHOULD be in the HoF (or at least considered):

George Andrie
Cornell Green
Chuck Howley
Lee Roy Jordan
John Niland

 

[THUMPER]

Players on the 1971 team who are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Roger Staubach
Lance Allworth
Mel Renfro
Bob Hayes
Herb Adderley
Rayfield Wright
Bob Lilly
Forrest Gregg
Mike Ditka

Players on that team who IMO should join them in the Hall of Fame.

Cornell Green
Cliff Harris
Chuck Howley

Ha! I was posting the same thing and then the owner of the Inn showed up and needed my help moving something and I just got back to it.

Great minds and all that.

 

[Hostile]

Ha! I was posting the same thing and then the owner of the Inn showed up and needed my help moving something and I just got back to it.

Great minds and all that.

I like it.