Sports Then and Now

In his NFL debut, Clint Longley led Dallas to a 24-23 victory over the Washington Redskins on Thanksgiving Day.

Professional football has a long and storied history as part of our American Thanksgiving tradition. Many of the greatest players and best teams in NFL history have made their mark on this holiday and thus created a special place for themselves in the memories of families across the country during this time of fellowship and giving thanks.

You can read about some of those memorable moments and games in a column I first published last year.

While many of the players who have performed well on Thanksgiving Day were familiar faces and established stars of the game, there also have been a number of players whose one shining moment as a professional football player occurred on the big stage of Turkey Day.

One such player was former Dallas Cowboys backup quarterback Jason Garrett. Until recently becoming interim head coach of the Cowboys, he was likely best remembered by most football fans for his nearly flawless performance in place of starting quarterback Troy Aikman on Thanksgiving Day in 1994.

In only his second career start, Garrett passed for 311 yards and two touchdowns to help Dallas defeat the Green Bay Packers  42-31.

However, while Garrett’s performance was impressive, it was arguably not the best or most memorable performance by a Dallas backup quarterback on Thanksgiving Day.

That honor would belong to a rookie quarterback from Abilene Christian who two decades before Garrett’s Thanksgiving performance made a lasting impression on the football world with a memorable Thanksgiving Day show of his own.

In the mid-1970s, the rivalry between the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins was emerging as one of the most interesting in all of professional sports.

Thanks to the contrast between Washington’s spirited head coach George Allen and the stoic leader of the Cowboys Tom Landry, the rivalry had gained steam and by 1974 was among the most anticipated battles on the NFL calendar.

When the two squads squared off on Thanksgiving Day in 1974 it provided a perfect venue for the renewal of this special rivalry. Playing on national television in an era before video games, multiplex theaters and cable television provided people with other entertainment options, the late afternoon battle between the Cowboys and Redskins was truly America’s afternoon dessert following the traditional Thanksgiving meal. Read the rest of this entry →

After a disappointing 1-7 start, Wade Phillips and the Cowboys are left to wonder what happened to the promise of 2010.

Finally having seen enough as the 2010 season continues to be a nightmare for his Dallas Cowboys, team owner and general manager Jerry Jones has done the inevitable and dismissed beleaguered head coach Wade Phillips.

Jones had tried to resist the temptation to make a coaching change during the middle of the season, but an embarrassing 45-7 loss on Sunday Night Football to the Green Bay Packers was more than the proud owner could absorb.

So, the Cowboys will finish the 2010 season under the leadership of offensive coordinator Jason Garrett.

It was just a couple years ago that Garrett was the hot young coaching prospect. When he became the offensive coordinator for the Cowboys in 2007 many thought it was just a matter of time before he would replace Phillips as the coach of the Cowboys.

Now, Garrett will have his chance, but it certainly isn’t in the situation originally envisioned.

With a 1-7 record and having been outscored 121-59 the last three weeks, Dallas is on pace for their worst season since their first season under Jones’ ownership in 1989.

During that season, Dallas started 0-8 and posted only one victory over the 16 game schedule.

However, the biggest difference between the Cowboys in 1989 and 2010 is that while the 1989 squad had no expectations and were biding time as Jones and coach Jimmy Johnson started building the team into eventual three-time Super Bowl champions, the 2010 Cowboys had visions of the Super Bowl dancing in their heads before the season. Read the rest of this entry →

Six games into the 2010 season, the Dallas Cowboys are playing anything like the star on their helmet. A 41-35 home loss on Oct. 25 to the division rival New York Giants in their only Monday night game of the season dropped the Cowboys to a dismal 1-5 with their third straight loss. Dallas is 0-3 at home this season and is off to its’ worst start since 1989 when it finished 1-15. As if things could not get any worse, starting quarterback Tony Romo suffered a broken left clavicle in the loss to the Giants and will be sidelined anywhere from six to eight weeks.

Dallas quarterback Tony Romo lays motionless after taking a hit from New York Giants' linebacker Michael Boley in the second quarter. Romo suffered a fractured left clavicle (non-throwing side) on the play and will miss six to eight weeks.

All of a sudden a team picked to contend for the Super Bowl finds itself all alone in the basement of its’ own division. A winning record let alone a wild card playoff berth seems to be a distant and unlikely feat this season. All those lofty preseason expectations have seemed to gone up in smoke.

Yet, when a talented team like the Cowboys stumbles, they need to look at themselves. Such is the case for Dallas this season as the Cowboys have defeated themselves. Penalties, turnovers, bad plays, breakdowns in special teams, and poor play calls by coaches have all been factors in the losses. Everyone from owner, president, and general manager Jerry Jones is involved in what is a serious case of underachievement.

It started in a week one loss at Washington when a holding call on right tackle Alex Barron nullified what would have been the game-winning touchdown pass from Romo to Roy Williams on the final play in a 13-7 loss. That was the final mistake in a night of goofs for Dallas which committed 12 penalties for 91 yards. Furthermore, Romo had two passes intercepted. Read the rest of this entry →

Two games into the season, the Dallas Cowboys are staring at 0-2. While most fans are screaming for the heads of players and coaches, not all is lost. It is early in the season and too early for anyone to be throwing it all away.

Statistically, teams that start 0-2 don’t always make the playoffs. One team that did start 0-2 was the 1993 Cowboys. That team won the Super Bowl. There is a big asterisk by that team as it was without hall-of-fame running back Emmitt Smith who was holding out due to a contract dispute.

Smith, the NFL’s all-time leading rusher, was signed in time to play week three and the Cowboys reeled off seven straight wins en route to a 12-4 season and their second straight Super Bowl win. However, there is not a running back the caliber of Smith this time around. Furthermore, Dallas does not have a dominating team like it did in 1993.

Dallas linebacker Anthony Spencer converges on the Bears' Jay Cutler

While the Cowboys have promise and potential, they are young. They are good enough to give it a good run this season and are capable of making the playoffs. However all that is just talk right now. Dallas has to focus on playing better football.

The schedule doesn’t get any easier. Dallas plays at Houston – who beat the Cowboys in the preseason – next week. With a bye the following week, the Cowboys face a must win against the Texans. No team wants to go into a bye off a loss and no team wants a week off to dwell over 0-3.

After the bye, the schedule really becomes competitive with home games against Tennessee, division foe New York, and Jacksonville along with a road game at Minnesota, also 0-2. There is time to turn a dismal start around. Focus, preparation, and execution are needed. Pointing fingers, letting these two losses linger with you, and panicking are not. Read the rest of this entry →

The consensus is that the best rivalry in the National Football League is between the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Redskins.

For the past 40 years, the Cowboys and the Redskins have staged many memorable games in their annual quest to be the best in the NFC East.  One of those memorable games occurred on the opening day of the 1999 NFL season when the Cowboys came back from a 21-point fourth quarter deficit to knock off the Redskins 41-35 in Washington D.C.

This opening day was supposed to be special for Washington as it was the first regular season game with Daniel Snyder as owner of the Redskins after he bought the team in May 1999 for $800 million.

Despite the fact they had finished 6-10 the year before, expectations were high for the Redskins as they had acquired quarterback Brad Johnson from the Minnesota Vikings for three draft picks.

While the Redskins seemed to be on the rise, the Dallas Cowboys had the look of an aging dynasty. In 1998, the Cowboys won the NFC East under first year head coach Chan Gailey but were stunned at home by the Arizona Cardinals 20-7 in their Wild Card playoff game.

Dallas had major off-the-field issues during the offseason as offensive tackle Mark Tuinei died of a drug overdose and defensive tackle Leon Lett was suspended for the entire season because of drug use. Read the rest of this entry →

On April 22, 1990 – after the Dallas Cowboys selected him with their first-round pick in the National Football League Draft – Emmitt James Smith III arrived in Dallas for the first time ever as a Cowboy wearing a brown and yellow jump suit with polka dots. Smith, the 17^th pick overall, wore the same thing at his introductory press conference. Soon, the legendary running back will be wearing the famous gold jacket.

Can you say extreme makeover? Absolutely. Smith’s attire has not been to shabby since that polka-dotted jump suit. Outfits such as the uniform of America’s Team, striped suit coats at press conferences, and his silky smooth green sleeveless shirt he wore on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars have dotted his wardrobe over the last 20 years. However, the gold jacket is in a class by itself.

In coming full circle, Smith has earned much respect for his on and off-the-field achievements. The National Football League’s all-time leading rusher with 18,355 yards, Smith is on the doorstep of football immortality with only the formal and official festivities left to secure his place in history.

Smith displays his new jersey while decked out in his polka dotted jump suit at his first press conference in Dallas in 1990.

Smith is one of seven players, the maximum allowed in one year, that will be inducted into The Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio on Saturday Aug. 7 in a ceremony starting at 7 pm EST. Smith joins Jerry Rice, John Randle, Rickey Jackson, Russ Grimm, Dick Lebeau, and Floyd Little in making up the Class of 2010. Smith and Rice are both first-ballot inductees while Lebeau and Little were elected as senior committee nominees.

Smith’s journey to football’s ultimate honor started with some bold aspirations. Heading into his rookie year in Dallas, Smith made a list of goals he wanted to achieve during his pro career. Among things like leading the team in rushing and being a pro-bowl player, Smith also stated that he desired to become the NFL’s all-time leading rusher.

Considering he stated this just two weeks after being drafted, before he had signed a contract, before he had ever been in an NFL training camp, and before he had ever touched the ball as a pro, he had his critics. Yet Smith had heard criticism before. NFL head coaches, scouts, personnel directors, and pro football media people did not have him rated as the best running back available heading into the draft. They claimed he lacked speed, was too short, too small, and not strong enough for the pro game. Read the rest of this entry →