Dallas Cowboys - How Bout Them Cowboys - 1992 Season Highlights
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00:00In the late 80s, the sun set on the Dallas Cowboys' empire,
00:05and critics predicted it might never rise again.
00:09But the Cowboys proved that Rome could be rebuilt in a day,
00:13and Dallas soared to heights that only they could have foreseen.
00:18You play in games to find out who are the contenders and who are the pretenders.
00:23Hey, dominate the line of scrimmage, let's have a hell of a game.
00:26Win, one, two, three, win!
00:28Deep ball! Get him, get him!
00:34Their versatile and punishing defense was the NFL's best.
00:39Got a warm-up in the hands for four minutes, let's go!
00:43They were never out-hustled or out-muscled, out-fought or out-fought.
00:48Get down, get down!
00:51First and ten Dallas at the 24, Aikman.
00:54Deep ball, looking for Harper on the goal line.
00:56Oh, nice catch! Touchdown, Cowboys!
00:59The 1992 Cowboys won the most games in their storied history.
01:04And by season's end, the youngest team in the NFL was also its best.
01:21In Super Bowl 27, the remarkable Cowboys capped off their Cinderella season
01:26by destroying the Buffalo Bills and winning their third world championship.
01:34It was a season where dreams became harmonious with destiny.
01:38A season where the Dallas Cowboys exhausted every adjective and superlative.
01:43There was only one thing left to say.
01:46How about them, Cowboys? How about them, Cowboys?
02:09We're gonna win tonight. Cowboys, Redskins, you ready?
02:13We're gonna win tonight. Cowboys, Redskins, you were the Super Bowl champions last year.
02:18This year, it's our turn.
02:27Third and ten, and Aikman straight drop, looking left.
02:30Deep ball for Harper in the end zone.
02:32It's caught by the Dallas Cowboys.
02:34It couldn't have been thrown any better.
02:38They're gonna rush to Kelly Goodburn.
02:41Through the back of the end zone for a safety.
02:44Victory over the world champion Redskins foreshadowed the immense possibilities of this team.
02:49There's a block, 30, there's a block, 40.
02:51There goes Kelvin Martin.
02:53This one's going 79 yards.
02:55Kelvin Martin, touchdown, Dallas Cowboys.
03:00What a great, great run by Kelvin Martin.
03:04End zone.
03:08What did I say? I said we beat the Redskins, but let me tell you something.
03:11Just like I said last week, what did I tell you last week?
03:13Last week, I said, you know, that once you show up on Wednesday,
03:19we don't want to hear another word about Washington.
03:21Enjoy the thing tonight, but we don't want another thing about Washington.
03:24All I want to hear about Wednesday is the New York Giants.
03:28In New York, the Cowboys got off on the right foot.
03:33Robert Williams at the four.
03:35Rolls to the no line. Touchdown Cowboys.
03:39Victory in week two was primed by a unit that was special all season.
03:44Make a play. Run your ass off.
03:47Kick in the middle.
03:50Make a play. Let's go baby.
03:52Cowboys special teamers hit so hard and so often
03:56that it was unsafe even for spectators.
04:00But rookie kicker Lynn Elliott and punter Mike Saxon learned
04:03that the real fun was watching the NFL second leading return specialist
04:08Kelvin Martin.
04:21While the special teams created the early season rhythms,
04:24the offense picked up the beat against the Cardinals.
04:27And Aikman, play fake, is going to throw.
04:29Good protection, throws the ball out.
04:31Nice catch, Irvin on the left side, right escaping at the 25.
04:35Down to the 40 with a block.
04:37Turns right and left again at the 40.
04:39And Irvin to the 25.
04:41And Irvin gets a block from Novacek to the 5.
04:43And Michael Irvin goes 87 yards.
04:46Three straight victories were beautifully choreographed,
04:49but the season took its first wrong steps against the undefeated Eagles.
04:58Defeated but not intimidated,
05:00the Cowboys knew that soon there would be a payback.
05:16Victory over the Seahawks began a sweep of the AFC West.
05:28All day baby. We covering them all day baby.
05:40The Cowboys defeated the Chiefs for their fifth win in six games
05:44and their faithful and rabid fans were a big part of every victory.
05:49We had those fans behind us there in Texas Stadium.
05:52It's like a bullring. Everybody's sitting right out on the field.
05:55And when they can get involved in the game,
05:57when our players can hear their emotion,
05:59it can make it happen and be something very special.
06:02Special was the pep rally at Texas Stadium
06:05that attracted 75,000 Cowboy fanatics.
06:10Cowboy fever infected people of all ages from all places.
06:16There was no generation gap for everybody to love the Cowboys.
06:26Throughout the country, the Cowboys were once again
06:29America's team.
06:33To hear people talk about America's team at this point,
06:36understanding where we came from,
06:38it's a really gratifying feeling.
06:42Everywhere the Cowboys went, their fans were sure to follow.
06:46And as they ran victory laps away from home,
06:49road games began to look as friendly and homey as Texas Stadium.
06:56At Sun Devil Stadium in Phoenix,
06:58a record crowd came to root for the Cowboys
07:01and a tidal wave of support broke across the shores of the NFL.
07:08We went to L.A. and we had like almost 90,000 people.
07:12And I know 40,000 that were screaming for us.
07:15It's what it feels like to be on top, be America's team.
07:18I can't believe it. Look at all that blue up there.
07:21Not moving either.
07:22Turn it up. Good job.
07:24Hey guys, the pressure off the corners outstaying.
07:27Keep fighting them inside, guys.
07:29The Cowboys turned the silver and black, black and blue,
07:33and captured win number six.
07:39Hey, let him go, Tony.
07:42Where you going, boy? Where you going? Let him go, Tony.
07:44There's third and long. They pressure him and they sack him
07:47and he fumbles the ball to the Cowboys.
07:49Leon Lett has it at the Raiders' 33-yard line.
07:55Lane left. A.G.'s the wing. Aikman back to throw.
07:58Good pick up of the blitz by Giesing.
08:00Deep ball to the middle.
08:01Nice pass and it's caught at the 30.
08:03And down to the 20-yard line is Alvin Harper again.
08:09Aikman handoff.
08:10Smith, big hole on the right side.
08:12Novichek, a deep block. Touchdown, Emmitt Smith.
08:15This is a very good offensive team.
08:17Aikman hands it to Smith.
08:18Daping hole on the left. He's going to score.
08:21Emmitt Smith strolls in.
08:23The offensive line blew it open
08:25and Emmitt Smith looked like an agent at Spago
08:30with about four starlets in the room.
08:32Gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble.
08:37The 28-13 victory was their third straight
08:40over an AFC Western opponent.
08:50Good job, Troy. Good job, Troy.
08:53For us to come in here and win in front of 91,000,
08:57that says something for our football team.
08:59Our guys are young, but they're growing up in a hurry.
09:01Maybe we got used to playing in Los Angeles today. We'll see.
09:06Let's go, baby. Let's go. Let's get it going.
09:09This is Randall. He's going to be eagle soup today.
09:12Going to be a long day for the Eagles.
09:14Cowboys defense. Woo!
09:21The offensive line of Mark Stepnoski, John Gizik,
09:25Nate Newton, Mark Touinet, and Derrick Williams
09:28tamed the fierce Eagles defense
09:30and turned blind alleys into expressways for Emmitt Smith.
09:34Big hole right down the middle.
09:36And a major man at the 20.
09:38He's got it. He's got it.
09:40He's got it. He's got it.
09:42He's got it. He's got it.
09:44He's got it. He's got it.
09:46He's got it. He's got it.
09:48And a major man at the 20.
09:50And breaks loose at the 30.
09:52And heads right to midfield.
09:54And a foot race to the 40-yard line of the Philadelphia Eagles.
09:57And the leading rusher in the NFC takes over the offensive run.
10:01Bateman back to throw. Blocked from Smith.
10:03Throws it wide. Johnston caught it at the 10.
10:05Touchdown, Moose! Touchdown, Moose!
10:10It's a Moose down.
10:12Martin motion right on first down.
10:15Pass over the middle.
10:17Oh, nice cut.
10:19To the 5.
10:21Touchdown, Calvin Martin.
10:23Oh, what a play.
10:25Oh, man, what a run by Calvin Martin.
10:28Our offense, they were going strong
10:30and really wore down Philadelphia's defense.
10:32I think the biggest thing about the Philadelphia game
10:35was that the defense played so well.
10:38The best defense in the NFL belonged to the Cowboys.
10:41Short jab step.
10:43When you get your hands on him, you'll turn him.
10:45You're too quick for him.
10:47Using every player in every conceivable combination,
10:51the defense became a relentless tackling machine.
11:06Up front came Maryland, Casillas, Lett, Jeffcoat,
11:09Jones, Tolbert, and Haley.
11:14Quarterbacks were attacked from all positions
11:17and all angles.
11:19The result was forty-eight sacks by a defense
11:22that made it almost impossible to convert third downs
11:25into first downs.
11:27Behind the front line came Norton, Jones, Smith,
11:30Miles and Edwards.
11:32Washington, Gant, Horton, Holt, Brown, Everett, Woodson
11:36and Smith patrolled the deep defense.
11:38The Cowboys goal was creating turnovers
11:41and turning them into touchdowns.
11:44Russell Maryland grabs the fumble in midair
11:46and runs it in for the touchdown.
11:48Russell Maryland with his first.
11:50Number one defense in the league.
11:51Number one defense in the league.
11:53Dallas Cowboys defense unconscious.
11:57In the final eight games, the Cowboys were a team
12:00whose second win blew gale force.
12:03They huffed and puffed and blew away six of eight opponents
12:07by scores that had to be seen to be believed.
12:12The true test of the character of this team came in Denver
12:17where Troy Aikman general his team to a thrilling
12:20comeback victory.
12:27In nineteen ninety-two, Aikman was a dreamboat of a hero.
12:31But it was in the fury of the pass pocket that he stood
12:34the tallest and the toughest.
12:42Finally, injury-free, Aikman threw for almost thirty-five
12:46hundred yards and twenty-three touchdowns.
12:55The Cowboy passing attack featured the pinpoint passing
12:58of Aikman to a gifted core of receivers.
13:01He throws it to no attack. Fifteen, right to the ten,
13:04to the five, over the block.
13:05Inside the red zone, the all-pro team
13:08Inside the red zone, the all-pro tight end and elusive
13:11Kelvin Martin created scores in limited spaces.
13:22On the flanks, the spectacular was the province of
13:25Alvin Harper and all-pro Michael Irvin.
13:33Aikman's got plenty of time.
13:35Deep ball, left side.
13:36Oh, Michael Irvin can catch, he can run, he can do it.
13:44Both the playmaker and Harper turned simple patterns
13:47into sublime touchdowns.
13:50Down to the ten, he'll score.
13:52What a play by Alvin Harper. What a great play.
13:58A few great plays by a few good men were needed in
14:01Mile High Stadium. As the Cowboys trailed by three
14:04points with just minutes to play.
14:12Ignoring chilling temperatures and a heated environment,
14:15this cool, calm and collected young team marched
14:18seventy-eight yards to victory.
14:26Slot left, wing right on third and short.
14:29Inside handoff, Emmitt Smith breaks it up the middle
14:32and scores the touchdown on the draw play.
14:35Down the field, they come in the fourth quarter.
14:37This incidentally is the seventh time if they hang on
14:40to win that Aikman has brought the Cowboys to behind.
14:43The comeback also came on the heels of pro football's
14:46leading rusher.
14:50With each yard he travels, Emmitt Smith inches closer
14:53to the Hall of Fame and in nineteen ninety-two,
14:56he won the NFL rushing title for the second year in a row.
15:03Number twenty-two sacrificed life and limb for six points
15:08and this daredevil approach produced nineteen touchdowns.
15:22While Emmitt got down and dirty, he also left defenders
15:26in his dust.
15:32Emmitt Smith taking it all the way.
15:34Got a seam, got the lane, got sixty-eight yards.
15:38This one's over.
15:39It was over and out when Smith navigated in an open field.
15:50His ability to dominate a football game was never more
15:53evident than in the last two games of the season.
15:56Aikman handoff, Smith coming right.
15:58Trying to outrun the coverage, makes a cut.
16:01Oh, he's still going!
16:03He's going to score!
16:04He's got the five!
16:05It's a touchdown!
16:08Absolutely ridiculous.
16:10It should never have happened, but Emmitt Smith does
16:13the impossible, this time from twenty-nine yards out.
16:16Oh, this is incredible.
16:18This is one of the very best.
16:25Let's look from the Bears on first down Cowboys at the thirty-two.
16:28Aikman handoff, Smith coming left.
16:30He's got the twenty-five.
16:31He's got the twenty.
16:32He's got the ten.
16:33He's got the touchdown.
16:35And he's got the NFL Russian Championship
16:39for the second year in a row.
16:41Defeats of the Falcons and Bears gave the NFC Eastern
16:45Titleist thirteen victories and set up the dramatic
16:48final stages of the championship chase.
16:55We didn't take too many chances.
16:57We didn't take too many chances.
16:58Let's do it!
16:59Let's do it!
17:00Yeah!
17:14In motion left, Aikman's Ronna Smith coming left with
17:17only the twenty.
17:18Got a block from Irvin, the ten-yard line.
17:20A block from Harper, touchdown Emmitt Smith!
17:23Touchdown!
17:26Tell twenty-nine to get back on that lucky charm box.
17:29Tell twenty-nine to go get back on that lucky charm box.
17:32The Cowboys beat up the Eagles physically,
17:35then outwitted them strategically by isolating their
17:39tall receivers on five-foot, seven-inch Eagle cornerback
17:42Mark McMillan, number twenty-nine.
17:47Proving without a doubt who owned the iron fist
17:50in football's best division,
17:52the Cowboys pounded out a convincing thirty-four
17:55to ten victory.
18:10Super, super job!
18:12You are one game away from the Super Bowl!
18:22Not exactly a beautiful day, but hopefully it will be
18:25here in about four hours.
18:27One more, baby.
18:28To the bowl.
18:29One more.
18:30He just has to get it, baby!
18:32Send it home!
18:33Bring it home!
18:34One, two, three!
18:53In Candlestick Park, the Cowboys met the team
18:56considered the NFL's best and vividly demonstrated that
19:00next year's champions had arrived a year early.
19:05Get up!
19:06Back up!
19:18Run it back!
19:19You the man, baby!
19:20You the man!
19:21Eggman handoff, Smith coming left.
19:23Johnston got the block and Smith will easily stroll in.
19:27Touchdown, Cowboys!
19:29Blocked right, Eggman back.
19:31He's pressured.
19:32He throws it out.
19:33He's got the first down coming right to five.
19:35Irvin's block puts it in.
19:37Emmitt Smith carries it in.
19:39Another third down conversion, and it's touchdown, Dallas.
19:44The Cowboys' glorious past met its glorious present
19:48late in the fourth quarter.
19:50Leading 24-20 with four minutes to play,
19:53conventional wisdom dictated a conservative play call
19:56by the Cowboys.
19:58The Cowboys come out with the biggest drive
20:01in probably 12 years.
20:04Eggman is going to throw.
20:05Deep slam.
20:06Caught 35.
20:07Harper's breaking away.
20:09Harper's got midfield.
20:12Harper's got the 20.
20:14Harper's got the 10-yard line.
20:16Wow.
20:17What a play.
20:18My goodness, what a play.
20:22The crowd is really into it.
20:24Eggman, a straight drop.
20:25Good protection.
20:26Over the middle.
20:27It's caught by Kelvin Martin at the two.
20:29Touchdown.
20:30Touchdown, Cowboys.
20:31This team's going to Pasadena.
20:33NFC champions, folks.
20:36From one and 15 in 89 to the Super Bowl in four years.
20:40That's unbelievable.
20:41An unbelievable story.
20:42NFC championship, baby.
20:43It's fantastic.
20:45It's fantastic.
20:46Everybody, you did a hell of a job,
20:49and the only thing else I got to say is,
20:51how about them, Cowboys?
20:53How about them, Cowboys?
20:54Yeah!
21:14Sunny California provided a perfectly lit backdrop
21:17for a Hollywood ending to the dream season
21:19of the Dallas Cowboys and their leading man.
21:24Eggman with a straight drop to throw again.
21:27Going for the end zone.
21:28Novacek at the two.
21:29Touchdown, Cowboys.
21:32Pro bowler to pro bowler.
21:35Shelly's going to throw.
21:36Here's Haley.
21:37Hit him and picked off in the air.
21:39Jimmy Jones intercepts and rolls in for a touchdown.
21:43And the turnovers are telling the story.
21:46Troy Eggman, the game's most valuable player,
21:49completed 22 of 30 passes and threw for four touchdowns,
21:54including two that Michael Irvin punctuated
21:58in breathtaking fashion.
22:16Let's go.
22:17We got a lot of football left.
22:20Let's go.
22:21These guys have come back from big deficits.
22:24Cowboys!
22:26Eggman, play action, fakes, slips, gets up,
22:29throws a deep ball.
22:30Harper's all alone.
22:31Touchdown, Cowboys.
22:33Oh, what a throw.
22:36The beacon of light that guided this season
22:38became the bright glow of ultimate victory.
22:41It enveloped the stadium and this team
22:44that played almost a perfect game.
22:53A Cowboys steamroller rolled up and down the road
22:57to the end zone.
22:59And the Cowboys won the game.
23:02A Cowboys steamroller rolled up and down the Rose Bowl.
23:06Emmitt Smith and the Cowboy offense
23:08flattened everything in sight
23:10while the defense squashed the bills
23:12by creating nine takeaways
23:14and converting two of them into touchdowns.
23:17Super Bowl 27 marked the culmination
23:21of a startling turnaround.
23:23The rebuilding, which began in 1989 as a marathon,
23:26ended in a sprint.
23:28The astonishing 52 to 17 triumph
23:31was a testament to a group of talented
23:33and dedicated players, a visionary owner,
23:36and a driven and bold head coach.
23:40Jimmy Johnson's taken his team
23:42from the absolute worst
23:44to the absolute best in four years.
23:48Cowboys are back on top of the mountain now.
23:51They were there in the 70s, fell off in the 80s.
23:53They're back on top.
23:55Wow, what a ride it's been.
23:57And Dallas, your Cowboys are the champions.
24:02How about them Cowboys?
24:06Hi, I'm Steve Sable.
24:08The 1992 Dallas Cowboys
24:10became the best team in pro football
24:13by winning the league's toughest division
24:15and then dominating the postseason
24:18with a unique style that blended
24:20both power and precision.
24:22In four short seasons,
24:24the Cowboys had gone from pro football's
24:26worst team to its best.
24:29This swift rise has prompted many experts
24:32to use the dreaded D word, dynasty.
24:37But all the pieces seem to be in place
24:39in Dallas for a run to true greatness,
24:41a glory run like the Steelers had in the 70s
24:44or the 49ers in the 80s.
24:46They're young, they're talented,
24:48and led by the aggressive management
24:50of Jerry Jones and Jimmy Johnson.
24:53A style of leadership that will continue
24:56to take the risks and the calculated gambles
24:59in the offseason that will ensure
25:01that the Dallas Cowboys will once again
25:03be at or near the summit of pro football
25:07in 1993.
25:13There was nothing about the 1992 season
25:15that was messed up.
25:17The Cowboys followed a plan that was as rigid
25:19as Jimmy Johnson's normal hairstyle.
25:22Repeating will be difficult,
25:24but the Cowboys will be daring,
25:26not timid in the offseason.
25:28Our fans have maybe gotten used to
25:30a very aggressive approach
25:32to how we build a football team.
25:35That's the only way to go as far as I'm concerned.
25:37We will continue to be very aggressive.
25:39We'll continue to take risks.
25:42And we've done that.
25:44It's worked well for us so far.
25:46That's our style and that's the way
25:47we'll go in the future.
25:50Much of this future will evolve in summer camp
25:53when the management team of Jones and Johnson
25:56hope to plug in young defensive players
25:58like number forty-seven cornerback Clayton Holmes,
26:01safety Darren Woodson,
26:03and defensive end and tackle Chad Hennings.
26:07The last training camp produced number fifty-five
26:09Robert Jones, a middle linebacker who started
26:12and starred in his rookie season.
26:20Number ninety-four Charles Haley has signed
26:23a new contract and will be a Dallas Cowboy
26:26for the next several seasons.
26:28The ninety-three season will see this pillager
26:31of past pockets overwhelm offensive
26:33tackles and quarterbacks.
26:37When defenses overcompensate
26:39for the presence of Haley,
26:40it allows young and upcoming defensive linemen
26:43to get in their list.
26:47The Cowboy defense in ninety-three will feature
26:49an aggressive gang tackling style of play.
26:52Standing out in this swarming mass of men,
26:55Haley will be the center of attention
26:57for the next two seasons.
26:59He will be the center of attention
27:01for the next two seasons.
27:03Standing out in this swarming mass of men
27:06will be number ninety-two Tony Tolbert,
27:08Russell Maryland, Jimmy Jones,
27:10and that man-mountain Leon Lett number seventy-eight,
27:14a player on the verge of certain stardom.
27:23While the defense made monumental strides last year
27:26and will again in ninety-three,
27:28Jimmy Johnson will strive for improvement
27:30in all areas of the football team.
27:32I really think with any football team
27:34that you make improvement.
27:36I think you look at the overall team
27:38and see areas where you can improve
27:41whether that be with areas of your special teams
27:44or certain parts of your offense and defense.
27:47And the other thing is you try to upgrade
27:49your personnel every opportunity that you have.
27:54The offensive line is a unit where the Cowboys
27:56hope to improve their depth with some young players.
27:59This was also a unit that turned into
28:01a powerful strength for the Cowboys last season.
28:08Even the fiercest pass rushers
28:10will be turned away next year
28:12as the offensive line hopes to allow even less sacks
28:15than the twenty-three they gave up in nineteen-ninety-two.
28:20The line's ability to dominate defensive linemen
28:23will not only increase point production,
28:26it will keep all-pro quarterback Troy Aikman
28:28injury-free for the second straight season.
28:34We got enough talent on this team
28:36that when we get inside the twenty-yard line,
28:38we need to get inside the end zone.
28:40And those types of players,
28:42those types of players,
28:44those types of players,
28:46we need to get inside the end zone.
28:48And that's the difference, I think,
28:50between championship teams and great teams.
28:52You get a lot of great teams
28:54that gets inside the twenty, gets inside the twenty a lot,
28:56but they come away with those field goals.
28:58But those championship teams, they come away with touchdowns.
29:00And that's what we got to do.
29:01We got to come away with touchdowns.
29:03Touchdowns, whether they are in the red zone
29:06or long distance, will be the province of Emmitt Smith
29:09who will once again hope to score
29:11the most six-pointers in the league.
29:16The blocks of fullback Darryl Johnston
29:19have often provided the springboard
29:21for the brilliance of Smith.
29:28In nineteen ninety-three, Johnston, a clutch receiver,
29:31will probably have to handle a little more of the rushing load,
29:34an area that the Cowboys may address
29:36with a rookie from the draft.
29:41But he's not the only one.
29:44But no matter what the manpower situation is,
29:47the man will still be Emmitt Smith.
30:03The Cowboy passing attack will need no revamping either.
30:06Just a little tweaking here and there.
30:09With all pros at almost every position,
30:12the Cowboys, using the controlled passing game
30:15of Norv Turner, will almost certainly improve
30:18on the gaudy statistics of last season.
30:21Number eighty, Alvin Harper, has the skills
30:24to develop into a superstar.
30:26While the NFL's best tight end will remain
30:29J. Novacek, number eighty-four.
30:32And one of the NFL's greatest players in the clutch
30:35will again be number eighty-eight,
30:37Michael Urban, the playmaker.
30:42Inserted into this explosive mix will be Jimmy Smith,
30:45who lost almost all of ninety-two to injury.
30:49So the preview for nineteen ninety-three
30:51is a rosy one for this talented team.
30:54They are young. They will be deeper
30:56and hopefully hungry for a run
30:58at a second straight world championship.
31:13Aren't you glad I got on your ass for sitting on that helmet?
31:36While the Cowboys of the nineties
31:38are once again America's team,
31:41they're clearly different from the original version
31:44of the nineteen seventies.
31:46That team was laid back and unemotional
31:49and typified by one of its greatest players,
31:53defensive tackle Bob Lilly.
31:56He was the Cowboys' first number one draft pick,
31:59a gentle giant from Texas Christian University
32:02who was as country as chewing tobacco
32:05and armadillo boots.
32:07He was nicknamed Mr. Cowboy,
32:09and over the course of a fourteen-year career,
32:12he was both an immovable object
32:15and an irresistible force.
32:18Number seventy-four made All-Pro eleven times
32:21by demonstrating that single-minded determination
32:25will defeat a double team almost every time.
32:29Lilly retired in nineteen seventy-four
32:31and became the first player to be inducted
32:34into both the Cowboys Ring of Honor
32:37and the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
32:39I don't know if any of you would ever remember in Dallas,
32:41there was an old Burnett Park.
32:43Anyway, they condemned it.
32:45They had rats about this long,
32:47and the first year I was with the Cowboys,
32:49we had to hang up our uniforms with coat hangers.
32:53Anything leather, like shoes, shoulder pads,
32:56or the helmets with the inserts,
32:58they would eat it up during the night.
33:00You would come back in your shoes
33:01and all that would just be destroyed.
33:03And that was back in the days
33:04when we had to buy our own shoes.
33:07Bob Lilly and the infant Dallas Cowboys
33:11walked barefoot on bumpy paths
33:13that offered few glimpses of the glory roads
33:15that both were destined to travel.
33:18This country boy from Throckmorton, Texas,
33:21revolutionized the position of defensive tackle
33:24with a stunning combination of speed and strength.
33:30Strength formed not by weights and pulleys,
33:33but farm work.
33:35Lilly was the boy at the county fair
33:37who wrestles the bear and wins.
33:44I think the most unusual thing about Bob Lilly
33:46was if you put 50 people in a room
33:48and had them stripped down to where
33:50they just had their shorts on,
33:52he would be the last guy you would pick.
33:54He just didn't have the physique
33:56that you thought a football player had,
33:58no muscle definition whatsoever.
34:00He didn't epitomize the professional athlete,
34:02in my opinion, because he was kind of soft.
34:04He wasn't hard as a brick, he was kind of soft.
34:06And that's the way he played, kind of soft.
34:08He didn't really kill anybody, but he made the plays,
34:10always made the plays.
34:12It's not how hard you hit, but how good you tackle.
34:14In 12 years that I played against Lilly,
34:16I really don't remember having
34:18even a decent game against him.
34:20He'd grab you and pull you in,
34:22he had tremendous quickness and tremendous reach and strength.
34:27Bob Lilly was just a great football player
34:29and we never could get him to line up onside.
34:31We always thought he lined up offsides
34:33and complained to the officials and nothing happened.
34:35So Cornelius Johnson one night was nauseated
34:38and he just regurgitated on Lilly's hands
34:41and that way we got him off the ball.
34:43In fact, he stood up and stood well back
34:45so that we could snap the ball and run the play of our choice.
34:48Where Lilly did stand was at the forefront
34:51as the Cowboys gained power and prestige.
34:54He was a man among boys,
34:56the unstoppable, unblockable force
34:59of the doomsday defense.
35:01Opponents could neither contain him with a single player
35:04nor run away from him.
35:06So they afforded Lilly the ultimate tribute.
35:09He was a guy that if they double-teamed him,
35:11he'd beat him if they triple-teamed him.
35:13Very few people I've ever played with,
35:15I've never seen many people triple-team.
35:19He's the only player I've ever been associated with.
35:23When we watched films on Monday,
35:25the other, his peers, including myself,
35:27would be there in awe and actually would ooh and aah
35:30during the film watching him do the things he could do.
35:33I remember seeing the guard pull,
35:35and the center tried to cut him off.
35:37When the guard pulls, the center tries to make the block on Lilly,
35:40and Lilly jumped over the center, weighing 260 pounds.
35:44I just was in awe of that, and never forgot that.
35:48He was a man among boys,
35:50the unstoppable, unblockable force
35:52of the doomsday defense.
35:54He was a man among boys,
35:56the only player I've ever been associated with.
35:59He was a man among boys,
36:01I just was in awe of that, and never forgot that.
36:04He had quick feet.
36:06Nobody could get into him, nobody could block him.
36:09He would shiver them, the guards would try to get into him,
36:12and he would have them and control them,
36:14he'd toss them aside.
36:18He would take his hand and hit his eye.
36:21I mean, hit his eye, and he wouldn't blink.
36:24And that takes a lot of work.
36:26I used to ask him, Bob, what are you doing?
36:28You shut your eyes.
36:30Like, if you're on the line, you have a tendency,
36:32a lot of times, when the contact is made,
36:34to blink your eyes.
36:36So I used to sit in the meeting rooms all the time,
36:39and I'd go like this, and I'd just hit my eyeballs, even.
36:42Oh, yeah, he used to, and I thought he was nuts, you know,
36:45him and Andrew, and all them guys would be sitting there,
36:48and they'd be hitting, and I said, what in the hell?
36:51They'd gone schizo on us, you know?
36:53When I was playing up there,
36:55I would see every little whisker in his face.
36:57I would watch the ball over here,
36:59and the minute it was snapped, I would go,
37:01and I would hit this guy, but never blink my eyes,
37:03so I could see which side he was trying to get on.
37:05Lillie left foes bent, but not bloodied,
37:08a trait many viewed as a curse, not a compliment.
37:11Here was this big guy, and he was quiet.
37:14He was just kind of gentle,
37:16because he was so quick and fast,
37:18and he was running over people,
37:20taking on two blockers and beating them,
37:22and yet he wasn't really that mean.
37:25I mean, that just wasn't my style.
37:27I don't know whether it was the way I was brought up,
37:30or whether it was just that I just wasn't a very mean person.
37:33It was something I just couldn't do if I wasn't that way.
37:36Bob Lillie was more like a Bengal tiger,
37:39that he didn't really have to confront people and beat them up.
37:46He could leap over them or go around them
37:48or be smarter than they were and still make the play.
37:53¶¶
37:57Lillie's style was clean and pure,
37:59without a trace of nastiness,
38:01but when this cowboy was bushwhacked,
38:04he needed our frontier justice.
38:07We played him in an exhibition game in Texas Stadium,
38:10and he was coming off the guard,
38:12and I just unloaded with the best shot I had,
38:14probably the only good shot I had in 12 years against him.
38:17I hit him right in the sternum, you know,
38:19came up and got him in the chin.
38:21He came back and he slugged me.
38:23I looked at him and I said,
38:25Bob, I don't believe he did that.
38:27I mean, it was like he did something
38:30that was totally out of character for him.
38:33Lillie and the Cowboys were sucker-punched
38:36with the nickname Next Year's Champions.
38:39Despite playing brilliantly
38:41in consecutive title-game losses to the Packers
38:44and in a bitter defeat to the Colts in Super Bowl V,
38:48he bumped in with a team called Heartless and Gutless.
38:51Dallas Cowboys' Bridesmaids of the NFL,
38:53that was a tag that we heard everywhere we went.
38:56It was every paper, Bridesmaids.
38:58And that's a tag that a pro football player just doesn't like.
39:02I think when we won the Super Bowl, upbeating Miami,
39:05that that was like somebody lifted off
39:07a 100-pound weight off all of us.
39:09The Dolphins sank under his weight in Super Bowl VI,
39:13as did the myth that the Cowboys were chokers.
39:19He was the team's oldest player,
39:21and perhaps more than anyone else,
39:23understood and celebrated the significance of this victory.
39:27Bob Lillie was a gifted athlete.
39:30He was a player that was so superior to the people around him.
39:36The guy had strength, he had quickness.
39:39It took 2 or 3 guys to block him.
39:42The best player I ever coached.
39:45In 1974, Bob Lillie retired.
39:48He was the Cowboys' first number one draft pick,
39:52their first All-Pro,
39:54their first inductee into the Ring of Honor,
39:57and their first Hall of Famer.
39:59Mr. Cowboy had traveled the glory road
40:02from Throckmorton, Texas to Canton, Ohio.
40:14I love you!
40:23I've got 40 points to tell him!
40:26I love you, John!