Dallas Cowboys - The Super Bowl Champions 1995 - America's Game
see more from the Dallas Cowboys :
us.sports-classics.stream/dallas-cowboys.html
us.sports-classics.stream/dallas-cowboys.html
Transcript
00:00:00I'm going to play a little bit of this song, and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song, and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song, and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song, and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song, and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song, and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song, and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song, and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song, and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song, and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song, and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song, and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song, and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song, and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song, and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song,
00:00:30and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song, and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song,
00:00:35and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song, and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song,
00:00:40and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song, and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song,
00:00:45and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song, and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song,
00:00:50and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song, and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song,
00:00:55and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song.
00:01:25How about them Cowboys? I don't think we'll be hearing that line coming from Jimmy Johnson
00:01:28anytime soon, Mike. The team, the owner, the coach, the end. We have mutually decided that I would
00:01:38no longer be the head football coach with the Dallas Cowboys. Jimmy was looking for an exit
00:01:44door. Just when they reached the pinnacle, people just had a hard time understanding,
00:01:49why does this have to end? We were all disappointed. We were all sad to see him go
00:01:52because he was a great coach and he was our leader. It was stunning for me that he would
00:01:57walk away from a team that was fully loaded and ready to march on and win and three-peat here.
00:02:04It was frustrating for me. I didn't think it was fair. We'd always talked about team.
00:02:07We always talked about when we start winning championships, there's going to be enough
00:02:13success to go around for everybody. Then the people who were telling us that couldn't find
00:02:17a way to balance it out between the two of them. The group of guys missed out on an opportunity
00:02:22to try and make history. I feel very strongly that we've got one of the most talented teams
00:02:30that there is in the NFL today, if not the most talented team and one of the best that
00:02:34has ever been put together. I feel very confident that the continuity can be kept in place and be
00:02:41motivated with the new head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, Barry Switzer. Let me introduce you to
00:02:48Barry. Thank you, Jerry. The energy and the electricity packed into that room that day.
00:02:53It was very tense. It was also very emotional. Then about halfway through it,
00:03:03Barry interjected some humor into it. I don't know that Jerry was ready for it. I hope I can
00:03:08do as good a job as Jimmy Johnson. That's what you're hoping and that's damn sure what you're
00:03:12hoping. That's why I'm here. Well, I'm tan, rested and ready. That's all I can say to you.
00:03:19I'm ready to go. I want to start tomorrow. Nothing's going to change, Cowboy fans. Get
00:03:24ready to watch the Dallas Cowboys be the best in the NFL. We got a job to do and we're going to do
00:03:30it, baby. I think Jerry wanted to prove that it wasn't all Jimmy's doing. I think he felt that
00:03:39he could bring anybody in. With the talent that we already had, he could just plug someone in
00:03:44and we'd go on to win that 94 season. Coach, welcome to your new home. Thank you. It's good
00:03:48to be here, Jerry. Thank you for that opportunity. This is going to be the most exciting. This is
00:03:52going to be the most challenging camp that we've ever been a part of. Not just because Barry
00:04:01Switzer is coaching the Cowboys instead of Jimmy Johnson, but also because we are in pursuit of a
00:04:09straight Super Bowl. I think Barry walked into the biggest no-win situation that any coach has
00:04:15in the history of the National Football League. He walked in with enthusiasm and he walked in
00:04:20eager to go. This is what I look forward to. Really, all the attention and all that's not
00:04:28important to me. But I don't know that he knew the full depth of what a trap it really was. Because
00:04:38if he won, he won with the players that were there that Jimmy had coached to this level. And
00:04:45if he didn't win to any level other than the Super Bowl, it was a failure. Jimmy had the last say in
00:04:52things. And I don't know if Barry had the last say on that field as far as how the team operated.
00:04:57He was so hands-off, he allowed the coordinators to basically run practice. If there was a problem,
00:05:02he allowed them to make the adjustments with it. I think Barry Switzer was smart and he respected
00:05:08his staff and his players enough not to lie to them. Say that I'm in control, I'm making all
00:05:14the decisions. It's me, me, me, me. He respected us enough not to say that. He realized that Mr.
00:05:19Jones was now moving and getting deeply involved in the organizations in every aspect of it,
00:05:25from talent to free agency to coaching. And that Mr. Jones ultimately will be making those decisions.
00:05:31The atmosphere just wasn't the same. And I don't know, maybe that was one of the reasons that we
00:05:37started to lose our edge, because there wasn't that threat there. I am ready today. I'm finally
00:05:43getting around to do what I want to do. And I'll be glad to get rid of you guys where I can go do
00:05:48it and say, I'm going to do one interview a day and that's it. And let me go coach. Let me go do
00:05:53what I want to do. He was always very open. You know, there were some bizarre things that you'd
00:05:58see on TV, though, during the course of our season when he'd be on camera.
00:06:02They played with a lot of emotion today. They got after it. They spilled their bucket out there. I
00:06:08hope they didn't lose all of it. They were ready to go. It's not hard. It's not hard to be a
00:06:13football coach, especially when you've done it for 30 years. It's overrated. I mean, you people
00:06:18make the geniuses and the grooves and the myths out there. You all make them out to be more than
00:06:23what they are. And then when, you know, it's your fault for doing it. Then when they begin to believe
00:06:27it, then it's their fault, right? No, I never said, nor is anybody saying that an assistant coach has
00:06:32a problem with Barry Switzer. What I'm saying and what a lot of players are saying and what a lot of
00:06:36coaches are saying, that assistant coaches are having problems with assistant coaches and players
00:06:41want you to step up and stop. I think, I think you don't know what you're talking about and they
00:06:45don't either, Dale Hanson. There is no problem here on this staff and the Dallas Cowboys.
00:06:50I promise you that. Barry, again, had the philosophy, they're either for you or against you
00:06:56and it's not worth trying to kiss their butt because they can't help you and they can't fire
00:07:00you. In 94, we were very, very good, but there wasn't that level of invincibility.
00:07:18We still had such a talented,
00:07:21uh, poised team that was made up of veterans in their prime that we could go out on form
00:07:27and for the most part, uh, handle anybody that, uh, we had to come up against.
00:07:34Barry Switzer had not coached for five years, but his many critics were silenced
00:07:39when the 94 Cowboys marched to a 12-4 record ending to the NFC Championship.
00:07:50They've been waiting all year long to go play the 49ers in the championship game.
00:08:02It's exactly what everybody said would happen and now it's going to happen.
00:08:07Nothing was going to be measured in terms of success in 94 as to whether we won 13 or 14
00:08:12regular season games in the NFC Championship game. It was going to be, did you beat the 49ers
00:08:18and did you win the Super Bowl? It was, that was, that was success and everything else was bust.
00:08:24My mindset going into that game and our mindset as a team was going in saying we had San Francisco's
00:08:31number. We felt if we went out and played our best game and they played their best game,
00:08:34we'd beat them, but we didn't do that. Back to throw again is Aikman, some pressure,
00:08:38gets the pass away, Eric Davis picks it off, he's got a lane down the left side,
00:08:4220-10-5, touchdown 49ers! The game was won in the first eight minutes of the game.
00:08:49Back to throw is Aikman, has time, sends it down the left side, ball is caught and knocked down,
00:08:53that could be a fumble, yes it is a fumble, 49ers have the ball again, Tim McDonald.
00:08:5921-0 deficit with eight minutes gone in the game. They give it to Floyd, he guts in,
00:09:04Azie standing up, Washington grabs him, it's too late, 49ers after seven and a half minutes of this
00:09:10game lead 20-0. The 38-28 defeat left the Cowboys devastated. Well if there was a honeymoon or some
00:09:20semblance of a honeymoon for Barry Switzer, it ended that day out in Candlestick Park.
00:09:26The mood was complete and total shock and I think everyone who was with that team from
00:09:3189 or 90 onward shared that feeling. Couldn't believe we lost, didn't want to get on the plane,
00:09:39didn't want to do anything because you knew tomorrow morning you're going to have to get up,
00:09:43go out to the front yard and pick up the paper and it was going to say Cowboys drop NFC championship
00:09:48game. Not only Barry and not only Jerry was going to be judged on whether the season was
00:09:54successful or not by winning the Super Bowl, period, and when that didn't happen
00:10:02there was just the short, there was a very short list of people to blame and it started
00:10:07with the two guys at the top. While skeptics predicted a quick end to the Jones-Switzer union,
00:10:13the team rallied around their embattled head coach. I think he related very well to players,
00:10:18he loved football players, he loved to talk to them, he loved to know more about them,
00:10:23loved to know about their families. He'd ask me about my wife and kids and you know that's the
00:10:28type of person he was, he was more of a player's coach, he wanted to know how you're doing outside
00:10:35of football and a lot of black players gravitated to him because he was open. Black players loved
00:10:41him in the past and the black players in our locker room loved him also. Red ball, red ball,
00:10:46twins, twins. 1995 began with many questions. Had the talent level slipped? Would free spirits and
00:10:53free agency sink this impending dynasty? Let's go. We started losing guys that were
00:10:59uh you know parts of that that that engine that we we had built over those those seasons that
00:11:05you couldn't replace them. Free agency decimated Dallas.
00:11:09Lost were center Mark Stepnoski and high wire receiver Alvin Harper.
00:11:18Let's live with giving him the final offer and then if he doesn't then we'll all live with it
00:11:23and then go get the other guy. Was that where we went? The owner was also the general manager.
00:11:28This two-headed monster was roasted by the media which enraged Jerry Jones. Meddling,
00:11:35I will tell you right now if you have worked as hard as I have to get where I've got
00:11:39and somebody says you're meddling in what you've done that will make you a little defensive and
00:11:44turn you into something you don't like yourself and I'm tired of defending that. The facts are
00:11:49that's not been the way it's been out here since 1989. It's not going to be the way it is going
00:11:54forward. It has helped us win since 1989 and it's going to help us win again. Just keep on going.
00:12:00You motivate me. Shift. Red 18. Red 18. Two mediocre drafts produced rookies that even
00:12:08the veterans questioned. We got these young guys we drafted they're great players and
00:12:14and and everybody's they're not you know you don't hit on every one of them
00:12:18but I mean he pumps up every single guy. How you doing? All right. Bad omens turned ominous
00:12:25when all pro-offensive tackle Eric Williams shattered his knee in a car accident.
00:12:31Eric Williams was one of the meanest guys I've ever been associated with on a football field
00:12:37and I was happy to have him on our team and he was never the same after his car accident.
00:12:41There were more critics than champions of the Cowboys. This team seemed like a house of cards
00:12:47but in a game of Texas Hold'em the Cowboys still had a few aces up their sleeves.
00:13:03Let's go team. The Cowboys opened the 95 season explosively on the game's second play.
00:13:09The handoff goes to Emmitt Smith. His first run 25 50. He's going to score.
00:13:13Touchdown Cowboys. A 60-yard ramble by Emmitt Smith. Is he back? I would say so.
00:13:22This is going to be a great year. You know look at that. You know second play of the game they
00:13:26give us something we've never seen. We pick it up. Everybody gets a hat on a hat and he goes
00:13:30untouched 60 yards. You know you had a real good feeling about what that season was going to become
00:13:37just off of that game and especially that play.
00:13:47You kind of got the feeling that that game was one of those
00:13:51they're back type situations and whether whether the country liked it or not all these you know
00:13:59big star Dallas Cowboys guys are are back in our face again on national television and
00:14:05it looks like they might be pretty good again.
00:14:08On Monday night Dallas lost their all-pro cornerback for the season.
00:14:12If Kevin Smith is out for any length of time how much more important would that
00:14:19make the signing of one Deion Sanders to the Dallas Cowboys?
00:14:23I don't care what it takes. You get me Deion.
00:14:36Are you ready? I was born ready. Run cowboy.
00:14:41Hot dang if I had 11 men like that I could rule the world.
00:14:56The Cowboys quest to recapture their kingdom depended on signing the crown prince of
00:15:00cornerbacks. Deion Sanders coverage of Michael Irvin was a big reason the 49ers won the 94 NFC
00:15:07championship. Locked in a contract battle with San Francisco prime time was a free agent playing
00:15:19baseball with the Yankees. The Cowboys plucked this plum like low-hanging fruit. There was a
00:15:26huge rivalry between us and the 49ers so why not you know you need a corner we just lost you know
00:15:31our number one corner so why don't we take the one that was with the team that beat us last year in
00:15:36the championship game and won the Super Bowl. In Jerry's mind I think he felt that the only way we
00:15:41get back to the Super Bowl is that we take Deion Sanders away from San Francisco and put him on our
00:15:47team. In Jerry's mind he viewed Deion as a crown jewel and if he could make it work financially
00:15:55he wanted to do it. He and his son Steven almost came to blows one night during the negotiation
00:16:00because Steven was concerned about the salary structure of the club. Who else comes on TV
00:16:05but Jerry? Jerry said Deion. Bringing him in was not just adding the best cornerback in football but it
00:16:13was adding another first name superstar to an organization that people said geez haven't don't
00:16:18they have enough. He was a funny guy he once said to me Rich I don't love the camera the camera loves
00:16:29me. I don't love money money loves me. So what's it going to be Deion football or baseball? Both
00:16:38boss. Both? Both. Offense or defense? Both. Both? Both. Both. Meat lovers or stuffed crust pizza?
00:16:48Both. So what would it be Deion? 15, 20 million? Both.
00:16:58Without Deion who was injured the Cowboys won four straight games including an overtime thriller in
00:17:04Minnesota.
00:17:18The Cowboys finally lost in week five to the lowly Washington Redskins.
00:17:24The Redskins have done it upset the Cowboys at RFK.
00:17:29Troy Aikman was accused of playing soft against his former coordinator Norv Turner.
00:17:36We heard the stories about you know Troy going easy on Norv which was you know BS. I'm sure it
00:17:41was just the opposite. Troy wanted to prove to Norv that I can beat you without you. Troy is
00:17:47is all about winning and I don't care if his mom was the head coach and his dad was the offensive
00:17:53coordinator on the other side. He's going to want to beat him. So it didn't matter that Norv was over
00:17:58there. The last thing Troy's going to do is do anything to lose a game purposely to lose a game.
00:18:04We invented the conspiracy theory in Dallas. I mean that's what we're known for. When there would
00:18:09be a rumbling that Troy didn't perform at his highest level when he was playing against Norv
00:18:14people in the locker room just rolled their eyes and said that's garbage, that's ridiculous, that's
00:18:18baloney. It was just part of the myth and madness of of what being around that era of America's team
00:18:27was all about. The 7-1 Cowboys came to Atlanta where Deion Sanders made his long-awaited
00:18:33debut against the team that originally drafted him. This is our house, this ain't Dallas, this is Atlanta.
00:18:42What better time for him to come back than against the club that originally drafted him back in 1989.
00:18:47So um you know you can't script some of the things that that were revolving around that franchise
00:18:52for a while. Had a little bit of a show business uh movie premiere type setting uh for Deion coming
00:18:59back to the Georgia Dome playing his first game as a Dallas Cowboy. The glitzy atmosphere turned
00:19:05into the golden gloves for primetime. The only neon in Deion's debut was on the final scoreboard.
00:19:15Here's a deep drop for Aikman, first in, pump fake, going way down the field for Michael Irvin,
00:19:19bumping and grinding at the ball, he's got it, it's the ball, touchdown Cowboys.
00:19:29There was blood in the water when the red and gold came to Texas Stadium.
00:19:34This was heavyweight championship fight type stuff. There was a real sense of this is gonna be
00:19:39a big game and this is gonna be a great game and it was in November and we had the best record in
00:19:44the NFC and this was our opportunity to re-establish, tip the scale back over to the
00:19:52Dallas side, re-establish the Cowboys dominance in the NFC. Don't forget what happened last year.
00:19:57It had some of that Ollie Frazier type atmosphere for a football game and it wound up being George
00:20:04Foreman and Joe Frazier. I mean they knocked us out right out of the box and it was deja vu all
00:20:09over again. He's off and running, he's to the 40, they can't catch him, he'll beat him off, touchdown 49ers.
00:20:21We thought we'd line Dion up on Jerry and the other corner go opposite the whole game but
00:20:25they didn't do that. They moved Jerry around, they got him on linebackers, they created matchups
00:20:30of what they wanted to see there and we really wasn't prepared for that and it was hard to adjust.
00:20:35We were all over the place. We were playing, trying to play man to man
00:20:39and Larry Brown was playing in a position where I was supposed to be playing, a safety position.
00:20:44Rice is lined up on Larry Brown. Rice ate Larry Brown alive in both games last year.
00:20:50Larry Brown had no idea what he was supposed to be doing, a safety position, so that's how crazy it was.
00:20:54You could just feel all the air going out of Texas Stadium and up through the hole in the roof.
00:21:05It was really that devastating because of what had happened the previous January.
00:21:12This one was actually worse than the championship game. We never even got close.
00:21:16Inwood slanted, ball is caught in fumble, 49ers pick it up, bringing him back as Hanks, he's gonna go, he'll go in, touchdown 49ers again.
00:21:26Unbelievable. Are we in San Francisco? Have we not seen this before? Flashbacks last year.
00:21:32So the psyche had changed. It went from us dominating them to them dominating us.
00:21:38I think we just pretty much, you know, we got out coached that game. That was a point in the season
00:21:44where you started to think the Cowboys aren't what the Cowboys were and maybe the pendulum of
00:21:52power has completely shifted to the Bay Area. That San Francisco game was the first time
00:21:57in a long time that any of us ever felt that. They're just better than we are right now.
00:22:02The devastating 49ers loss was compounded when tackle Leon Lett was suspended by the NFL for substance abuse.
00:22:20We needed Leon Lett to anchor down that defensive line to get to where we needed to be and
00:22:26for him to already have a problem, got help, and then to basically do it all over again. I thought
00:22:31he let down the team at the same time I was concerned about who Leon was. And he was with
00:22:37a group that some of the guys had already been in trouble. So it's going to take a very strong
00:22:42person to be able to decline some of the things that were going on at that point. If there was a
00:22:48party going on in Dallas, the Cowboys were a part of it. I think a lot of us craved the discipline
00:22:52that we had with Jimmy because we knew we had guys that you couldn't trust to be on their own.
00:22:56They were going to make mistakes. If you didn't have somebody there that had a strong presence
00:23:01and instilled a little bit of fear in them, it just was a little bit too loose while Barry was there.
00:23:06There was scrutiny and there was criticism because it was another opportunity to take a shot at
00:23:13our team. The team was a media target and every player became caught in their crosshairs.
00:23:20It was tabloid journalism where every step and misstep was gleefully recorded.
00:23:24They were a front page car crash. The paparazzi's dream team.
00:23:42Ironically, the team became the media. Many Cowboys, including the long snapper,
00:23:47had radio or TV shows. Yeah, I was wanting to know about Leon's contract. How long is it?
00:23:52What are some of the terms? You got that all written down already? Well, I'm reading it right
00:23:55here off your little cheat sheet. Cowboys signed Sanders to seven-year, $35 million deal.
00:24:00I do basically the same things I've always done and basically what all head coaches do. And I
00:24:04spend half my time, instead of being on the walkthrough out there today, I'm in here talking
00:24:08to you guys. You understand? That's the role of a head coach. No matter what Jerry Jones does,
00:24:14somebody roasts him. If the Cowboys don't win the Super Bowl, Jerry Jones will be fried. Nationally,
00:24:21locally, in reality and in effigy, Jerry Jones will be hung by the Dallas-Fort Worth media.
00:24:29Certainly. There was not a week that the Cowboys could go without the press and just a free week.
00:24:35We were dealing with something every week of that season. And it was just a very difficult time for
00:24:40us. And a lot of guys didn't know how to handle it. There were so many distractions over those
00:24:45times. During that time, the only time that we were really happy was playing on Sundays.
00:24:50Happiness came in week 12 when the Cowboys defeated the Raiders behind the playmaker,
00:24:55Michael Irvin, number 88. Michael Irvin, wide open. Touchdown, Cowboys. Oh, man, was he wide open.
00:25:02Irvin was the heart and soul of the 95 Cowboys. His combative spirit lifted him above the competition.
00:25:12Throws it in the end zone. Ball is caught. Michael Irvin.
00:25:17111 catches in 1600 yards were not the measure of this man.
00:25:22You get into those lulls during a season or a game, and he was the guy that could get you out of it.
00:25:28They starting to say we can't run the damn football. They want a line set made up in that
00:25:33we'll run all the money.
00:25:43Statement on third and 13. On to the bomb again for Michael Irvin in the corner.
00:25:51Dale Carter was there. The ball was there and Michael Irvin stayed with it.
00:25:58Wins over the Raiders and Chiefs gave Dallas a nine and two record.
00:26:02To put those two wins back to back after the totally deflating experience with the 49ers
00:26:08led people to believe we were on the right path.
00:26:12And it was like little did they know that the December from hell was right around the corner.
00:26:17The December from hell began on a heavenly Sunday.
00:26:30The Cowboys lost once again to the underdog Redskins.
00:26:37We had some fallout during that during that game at halftime.
00:26:41We there was a little fight that took place between Larry Larry Brown
00:26:45and Charles Haley after during the halftime of that game.
00:26:49Nothing got accomplished at halftime. We went right back on the field and
00:26:53Redskins continued to stomp us.
00:26:58There was an unsettling feeling starting to permeate its way through the locker room that
00:27:03what is our identity and and can we you know beat somebody we're supposed to beat.
00:27:08We just got to take care of business in December and get it done.
00:27:11I want to say the temperature was 19 and the wind chill in the vet was like seven below.
00:27:16And it cold in Veterans Stadium is a different kind of cold.
00:27:21It's just it's unmerciful.
00:27:24The Cowboys burst to a 17 to 3 lead.
00:27:28We felt that we had control of that game.
00:27:31I was able to go grab that ball and take it back and we felt we had a nice cushion there.
00:27:35It was a game that we felt we shouldn't have lost and that we let slip away from us.
00:27:47Late in the game with a score tied at 17, the Cowboys took a risky gamble on fourth down.
00:27:53I remember Deion saying you know it wasn't fourth in a foot it was fourth in a ding-a-ling.
00:27:58When you have the offensive line and you have the defensive line and you have the
00:28:02When you have the offensive line that we've had and you had probably at that time arguably the
00:28:09best back in the National Football League.
00:28:11If that line can't push forward for one yard then then something's wrong there.
00:28:33We've got some problems.
00:28:35We lucked out.
00:28:36We got the snap off late.
00:28:37The two-minute warning goes off before the play.
00:28:40So it looks as though we've dodged a bullet.
00:28:42But no we're going to go back and we're going to do it again.
00:28:45And not only we're going to do it again we're going to run the exact same play.
00:28:47Here we go fourth down.
00:28:49They give it to Smith and they stop him again.
00:28:52And this time they can't take it away from the Eagles.
00:28:54The same play.
00:28:56And I can't believe Barry Switzer-Goat hit the same play.
00:28:59Why would we call the same exact play and run it right back in the teeth of that defense?
00:29:04We're in December.
00:29:04We're playing the worst football we've played all year.
00:29:07I mean the media just they crucified Barry.
00:29:13Barry takes a beating.
00:29:15Barry doesn't call the play.
00:29:16He just says go for it.
00:29:18Barry says go for it again after the penalty.
00:29:22And the exact same play is called.
00:29:24But Barry takes the heat.
00:29:25He's the head coach.
00:29:26We felt like it's a 90 percent least chance of making it.
00:29:29And we didn't make it.
00:29:31So that's a consequence of and Bozo the clown.
00:29:34Bozo the coach.
00:29:35And I have to live with that.
00:29:37So I'm the type of guy that can handle it.
00:29:39Everybody including me knows you're supposed to punt in that situation.
00:29:41I know you're supposed to punt.
00:29:43But there's times you believe in a football team and believe in a decision.
00:29:46You got to go win the ball game.
00:29:47We hadn't poured a drop the whole second half.
00:29:51Hadn't scored a point.
00:29:52Hadn't done a damn thing.
00:29:53We're going to go try to get it done now.
00:29:55In mid-December there was a sense of sincere worry.
00:30:00I think throughout the locker room.
00:30:02Our psyche is gone a little bit now.
00:30:03We're not the most dominant team that that we have in the past.
00:30:07Something something's going on here that we haven't had a taste of for a long time.
00:30:11We got on the plane to go to Arizona on Christmas Eve.
00:30:16To go play a Monday night game in Arizona.
00:30:19Last game of the year.
00:30:20And one team got on that plane.
00:30:23And another team got off it.
00:30:25We knew before we got off the plane and the word spread through the plane.
00:30:29Through the rows of the plane like wildfire.
00:30:3149ers lost.
00:30:33If we go into Arizona.
00:30:35And we take care of business on Monday night.
00:30:38Christmas night against the Cardinals.
00:30:40We can get home field advantage again.
00:30:43The 37-13 win ended a roller coaster season.
00:30:47A wild stomach churning ride that saw them go from commanding.
00:30:51To collapsing.
00:30:52To champions of the east.
00:30:57Hand off Emmons Smith at the five.
00:30:59Up to the three.
00:31:00To the one.
00:31:01Touchdown Emmons Smith.
00:31:03Still on record.
00:31:04The 25th rushing touchdown of the year for Emmons Smith.
00:31:09That game was just so special to us.
00:31:11Guys were excited.
00:31:13And I think it gave us the belief in ourselves again.
00:31:16That we could do it.
00:31:17That we could make it back to the Super Bowl.
00:31:19Everything that happened back there.
00:31:20From the injury to Kevin Smith.
00:31:21To getting beat by the 49ers.
00:31:23To the fourth and one disaster in Philadelphia.
00:31:26The redskin losses.
00:31:27All that stuff.
00:31:28It's meaningless.
00:31:28Because guess what?
00:31:29We did what we set out to do when we were in training camp.
00:31:33So for the first time there was kind of a positive vibe.
00:31:35But the vibe from Troy Aikman was that of a prisoner walking the last mile.
00:31:40Here comes the blitz.
00:31:41Anthony Davis.
00:31:42Tacks Troy Aikman.
00:31:45Looks like he might have hurt his knee or ankle.
00:31:47He's shaking up.
00:31:50He's going to go.
00:31:51Touchdown 49ers again.
00:31:55Aikman's looking left.
00:31:57Intercepted by and he is brilliant.
00:31:58Touchdown Arizona Cardinals.
00:32:011995 was less an odyssey than an ordeal for the 49ers.
00:32:06Here's all your media folks.
00:32:07They're getting in the way.
00:32:09He was hounded by the press about his strained relationship with his head coach.
00:32:14A relationship that began under Switzer at Oklahoma.
00:32:19Aikman transformed the Sooners from a wishbone attack to a wide open offense.
00:32:24But when he was injured his sophomore year.
00:32:27Switzer helped him transfer to UCLA.
00:32:29Where he starred and became the NFL's number one draft choice in 1989.
00:32:35So
00:32:45while his relationship with Jimmy Johnson had been harmonious.
00:32:48It remained off-key with Barry Switzer.
00:32:52I sort of knew that there was a little rift between the two.
00:32:56Between Switzer and Aikman.
00:32:58The lackadaisical style of coaching that Switzer had.
00:33:02Troy was a perfectionist.
00:33:03He wanted to win games.
00:33:05He wanted things to go exactly the way they went when Jimmy was there.
00:33:09Troy is a guy.
00:33:09All he wants to do is win championships.
00:33:11He wants everybody to do everything they possibly can.
00:33:15And there were times when we felt that Barry needed to do more.
00:33:21Am I happy with my relationship with Aikman?
00:33:23As I've told you before.
00:33:25I don't know if Chuck Knoll had a great relationship with Terry Bradshaw or not.
00:33:28It wasn't important.
00:33:29He won four Super Bowls.
00:33:30Right?
00:33:30That's the bottom line.
00:33:31I'm not going to drink RC colas and double date with him.
00:33:35We're not going to do those things.
00:33:37I mean, it's not part of the game.
00:33:38It's not important.
00:33:39It's kind of like jockey hits.
00:33:40You can't ever get rid of the thing.
00:33:41You keep talking.
00:33:42Everybody keeps bringing it up.
00:33:44And why do you have to answer it?
00:33:45You know, it rubs you raw.
00:33:50The most volatile situation erupted when assistant coach John Blake
00:33:54told Barry Switzer that Aikman was criticizing just the black players.
00:33:59Barry had called me in the office to talk about it.
00:34:01And what I told Barry was, hey, listen, you know, Troy is not that guy.
00:34:06And we don't look at Troy.
00:34:07I don't look at him personally as a guy that's a racist.
00:34:10Or if he's just yelling at black guys.
00:34:11I told him, listen, that's what I expect out of Troy.
00:34:14And I went to Troy that same day after walking out of Barry's office and telling Troy, hey,
00:34:19listen, we got your back.
00:34:20The guy that summarized it best for me was Charles Haley.
00:34:23And he said, look around that huddle.
00:34:25Most of the people that he hands the ball off to or that he interacts with in the offensive
00:34:30huddle are black.
00:34:32And it's his job to straighten them out if they step out of line.
00:34:36And if he doesn't do it, he's messing with my money.
00:34:40And I'll go in there and do it for him.
00:34:42He is a perfectionist.
00:34:43He is the ultimate competitor, the most competitive person I've ever met.
00:34:47You don't want to disappoint Troy.
00:34:48You don't want Troy mad at you.
00:34:49He had these physical gifts that were just God given.
00:34:52The physical stature.
00:34:53He just looked like a quarterback.
00:34:55He looked like a statue to the game of football during the national anthem.
00:34:58When number eight went out into the huddle, you knew there was a top flight professional
00:35:02quarterback in there.
00:35:04He was just out there cutting people up, performing surgery.
00:35:09Aikman's discontent rarely surfaced.
00:35:11And his bottom line was still accuracy, efficiency, leadership, and guiding his team to championships.
00:35:19All quarterbacks follow the same path.
00:35:22But the great ones like Troy Aikman leave different footprints on the game.
00:35:26Cuts it up at the five.
00:35:32You knew his ultimate goal was to win games.
00:35:35That's what brought him happiness, being perfectionist and winning games.
00:35:40People who have that character trait where they're always looking for a way to improve
00:35:44or a way to get better and a way not to be satisfied generally have a positive impact
00:35:49on the whole organization doing well.
00:35:56The Packers have become the Cowboys whipping boys and the lash was applied on a 99 yard
00:36:22drive before halftime.
00:36:24You just take the ball off the one and you go right down the field.
00:36:29There's nothing more demoralizing than that, especially at that critical part of the game.
00:36:34It was a vintage cowboy march.
00:36:36Powered by the triplets, it drained the clock and the Packers will.
00:36:53And off Smith again, blocking again and Emmitt scores this time and the Cowboys have taken
00:37:06the lead with the Emmitt Smith touchdown with 24 seconds remaining in the first half.
00:37:12That drive coming off of our goal line was absolutely huge.
00:37:16And it kind of is an indication of how far we'd come in a month's time.
00:37:22Uh, you know, back in early December, I don't, I don't know if we make that drive.
00:37:30And off Emmitt Smith at the 15th.
00:37:32Oh, look at that hole to the 10th.
00:37:34He'll score.
00:37:35Emmitt Smith dances to the end zone.
00:37:38The Steelers and the Cowboys in Arizona for Super Bowl 30.
00:37:43Y'all, y'all are tremendous.
00:37:49And, and I really appreciate some of the things that you guys said to me personally,
00:37:54some of you players in the ball game.
00:37:55It really means a lot to me.
00:37:56It really does.
00:37:58And I want to thank our coaching staff.
00:37:59I want to thank these guys that all we have to put up with and all the people outside.
00:38:06Hey, they're loyal.
00:38:07They stuck with me and fought their rear ends off.
00:38:10And I believe in them and they believe in me.
00:38:13The Cowboys look to win the Super Bowl for the third time in four years.
00:38:28For Barry Switzer, the former Oklahoma head coach,
00:38:31his ultimate moment seemed no bigger than a college bowl game.
00:38:36He kind of enjoyed just the circus atmosphere of it and didn't take it too seriously.
00:38:41And I think for him, it was like a big bowl game.
00:38:45That's why we're at the Orange Bowl.
00:38:46That's why every, I mean, Orange Bowl, my God.
00:38:49A big Orange Bowl.
00:38:50That's why we're at the big Orange Bowl.
00:38:52Barry didn't pay lip service to taking care of his kids and enjoying his family.
00:38:58And he wanted them to enjoy this because he basically said to them,
00:39:03this is why I did this.
00:39:05This is why I put up with all this criticism.
00:39:08My ex-wife's coming in too.
00:39:10She told my daughter, my daughter called her and said,
00:39:12mom, you want to go to the Super Bowl?
00:39:14She says, well, I lived with that for 22 years.
00:39:17I said, I guess I can come to the Super Bowl.
00:39:20And I said, well, come on.
00:39:21I'll put a roll away in there for you.
00:39:24Hey, it's been a long time coming, but we're finally here.
00:39:29Let's go out here and play a complete game.
00:39:31Let's go from the Alpha to the Omega.
00:39:33Let's go out here, kick D. Pittsburgh's ass up and down the field
00:39:38and go home and enjoy this for a full year.
00:39:53The Cowboys' overpowering defense and picture-perfect offense overwhelmed the Steelers.
00:39:59Make for the pass on the first and goal from the green.
00:40:01Wide open.
00:40:01Danovichek, touchdown.
00:40:06We've got control of the game.
00:40:08All of a sudden, there's a lull and we don't have control of the game anymore.
00:40:13First and goal at the six.
00:40:14Slant pattern for the goal line.
00:40:16Touchdown Steelers.
00:40:19I remember the Steelers scored right before halftime.
00:40:22And it gave me a sick feeling in my stomach.
00:40:26And I went up on the roof of the press box.
00:40:28I was thinking, if I could get on that helicopter and get out of here, I would.
00:40:33And I'd go home and watch it on TV.
00:40:34Because I don't know if I have the stomach to sit around and watch the rest of this one.
00:40:38Because these guys think that they're in it.
00:40:43And we let them think that they're in it.
00:40:45And so they are.
00:40:46All of a sudden, they're back into it.
00:40:48Because we have a little bit of a lull during the course of the game.
00:40:50And then we got to hold on and have a little bit of luck help us out at the end.
00:40:54And Larry Brown happened to be in the right place at the right time twice.
00:40:57My hands were so bad that, as a rookie, he used to call me Edward Scissorshands.
00:41:02He couldn't catch anything at practice.
00:41:05He had his biggest games against the best players on the biggest stages.
00:41:09It was just a zone play for us there.
00:41:11And I think Neil O'Donnell, the ball got away from it, just slipped.
00:41:15He actually tried to hit a crossing route in my zone.
00:41:18It ended up flowing right to me.
00:41:20I said I was going to make sure I caught it.
00:41:21And I think at that time, I was trying to score, get up and down the sideline,
00:41:25get that ball in the end zone if I could.
00:41:27It was a freebie.
00:41:28It was a gift.
00:41:28And I gladly appreciate it.
00:41:39Instead of burying the Steelers, they granted them a stay of execution.
00:41:43On the second interception, we were blitzing.
00:41:45And we were sending everybody.
00:41:47I think Neil recognized that it was a blitz check.
00:41:49And I beat the receiver to the spot.
00:41:51And again, just tried to take it and get it in the end zone from there.
00:41:58Hey, you get one more, you can run for mayor in Dallas.
00:42:01I'll vote for you, dawg, as long as you give me a job.
00:42:04Second interception, we were blitzing.
00:42:06And we were sending everybody.
00:42:07I think Neil recognized that it was a blitz check.
00:42:09And I beat the receiver to the spot.
00:42:11I'll vote for you, as long as you give me a job.
00:42:13Second and goal from the four.
00:42:15Vikings in motion, handoff Emmitt Smith on the right-hand side, touchdown.
00:42:19Emmitt Smith scores.
00:42:21And Dallas, your Cowboys are world champions again.
00:42:23Most valuable player of Super Bowl XXX, Larry Blank.
00:42:27It was such a unique bundle of personalities, unusual, unpredictable circumstances and results
00:42:37that I don't know that another season will come along like that again
00:42:41and a team will wind up being on the platform with a trophy at the end.
00:42:47Victory was final vindication for Barry Switzer and his psychiatrist's dream of a team.
00:42:53Somehow they had survived this turbulent season and had won Super Bowl XXX.
00:42:57I think that there was a collective sigh of relief mixed with a strong sigh of euphoria.
00:43:06The joy just wasn't there, man.
00:43:08It was not the same.
00:43:10Thank God the season's over.
00:43:12It was just a very, very strange year.
00:43:14A testimony to that team that we were able to get through all that
00:43:18and somehow find a way to win a championship.
00:43:20My position coach, Joe Brodsky, said it was one of the best performances he'd ever seen by a team.
00:43:26I asked him why, and he said because you guys won in spite of the coaching.
00:43:32The Cowboys would have made a great reality show.
00:43:34When you think about the characters and the type of people we had,
00:43:38from Michael Irvin, Deion Sanders, to Barry Switzer as a head coach,
00:43:42to a unique owner in Mr. Jones.
00:43:44I think it was a relief off Jerry's shoulders to say,
00:43:48hey listen, Barry Switzer's sitting up here at this podium,
00:43:52not Jimmy Johnson, but Barry Switzer,
00:43:54and he's the head coach of the Super Bowl champion Dallas Cowboys.
00:43:58For Barry especially, a dramatic weight had been lifted off his shoulders,
00:44:02and he just wanted to get up there and say,
00:44:04we did it.
00:44:06Are you having a good time now, Jerry?
00:44:08We did it our way, baby!
00:44:10We did it!
00:44:12We did it!
00:44:14We did it!
00:44:28We did it!
00:44:30We did it!
00:44:32We did it!
00:44:34We did it!
00:44:36We did it!
00:44:38We did it!
00:44:40We did it!
00:44:42We did it!
00:44:44We did it!
00:44:46We did it!
00:44:48We did it!
00:44:50We did it!
00:44:52We did it!
00:44:54We did it!
00:44:56We did it!
00:44:58We did it!
00:45:00We did it!
00:45:02We did it!
00:45:04You didn't show me no love.
00:45:06That's what it was. You didn't show me no love.
00:45:08Charles was the guy that would say anything
00:45:10to anyone at any time.
00:45:12What you want to do? You want to, baby, take this home
00:45:14and show your wife and say, this is what my body should look like?
00:45:16This is what a warrior look like?
00:45:18Charles is one of those guys that you have to stand up to
00:45:20the first time you meet him.
00:45:22And if you don't stand up to him,
00:45:24he's going to make life miserable for you.
00:45:26Don't go to the other side. I go in the middle of the damn field.
00:45:28Get down on both knees and, Lord, help me, please.
00:45:30Just because your head's shaped like a bullet
00:45:32don't make you a big shot there, boy.
00:45:34You couldn't let Charles get the upper hand on you.
00:45:36Because once he knew he had the upper hand on you,
00:45:38you were done.
00:45:40I want y'all working the hell out of my damn face, right?
00:45:42At his best,
00:45:44he is loving and caring
00:45:46and sensitive.
00:45:48This is the mean one right here.
00:45:50This is CJ, Charles Jr.
00:45:52At his worst, he's temperamental.
00:45:54He's irritating.
00:45:56He's caustic.
00:45:58You don't want to grab me and wear my waist, man.
00:46:00I can't tell. I ain't into women nobody.
00:46:02I know you love me, man.
00:46:04He's sarcastic.
00:46:06He thinks he's funnier than he is.
00:46:08Look at the pork of the pig right here.
00:46:10Get on the other side of him.
00:46:12Get on the other side of him.
00:46:14Some days, you could not pay him
00:46:16to shut up.
00:46:18Other days, you couldn't get him to talk.
00:46:20When he showed up on that field,
00:46:22I've never seen a warrior more fierce,
00:46:24more committed to winning,
00:46:26wanting to lay it out there every down
00:46:28than this guy, Charles Haley.
00:46:32Charles Haley, a demon both on the field
00:46:34and off it, was the final piece
00:46:36in the Cowboys championship puzzle.
00:46:38We couldn't spell
00:46:40Super Bowl in Dallas
00:46:42until we got Charles Haley from the 49ers.
00:46:44He was
00:46:46the key piece to the puzzle.
00:46:52I think the best description
00:46:54I ever heard of Emmett's running style
00:46:56is like someone wrote
00:46:58that he skittered across the field
00:47:00like a hot dog wrapper in the wind,
00:47:02just stopping and then going a little bit more
00:47:04and then stopping and then moving laterally
00:47:06and eventually working his way down the field.
00:47:26Fullback Darryl Johnston
00:47:28was Smith's most valuable teammate.
00:47:30This bowling ball
00:47:32and cleats rarely carried the ball,
00:47:34but when he did,
00:47:36he adhered to the old maxim
00:47:38that the shortest distance between two points
00:47:40is a straight line.
00:47:48With No. 48
00:47:50Harsh Conner
00:47:52and No. 48
00:47:54With No. 48
00:47:56Harsh Contact was inevitable.
00:48:14Johnston's teammates valued this good soldier
00:48:16who provided the armed escort
00:48:18for all of Emmett Smith's sensational runs.
00:48:24Up the middle, running, 35, 30.
00:48:26One tackle to break, he does. 25, 20.
00:48:28Race to the end zone, to the 10, to the 5.
00:48:30Touchdown, Cowboys!
00:48:32Absolutely, incredibly
00:48:34strong run by Emmett Smith.
00:48:36Let's go, East!
00:48:38Let's go, East!
00:48:40He had a great sense of inner pride
00:48:42and wanted to be something
00:48:44more than just a good player.
00:48:46He wanted to leave footprints on the game.
00:48:54We gave it up!
00:48:56Yes!
00:48:58We're going home!
00:49:00You wanted to play with Michael.
00:49:02You wanted to go to war with Michael.
00:49:04Every play, baby, every play,
00:49:06do or die, every play.
00:49:08His personality was
00:49:10magnetic,
00:49:12electric,
00:49:14charismatic.
00:49:16It's hard to capsulize Michael Irvin's personality
00:49:18other than to say that he had more of it
00:49:20in his little finger
00:49:22than probably 98% of the population
00:49:24do in their whole body.
00:49:26He was the personality, the charisma.
00:49:28Axe, I gotta go deep on him, Axe.
00:49:30I gotta go deep.
00:49:32I gotta back their ass up.
00:49:34I think when you have a player like that
00:49:36who really genuinely cares about everybody
00:49:38on that team and how they play,
00:49:40Michael wanted that and he enjoyed it
00:49:42when you had success.
00:49:44That's what made Michael Irvin a tremendous leader.
00:49:46Without a doubt, the hardest working guy on that team
00:49:48through that era.
00:49:50He was a machine.
00:49:56It was 2 o'clock in the afternoon,
00:49:58probably close to 100 degrees in Dallas,
00:50:00brutal, in July.
00:50:02He runs around, he throws up,
00:50:04he sits there for a while,
00:50:06sprays out his mouth, he gets back on that line,
00:50:08he ran about 10, 15 more routes,
00:50:10one after the other.
00:50:12His work ethic was, you couldn't match it.
00:50:14He always said he goes hard on both ends.
00:50:16He's gonna go hard at practice,
00:50:18he's gonna go hard in life.
00:50:20I remember Michael Irvin at training camp
00:50:22going out partying all night long,
00:50:24walking in and getting ready
00:50:26to go to practice the next day.
00:50:28That was him.
00:50:30He only needed a couple hours of sleep,
00:50:32if that, that was him.
00:50:34He just burned it on both ends.
00:50:40He apologized a number of times
00:50:42about his issues off the field.
00:50:44I remember one meeting going in
00:50:46and after the team meeting,
00:50:48the coaches left,
00:50:50and he broke down crying
00:50:52talking about how he apologized
00:50:54for all the problems he may have caused
00:50:56for that team,
00:50:58that he'll work 110 times even harder
00:51:00on that practice field
00:51:02to show us that he's intent
00:51:04on winning the championship.
00:51:06That was him.
00:51:08He was an emotional person.
00:51:16For Larry Brown, football took a backseat
00:51:18to tragedy in 1995.
00:51:20My wife at the time
00:51:22had actually had a baby
00:51:24and we were born premature.
00:51:26And Father, I do pray for Christopher Brown
00:51:28just like Russell did.
00:51:30I pray that you would preserve him
00:51:32and strengthen him.
00:51:34Give Cheryl and Larry
00:51:36great endurance
00:51:38as they watch him in the hospital
00:51:40and spend time with him.
00:51:42And Father, may he
00:51:44be raised to his full health.
00:51:46There's not enough words,
00:51:48there's not good enough words to describe
00:51:50what the feeling he was going through.
00:51:52Not only himself, but his wife and his family
00:51:54and his family that was with the Cowboys.
00:51:56For the whole season, we knew that
00:51:58there was complications here and there
00:52:00and things I had to deal with there,
00:52:02but that week was tough because
00:52:04he actually had passed that week
00:52:06and we had to bury him.
00:52:08He had the funeral the day we were leaving
00:52:10for a game
00:52:12that was on a Saturday.
00:52:14And we left out on a way game
00:52:16right after the funeral.
00:52:18Mr. Jones left his plane for me.
00:52:20He said, if you want to come, it's up to you.
00:52:22If you don't, we understand.
00:52:24And I talked to my family about it
00:52:26and I prayed about it
00:52:28and made the commitment to go ahead
00:52:30and show up to the game.
00:52:32And I think the most moving thing of it is
00:52:34my son's name was Christopher Brown.
00:52:36When I got to the game, all the players
00:52:38had KB on their helmet and I wanted to play.
00:52:40I wanted to play for myself. I wanted to play for my son.
00:52:42And it was one of the hardest things I ever had to do.
00:52:44The Raiders game
00:52:46was highlighted by, I think,
00:52:48my all-time favorite, Deion Interception.
00:52:50He was covering
00:52:52Rocket Ismail down the field,
00:52:54the center of the field.
00:52:56And Deion went up and reached over
00:52:58the rocket, snatched the ball
00:53:00with two hands, and then
00:53:02held the ball up in the air.
00:53:04And it was just like, wow.
00:53:06Darren Woodson
00:53:08maintained the Cowboy tradition of great
00:53:10safeties who possessed game-changing
00:53:12abilities.
00:53:14Darren Woodson on a big-time interception
00:53:16return of 37 yards.
00:53:18It's on now!
00:53:20What a big house!
00:53:22We're gonna take it away from them!
00:53:24We're gonna bring them down!
00:53:26I think we became more focused going
00:53:28in to that playoff run.
00:53:30Now, were we the same team?
00:53:32Were we as dominant as a team and as athletic
00:53:34and as talented? No, we weren't.
00:53:36We were a team that was focused on winning that game.
00:53:38The fourth-in-one fiasco
00:53:40in Philly seemed ancient history
00:53:42when Darren Woodson knocked quarterback
00:53:44Rodney Peet out of the game.
00:53:46He ran out of the bottom of the pocket
00:53:48trying to get the first down, and
00:53:50I just tried to brace myself, and he ran. He didn't see me.
00:53:52At the time, I was just trying to destroy him.
00:53:54Cowboy fans saw why Deion Sanders
00:53:56was called primetime.
00:53:58Here's a reverse to Deion Sanders.
00:54:00Cuts up field at the 25.
00:54:02Now reverses direction.
00:54:04Finds a blocker! At the 20!
00:54:06To the right! To the 10! To the 5!
00:54:08Touchdown, Deion Sanders!
00:54:10You just shook your head, and we're like,
00:54:12that's unbelievable.
00:54:14And I remember all of the fans
00:54:16cheering for Deion Sanders.
00:54:18It was like, wow!
00:54:20It was like, wow!
00:54:22That's unbelievable.
00:54:24And I remember all that anybody was concerned about
00:54:26was not, was he going to get in the end zone,
00:54:28but what type of dance he would do
00:54:30when he finally did.
00:54:32Here he goes! Here he goes!
00:54:34Deion Sanders scores on the offense!
00:54:36The Sanders Temple in the end zone!
00:54:46Here we go, John. A mood look, John.
00:54:48Good, John.
00:54:50It's vintage 1966.
00:54:52Someone called the Dallas Cowboys
00:54:54the now team of the mod times.
00:54:56And Don Meredith was to be the leading man
00:54:58of pro football's new age.
00:55:00Merlin Olsen once said that
00:55:02Meredith has a charisma, that's exactly what he's got.
00:55:04You don't know why,
00:55:06but he,
00:55:08you just consider him exceptional.
00:55:10I don't think I've ever come across
00:55:12anybody in athletics that was
00:55:14as good at being a leader.
00:55:16Wings dig out!
00:55:18We're cutting them. I tell you what,
00:55:20let's just group together. Everything's going all right.
00:55:22We're just making some mistakes,
00:55:24and those things, we'll get them over with.
00:55:26We're going to whip them. We're going to whip them.
00:55:28He always had his finger on the pulse
00:55:30of the team, on everybody.
00:55:32From the offense to the defense,
00:55:34to the star player,
00:55:36to the last guy on the bench.
00:55:38He cared about everybody.
00:55:40And I believe part of it was cunning.
00:55:42Part of it was just pure, sheer animal cunning,
00:55:44knowing that a team didn't win
00:55:46unless you did that.
00:55:50Meredith had been with the
00:55:52winless expansion Cowboys in 1960.
00:55:54By 66, he had them on a
00:55:56dizzying climb up the standings.
00:56:04From 1966 through 1968,
00:56:06the Dallas Cowboys gained
00:56:08more yards and scored more points
00:56:10than any other team in the NFL.
00:56:16Number 22 Bob Hayes, the world's
00:56:18fastest human, made the Cowboys
00:56:20the world's fastest football team.
00:56:22Head coach Tom Landry's
00:56:24multiple formation offense
00:56:26revolutionized pro football,
00:56:28forsaking three yards in the cloud of dust
00:56:30for big plays in a burst
00:56:32of smoke.
00:56:38On defense,
00:56:40Landry's flex was equally
00:56:42ahead of its time.
00:56:46It too
00:56:48was the fastest unit in the league
00:56:50and ranked first against the run
00:56:52in 66, 67 and 68.
00:56:54The Cowboys had
00:56:56the muscle in the head.
00:56:58It would be up to Meredith to supply
00:57:00the heart. We were playing the Redskins
00:57:02and Don
00:57:04was beaten up worse
00:57:06that day than I think I've ever seen
00:57:08any athlete take punishment like this
00:57:10in one game. One of his
00:57:12ribs broke, punctured a lung
00:57:14While we're in the game, I remember coming back
00:57:16towards the huddle and he's just lying
00:57:18there and I said, Don, Jesus, you know,
00:57:20somebody is calling somebody to come
00:57:22carry him off the field. And he just
00:57:24looked up at me and said, just get me to my feet.
00:57:26The Cowboys trailed
00:57:2830 to 28, but Meredith
00:57:30rose off the canvas and showed
00:57:32his teammates how to rise to the
00:57:34occasion. We were down
00:57:36with just 90 seconds to go in the game.
00:57:38And we had 99 yards to go. The team
00:57:40should have been down
00:57:42mentally and ready
00:57:44to give up. Meredith came out,
00:57:46stepped into the huddle and he smiled and he says, Okay,
00:57:48boys, we're going to run and pass this ball down the
00:57:50field and win this game.
00:57:52Now won't you listen to me
00:57:54and listen good, because this is what we're
00:57:56going to do. We're going to run the ball, we're going
00:57:58to pass the ball, we're going right down
00:58:00this field and we're going to score.
00:58:02The most intense experience I ever
00:58:04had. And I stepped back out of the huddle and I took
00:58:06off my helmet and I looked up
00:58:08and he was so focused, you know, and I looked up
00:58:10and suddenly I was
00:58:12losing focus. I saw the crowd
00:58:14and I could feel, it was like I was being lifted
00:58:16out of the field and
00:58:18up into the air. I mean, I can
00:58:20feel that now when I get
00:58:22goosebumps when I think about it.
00:58:24And we systematically marched
00:58:26down the field. Everybody
00:58:28in that offensive huddle knew
00:58:30that we were going to score. And nothing
00:58:32Washington did or could do
00:58:34was going to stop the Dallas Cowboys.
00:58:40Music
00:58:44Music
00:58:48Music
00:58:52It was the fall
00:58:54of 1966 and
00:58:56the Cowboys had climbed to the threshold
00:58:58of greatness. Only one
00:59:00team stood in their way.
00:59:04It was a clash not so much
00:59:06of teams, but of times.
00:59:08Tradition versus
00:59:10innovation.
00:59:12Destiny versus dynasty.
00:59:14Music
00:59:18The
00:59:20invincible image of Lombardi's Packers
00:59:22was taking a beating.
00:59:24Twice Green Bay built leads of
00:59:2614 points. Once, the Cowboys
00:59:28came back to tie. And the second
00:59:30time, the Cowboys cut it to seven
00:59:32on Meredith's 68-yard
00:59:34touchdown to Frank Clark.
00:59:36With under
00:59:38two minutes to go, the dynasty
00:59:40was in danger. And the
00:59:42Cowboys had their destiny and the
00:59:44ball at the two-yard line.
00:59:46Music
00:59:48Music
00:59:50Music
00:59:52An offside
00:59:54penalty cost them five yards.
00:59:56Then, running back Dan Reaves
00:59:58tried to see the way to victory.
01:00:00And I actually went in the line and I got
01:00:02hit in the eye by Ron
01:00:04Kostelnik. And I probably should have come out of
01:00:06the ball game, you know, looking
01:00:08back on it. But I had kind of
01:00:10a blurry vision or a double vision.
01:00:12And the next play, you know,
01:00:14as he laid it off to me, I should have caught it
01:00:16because I had two chances. I saw two balls
01:00:18but I didn't catch the ball.
01:00:20All right.
01:00:2293-tee pull on set.
01:00:24Ready?
01:00:26Music
01:00:28Music
01:00:30Music
01:00:32On third down, Meredith had tight end
01:00:34Pettis Norman open at the goal line
01:00:36but under threw him.
01:00:38Norman caught it at the two.
01:00:40That brought
01:00:42fourth down and history
01:00:44hung on the execution of
01:00:46a single play.
01:00:48Music
01:00:50What happened was that
01:00:52Coach Landerson had a play
01:00:54that was designed
01:00:56to go be run
01:00:58when Frank Clark and myself were in the game.
01:01:00And unfortunately Bob Hayes was in the game
01:01:02at that time and he didn't know how to run that play.
01:01:04Now it's important for Frank Clark
01:01:06who comes in always on goal line
01:01:08at the split end to block Robinson
01:01:10the linebacker so he doesn't penetrate
01:01:12upfield. If he penetrates upfield
01:01:14then you can't get your guard out in front of you
01:01:16and then your rollout chances are gone.
01:01:18Hayes has never played on the goal line.
01:01:20He doesn't know what the play is. He's never practiced
01:01:22it. So Hayes doesn't make
01:01:24the block. He just shoots between
01:01:26the linebacker and the tackle and goes
01:01:28out into the corner.
01:01:30Robinson's upfield
01:01:32too fast. He grabs Meredith.
01:01:34Meredith just sends his fourth down. He just throws
01:01:36the ball away.
01:01:38Music
01:01:40Music
01:01:42Music
01:01:44Music
01:01:46Music
01:01:48Music
01:01:50Music
01:01:52Music
01:01:54Music
01:01:56Which was not what happened at all.
01:01:58That was not what happened at all.
01:02:00It was a horrible thing to see
01:02:02happen.
01:02:04One year later
01:02:06the Cowboys again faced the Packers for the NFL
01:02:08Championship. This time
01:02:10it was the chilling championship.
01:02:12The Ice Bowl. The most famous
01:02:14game in NFL history.
01:02:16But this time the Cowboys
01:02:18had the lead. 17 to 14
01:02:20and the Packers had to travel
01:02:2268 yards in the game's
01:02:24final five frozen minutes.
01:02:26Music
01:02:28Music
01:02:30Music
01:02:32Music
01:02:34I remember
01:02:36a sinking feeling in my
01:02:38stomach that I'd never experienced before.
01:02:40Watching
01:02:42that game from the sideline
01:02:44it was like a horror story
01:02:46being played out.
01:02:48And I was part of it and it was
01:02:50real and I was being chased by the
01:02:52gang the most.
01:02:54The Packers
01:02:56took their final time out at the 1.
01:02:58Again
01:03:00the cowboys would need just one
01:03:02play to topple a king
01:03:04and become one themselves.
01:03:06Here are the Packers. Third down.
01:03:20And the Green Bay Packers are going to be world champions.
01:03:27I gotta tell you, I've never seen a loss take the heart out of a team
01:03:31like that loss took it out of the Dallas Cowboys.
01:03:35When the heart was gone, the soul was soon to follow.
01:03:42After a playoff loss to the Cleveland Browns the next year,
01:03:46Don Meredith retired at the age of 31.
01:03:49We went into this restaurant and somebody noticed Don and I
01:03:53and they started booing him.
01:03:55And the people sat there in this restaurant
01:03:57and stood up and booed him until we left.
01:04:02Boy, it hurts to get booed.
01:04:04The most disappointing thing is that in your heart
01:04:07you know you did the best you could.
01:04:09You know you did the very best that you could.
01:04:12And then they just say, whammo.
01:04:15They really let you have it.
01:04:17And you want to say, hey you know, but you really don't understand people.
01:04:20You don't really understand what it's all about.
01:04:23And just because they didn't win at all,
01:04:25the greatness of Meredith's Cowboys may never be understood.