"THROUGH THE EYES OF A FAN"
THE LONG ROAD BACK TO THE TOP
FOR THE DALLAS
The 1986 season started with a lot of promise. The Cowboys were defending NFC East Champions and I felt good about the players the Cowboys had. On offense the Cowboys were still led by Danny White with Tony Dorsett, Tony Hill, Doug Cosbie, Mike Renfro and Mike Sherrard. On defense it was Randy White, Eugene Lockhart, Everson Walls, Bill Bates and Jim Jeffcoat. But in the end the 1986 season turned out to be a disaster.
The Cowboys did made one big addition to the team in the off-season. They signed 1982 Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker away from the United States Football League. The N.J. Generals let Walker out of his contract so he could join the Cowboys since the league was on the verge of failure. This was a dream backfield of Tony Dorsett and Herschel Walker together. Or was it an explosion waiting to happen? Dorsett was the starter for the Cowboys and Tom Landry made that clear.
The Cowboys and the Giants opened the 1986 season in Texas Stadium on Monday Night Football. Herschel Walker was forced into the game early after Dorsett sprained his ankle and couldn't continue. With Walker running the ball teams got to see something totally different than with Dorsett. Walker was a big and powerful running back. He gained 64 yards on ten carries against the Giants and scored two touchdowns. The second touchdown came late in the game and ended up being the winning score for the Cowboys, 31-28. Walker was a new weapon for the Cowboys offense. He did it all and did everything well. He could run the ball, catch it out of the backfield and he even lined up at wide receiver at times. Maybe Walker was what the Cowboys had been missing and could help them get to the next level, but other problems started to develop on the team as the season went along.
The first part of the 1986 season found Danny White and Steve Pelluer getting playing-time at quarterback. The idea of Pelluer being the quarterback of the future for the Cowboys didn't sit well with me. He had a rocket arm, but his accuracy left something to be desired. White was not getting any younger, but he was still the Cowboys best option at quarterback for the Cowboys. He was having a really good season until their re-match with the Giants at Giants Stadium.
The Cowboys went into the Giants game with a 6-2 record. They were playing great football up to that point. They had beaten teams like the Lions (31-7), the Cardinals (31-7) and the Redskins (30-6) and with the way they were playing I thought maybe the Cowboys had a chance to do something special in 1986. The Giants ended all of that hope on one hit by linebacker Carl Banks. The Giants beat the Cowboys 17-14, but it wasn't the loss that upset me that much. The Cowboys season pretty much came to a halt ten minutes into the game when Banks slammed Danny White to the ground and broke White's right wrist. White was gone for the rest of the season. Danny White was the Cowboys team leader and now the job belonged to unproven Steve Pelluer.
After losing to the Giants the Cowboys were still sitting at 6-3 and in good shape in the NFC East. But the loss of Danny White seemed to be too much to handle as the Cowboys went on to lose six of their final seven games and ended 1986 with a 7-9 record. They finished in third place in the NFC East and it was also first time since 1964 that Tom Landry and the Cowboys finished a season with a losing record.
The 1986 season started with a lot of promise for the Cowboys, but ended up being a disaster. The lone bright spot for the Cowboys in 1986 was Herschel Walker. He rushed for 737 yards and had 837 yards receiving. He also scored 14 touchdowns.
It was up to Tom Landry to bring the Cowboys back like he had done so many times before in his career. It was obvious that "America's Team" wasn't the powerhouse it once was in the NFL. If anyone could bring the Cowboys back it was Tom Landry. I was also hopeful that Danny White would be able to come back from his wrist injury and help the Cowboys again.
Before the 1987 season got started the Cowboys lost wide receiver Tony Hill. Tom Landry made the decision to release the ten year veteran, stating that Hill had become overweight and did not show any competitive fire. Then to make matters worse wide receiver Mike Sherrard, who was the Cowboys first round draft pick in 1986 was lost for the season with a broken that he suffered in a preseason scrimmage.
The first game of the 1987 season was a preview of how things would be for the Cowboys. The Cowboys were beating the Cardinals 13-3 going into the fourth quarter. The Cowboys gave up three touchdowns and lost, 24-13.
After the second week of the 1987 season was completed, the players went out on strike over a contract agreement. All games for Week 3 were cancelled, but this strike would be nothing like the 1982 strike. The owners agreed that the season would continue with or without the players. They brought in what they called "Scab" players. The owners put together new teams and got them ready to play since the games that were played with the "Scab" players would count in the standings.
The "Scab" players played a total of three games. The Cowboys won two out of the three games that were played. During the strike some of the players decided to cross the picket lines, which did not sit well with the players who remained on strike. Some of the Cowboys players who crossed were Danny White, Tony Dorsett, Randy White and Ed Jones. When the strike broke, the Cowboys were sitting at 3-2. Then after nine games they had a 5-4 record, which I was pleasantly surprised with. But that didn't last long as they lost their next four games to slip to 5-8. With no chance to make the playoffs the Cowboys did show some fight in the last two weeks of the season. The Cowboys beat the Rams (29-21) and the Cardinals (21-16), to knock both teams out of post-season play. The Cowboys ended the 1987 season with a 7-8 record. It was only the second time since 1964 that the Cowboys finished the season with a losing record.
For the entire 1987 season Tom Landry could not decide between Tony Dorsett and Herschel Walker. Even though Dorsett had done so much for the Cowboys over the years I thought that it might be better for the Cowboys to start Walker because he was younger, stronger and quicker than Dorsett. Dorsett seemed to be losing a step after being in the league for ten seasons and he just didn't seem to have that burst of speed anymore.
After the 1987 season newspapers seemed to be filled with articles about Tom Landry. The owner of the Cowboys, HR Bum Bright was criticizing Landry's coaching and so was general manager Tex Schramm. It wasn't really fair to Landry considering the lack of talent on the team as well as recent draft picks not working out. Since 1960 Landry had given everything to the Dallas Cowboys. It seemed like everyone was forgetting about all of that now that times were getting tough. Although Landry and the Cowboys were only 14-17 combined in 1986 and '87, he deserved a chance to turn the team around. The first step would be to improve on their draft picks. The Cowboys had not been very productive in the 1980s when it came to the draft. Here is a list of the Cowboys first picks in the NFL draft from 1980 to 1987…
1) Bill Roe, LB 1980
2) Howard Richards, OT 1981
3) Rod Hill, CB 1982
4) Jim Jeffcoat, DE 1983
5) Billy Cannon Jr., LB 1984
6) Kevin Brooks, DL 1985
7) Mike Sherrard, WR 1986
8) Danny Noonan, DT 1987
Of those eight draft picks heading into the 1988 season only two were active on the team: Jim Jeffcoat and Danny Noonan. Mike Sherrard didn't have luck on his side as he broke his leg again and was lost for the 1988 season. The Cowboys seemed to get things started right in the first round of the 1988 draft as they selected wide receiver Michael Irvin from the University of Miami.
Before the 1988 season started it was announced that Tony Dorsett was traded to the Denver Broncos. It was strange seeing Dorsett in the orange and white of the Broncos considering the first Cowboys game I ever watched was Super Bowl XII when Dorsett was a rookie and playing against the Broncos. I believe it was the right move for the Cowboys who wanted Herschel Walker to become the primary running back. It was also a good move for Dorsett who got a chance to start new with the Broncos. The way the Cowboys were playing in recent seasons it was time for some changes and with Walker and the addition of Michael Irvin it was a good start for the Cowboys.
Dorsett put together a decent year for the Broncos in 1988, as he gained 703 yards and scored five touchdowns. Then in 1989 he injured his knee in the preseason never played again. Dorsett will always be remembered as one of the greatest running backs of all-time as well as one of the greatest Cowboys of all-time. In January of 1994 Dorsett was elected to the Pro Football Hall Of Fame. He had an amazing career with countless highlights. His 99 1/2 yard touchdown run during the 1982 season will always be a part of history. He finished his career with 12,739 yards rushing, which at the time was second all time to the great Walter Payton.
Although Michael Irvin was a step in the right direction, it was still going to take time to turn things around in Dallas. And sometimes teams will get worse before they start to make those improvements. Well, in 1988 the Cowboys became the worst team in the NFL. The Cowboys ended 1988 with a league worst 3-13 record. At one point during the season they lost ten straight games from Week five to Week 14. They suffered their third straight losing season. The Cowboys became the laughing stock of the NFL.
The Cowboys only scored 265 points in 1988 and gave up 381. They were only 1-7 at Texas Stadium. The Cowboys did play in some close games during the season. They lost to the Steelers (24-21), the Giants (12-10), the Saints (20-17), the Eagles (24-23) and the Browns (24-21). The highlight game of the season was Week 15 in Washington. The Cowboys beat the Redskins 24-21, with Herschel Walker rushing for 98 yards and Steve Pelluer throwing for 333 yards and three touchdowns. All three of Pelluer's touchdowns went to Michael Irvin who ended the day with 149 yards receiving.
The 1988 season became musical quarterbacks for the Cowboys with Steve Pelluer starting the season. Danny White saw some action as well as newcomer Kevin Sweeney, who was the quarterback of the Cowboys "Scab" team during the 1987 players strike. Pelluer led the Cowboys to all three of their wins in 1988. Herschel Walker rushed for 1,514 yards and scored seven touchdowns. He also added 505 yards receiving. Walker was the only Cowboys player to be named to the Pro Bowl in 1988.
I didn't think the Cowboys could get any worse than they were in 1988. But in 1989 the Cowboys would experience some major changes that would affect them for many years. I understood why the Cowboys needed some major changes, but I was not prepared for how drastic they would be. The off-season following the 1988 season would go down in Cowboys history as one the very worst and of course one the very best.
To be continued...
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