Was looking for some old Madden calls, and came across this gem. How many of Cowboys remember this? I'm embarrassed to say that I actually cut this game off in the the third quarter--we were just getting mauled. And then the Cowboys come charging back in the Fourth. There's so much poetry here, starting with the fact that Boys were supposed to get Rocket anyway, but he went to the CFL and we got Russell Maryland. Dig Dave Lefluer in there too--who we took over Tony Gonzales (gah!!!). This OT bomb had actually been tried earlier in the game, and The Rocket dropped the ball. I remember thinking it was crazy because it was third and short and we had Emmitt. It's one of those "great call if it works" things.
This was probably Troy Aikmen's last truly great game. It was also likely the last truly great Aikman/Irvin/Smith peformance. This was also the first time I saw Champ Bailey, who was able to stick with Michael Irvin in a way that Darrell Green never could. But if I recall correctly, Bailey got hurt in the third, and the game shifted.
I watched this clip, and it was suddenly 1999 again, and I was back in Chocolate City, shit-talking all my Redskin-loving friends. Football is incredible that way. It really transports.
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For any coach watching this the worst part is the Skins were in Cover 2 which should have prevented just this kind of play. The Redskin coaches evidently expected the pass but they didn't clue the players in. Chan Gailey lol those were NOT the days in Big D. Imma have to send this clip to my cousin in DC. That cat is in deep deep Redskin denial and I love sticking the knife in.
Ahh yes, play-action, the antidote to Cover-2...
This was a pivotal game for them that year, they finished 8-8 and ended up getting throttled by the Vikings in the play-offs later on, thanks to this game. This was a year of doom for me, realizing that the great teams of my youth was rapididly coming to an end.
Not all doom, this was the first year of the rise of a true superstar in Dallas, the great Dirk Nowitzki. This year would mark the start of a great run(that still is ongoing) that would help me through my Cowboy doldrums, even to this day.
Actually, TNC, The cowboys didn't select Lafleur over Gonzalez (being a Cal alum, where Gonzalez played college ball, and being a cowboy fan, I was sure pulling for the cowboys to take TG). If I recall correctly, KC took Gonzalez at 15 or so, and Lafleur was taken at 22. The Cowboys didn't move up to take Gonzalez (although I don't know what it would have taken), but they never had the option of taking Gonzalez at 22.
Thanks man. That actually makes me feel a little better.
I am perpetually shocked at how difficult it is to tell who the home team is based on the crowd noise during DAL @ WAS once they moved out to PG.
and they call themselves a football town.