Remembering the 1977 Dallas Cowboys

By Os Davis  |   Monday, May 07, 2007  |  Comments( 16 )

Dallas Cowboys
Got something to say?

Log In above and share your thoughts on this topic with other fans!
You know what'll make you feel older than celebrating a 30th anniversary? Celebrating the 30th anniversary of a memory.

In this case, the 1977 Dallas Cowboys.

Has it really been that long since Roger Staubach was a quarterback and a coach could wear a Reebok, insignia-free fedora on the sidelines? Has it been that long since a team populated with dudes named "Hollywood" and "Too Tall" was in contention to go all the way year after year?

Damn, it has been a long time. Time flies. Like Drew Pearson.

I was 9 years old that year in which I learned a glimmering of the subtleties of the off-tackle run. Saddled with the hometown heartbreaking New England Patriots (has it really been that long since Boston was the capital of groan-inducing losers?) and filled with enthusiasm for this mysterious sport they played when there was no baseball.

Maybe it's just personal nostalgia that I still dig Tom Landry's Dallas teams when I think about them, but you know what? Looking back on them via that modern contraption known as the Internet, those Cowboys really were special.

Larger than life, even.

In the days before modern West Coast offensive schemes (in fact, '77 was two years prior to the Air Coryell San Diego Chargers -- damn, that was a long time ago), Staubach and the Cowboys were running up 41 points against the New York Giants and 34 against the then-division mates the then-St. Louis Cardinals. In Week 7, the scoreboard read Cowboys 37, Detroit Lions 0, though admittedly no particularly mean feat against an eventual 6-8 team.

It was about Staubach connecting with Pearson and the all-star performance of the amazing Billy Joe Dupree, to be sure, but it was also about Tony Dorsett. Piling up a sweet 4.8 yards per carry and earning just over 1,000 yards, he seemed unstoppable to a 9-year-old and the kid brother 18 months his junior.

The defense -- ah, how I learned about the importance of defense from these guys -- was stifling, perfect in every way and looking at times as fearsome as the daunted Steel Curtain. Representing the 'D' in Hawaii that year were Cliff Harris and Charlie Waters from the secondary and, naturally, Harvey Martin and Randy White.

But there were also Bob Breunig, Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson, Mel Renfro and Ed "Too Tall" Jones, who once blocked a field goal by deflecting it at the crossbar.

Awesome, one and all.

How awesome? Seven times out of 14, they held opponents to 10 points or fewer, including key games at Washington and New York, not to mention the regular-season finale against Craig Morton and a bunch of guys called the Denver Broncos.

Even the cheerleaders were awesome and famous. In a wholesome Farrah Fawcett kind of way. (Sheesh, this memory feels further and further back in the past all the time...)

The 1977 Cowboys got off to a lightning-quick start, winning the first eight. An upset loss at the hands of the visiting Cardinals snapped the streak, and the sole blemish followed.

I still remember watching Pittsburgh 28, Dallas 13. The Steelers looked slick, the Cowboys looked bad, the only time they'd be outmatched that season and truly the only blemish on an excellent season.

(Only a true dream crusher would suggest that Dallas only took home the Lombardi Trophy because it didn't have to go through Pittsburgh; surely, Denver was the better team in the AFC, right?)

Of course, once the playoffs started, this team completely changed. The Lone Stars went from being a great team to one for the ages. These Cowboys steamrolled their way through the playoffs like no one would do again until the Chicago Bears through Super Bowl XX, picking apart the Bears and Minnesota Vikings on the way to the finale with the Broncos.

As kids, my brother and I couldn't wait for the Super Bowl, wondering how much the Cowboys would win by. I felt bad for Morton in advance, having read about the long quarterback controversy (before the expression "quarterback controversy") between Staubach and Morton in the early '70s in Dallas, figuring Staubach would beat him again.

Nevertheless, we anticipated with all the excitement due a holiday. We made signs reading "Sack 'em Harvey," like they did in the crowd, like they'd see us from New Orleans.

The 'Boys did not disappoint, putting on a football clinic to make quite the impression on impressionable young minds. A 13-0 halftime score couldn't convey the sense of domination Dallas exhibited on that day, and by the time another blowout Bowl was over, eight turnovers had been collected by co-MVPs ("Wow," I thought, "co-MVPs. Weird.") Martin and White, and Morton had even been replaced at quarterback. Poor guy.

And what a story in Dallas, huh? The first time the team had won the big game in six years, the last time the Cowboys would bag the trophy for decades.

Maybe it was just the vantage point of an young kid that made these guys, who for a brief while could truly be called "America's Team," out to be giants. After all, essentially this same team with the addition of Jackie Smith (hmm...) would be outplayed in Super Bowl XIII, and the Cowboys wouldn't see the final game until the '90s.

Maybe the 1977 Cowboys were one of the greatest single-season teams of the last 30 years. Maybe it's just an exaggerated memory of a newly nostalgic old guy.

But in memories, at least, it wasn't that long ago at all.

RealFootball365.com: Where shameless Dallas Cowboys nostalgia lives every day of the year...
Got something to say?

Log In above and share your thoughts on this topic with other fans! (16)

About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
read more
Article Tools Share!   |  RSS  |  Bleacher Report About Bleacher Report