Cowboys Meltdown: So You Think You've Got It Bad?

Was 1985 Bears destroy us, not so bad because well, it WAS the 85 Bears.

But then The Bengals come in and lay 50 points on us. 50!!

I bought tickets for myself and 2 girlfriends, even though they barely knew jack about football and were rooting for the Niners. Needless to say, I was drunk by halftime, and back then at Candlestick, no one cared if you lit up a joint in the “smoking area.”

The hype surrounding that game was how Dallas was going to attack Eric Davis instead of Deion’s side of the field, and Davis ended up with a pick-6. I was pretty floored with 21-0 within like 12 minutes into the 1st quarter.

Is feeling a little like Tom Landry’s last season in 1988.

We started out feeling good about the season but the REAL players would be back on the field after the strike shortened ’87 campaign.

But then we traded Dorsett in the off season and Steve Pelluer (!) had beaten incumbent Danny White out in training camp for the starting QB job. So things were … different if nothing else.

We lost the first couple of games by 3 points or less due to (what for it) mistakes at crucial times, a safety on the opening drive in a game we lost by … 2 points.
An interception near the goal line late in a 3 point loss.

Penalties, turnovers early put us in a hole. As the season wore on it became obvious our starters were not going to do as well as the strike players did the year before and we went from 1 – 5 to finish 3 – 13.

Since I knew we were starting from scratch in 1989 (new owner, coach, etc) it was not so bad, but the expectation of being better than we actually were and the close games to start the season made this my personal worst ever.

we would have won that game if jimmy was still the coach..
sanders got away with interference on irvin and as you said we outplayed them but beat ourselves in the 1st quarter.
that beatdown by the eagles in 08 was erased from my memory.
thanks for reminding me :(

After they beat us for the first game in the new stadium (that REALLLY HURT!!!! and of course was there UGHHH) and then completed the sweep in New York. The Giants have been our achilles hell, well besides ourselves, lol. If we put up 30-40 on ’em, we might be able to spark something.

oops

Achilles Hell

Might get a good pick outta this

we don’t trade out for a rover who we plan on maing an ILB

Switch J Williams to Strong Safety?

You get riled up too fast

This post and subsequent comments from us, have actually made me laugh and stop being so angry about the last couple of games.

Do I pay you or Stingah for the therapy session?

Born in 95 – Last year Dallas won the SB
Raised a Dave Campo era HC Cowboy fan
Quincy and Hambrick 1st RB
Drew Bledsoe sucked
Tony Romo botched snap
Loss to Giants
Eagles beatdown
FIRST PLAYOFF WIN REJOICE
Vikings beatdown
1-4 start to “SB RUN”

I had forgotten that Arizona game (and the Rams game that followed) …that was brutal, we lost T9, Felix, McBriar, a lineman (wanna say Kosier) and the game in spectacular fashion…I still think that one game derailed our season, cost us at least 2 games and put us in position for 44-6 in the 1st place…now I really want them to pound the Cards this year because you brought that up…

Honorable Mention: 1st ’Skins game in 07…last 10 seconds, blocked FG, penalty, ’Skins FG, ballgame…kicked right in the fanhood…

Or how about the ’07 Giants playoff?

Or ’96 in Carolina?

Or the Santana Moss game in ’05?

Or the Jordin Babineaux incident?

Or TO’s return to Philly? PI penalty puts us on the 1 with a chance to win with 4 seconds left? Bledsoe throws a 102-yd pick six to end the game? (I hate Drew McQueen Bledsoe to this day for that and other reasons.)

Please…the hiccup this year is nothing.

1) Thanksgiving Day 1997 Cowboys lose 27-14, fall to (6-7), and continues the ball rolling on what would become a very painful 5 game losing streak to end the season. The Cowboys last win came 2 weeks before this Thanksgiving Day Debacle. In the loss to the Oilers, Aikman had two interceptions which were converted into Oilers TDs, Eric Bjornson fumbled the ball and had it returned 42 yards for another Oilers TD, and Eddie George was like a bulldozer running through our defense to the tune of 110 yards. What’s more, Emmitt Smith left the game with a separated shoulder in the 3rd quarter. Here’s how linebacker Vinson Smith summarized the game and ultimately how the season in proper perspective “Penalties, stupid mistakes and turnovers. It puts our season in perspective.”

2) January 1999, Wild Card Saturday, Cowboys lose 20-7 to Division foe Arizona Cardinals. Following a pathetic 6-10 1997 season, the Cowboys under new head coach Chan Gailey rallied back to an 8-3 start, swept a very weak NFC East (8-0) and finish the season at 10-6, and a home playoff game against the upstart Cardinals led by Jake Plummer. Heading into the game, I was having visions of blasting this Cardinals team just like we did in the 2 regular season meetings, en route to an eventual show down with the Vikings 2 weeks later in the NFC Title Game. Boy was I presumptuous. The Cardinals took a 20-0 lead until 3:33 late in the 4th Quarter when Aikman found Billy Davis for a meaningless 6 yard TD. Aikman was sacked 4 times and picked off 3 times, twice by Corner Aeneas Wlliams. Jake the Snake threw for over 200 yards and 2 TDs.

3) Opening Day 2002, Cowboys lose to the Texans 19-10. Yep, you got that right, in case you forgot, or jumped on the bandwagon since Tony Romo became QB, but in 2002, we gave the expansion Houston Texans their very first win in their very first NFL game that counted in the record book. What made this game worse, during HBO’s HardKnocks, the two things stressed by head coach, Dave Campo a) Getting Emmitt Smith the Rushing Record and b) beating the Texans on Opening Day. Well, at least we accomplished our first goal coach. I remember as soon as that game ended, I spoke to my friend and told him, book it 3rd straight season of 5-11 or worse. Low and Behold, I was right.

4) OCC: I too have a game from 2008 that I call as one of my 4 all time Gut Punching Moments. The week immediately after the overtime loss to Arizona, The Cowboys lose to the St. Louis Rams 34-14 with Captain Check Down, Brad Johnson at the helm. The Cowboys open a 7-0 lead thanks to a Barber TD, and it goes all down hill from there, to the tune of a 34-0 run by the Rams until the Cowboys get a meaningless TD from Johnson to Marty B with 1:50 left. Johnson had 3 picks. The worst part about the game, Steven Jackson was extra motivated for this game because when we had the chance to draft him in the 2004 Draft we decided to trade the pick to Buffalo (who drafted JP Losman) and then decided to take Julius Jones later in the draft. Oh was Jackson pissed, dude ran over the river and through the woods on our defense for 25 carries 160 yards and 3 TDs. This loss dropped us to 4-3, and you all know how the season ended from there.

or blowing it early and maybe coming back? What if this team is a bunch of posers these last few years and the unlucky breaks we are getting this year are just exposing the posers?

says this is the worst. But then I look at the schedule and see that we have 11 games left … and wonder why I’m panicking. Yes we suck now, but I still believe they can get back to winning.

But the 44-6 game against the Eagles was the worst for me. That and the Vikings playoff game last year.

I’ve suffered through some bad losses, but 44-6 was on a whole different level. The team with so much hopes battled through so much adversity to be on the cusp of a playoff spot. And it all unraveled so badly. I was in Las Vegas watching it with my family, all of us clad in Cowboys jerseys, at an ESPN Zone next to a table of Eagles fans. We had to walk out with our jackets covering up our Cowboys attire we were so embarrased.

My earliest memory as a cowboy fan was the catch in ‘81. That still pisses me off. Stupid Danny White got us to midfield after the td to Clark only to not sense the rush behind him and fumble the ball. One or two passes gets us in fg range. Oh no! What made it worse was anytime NFL films would do a greatest hits montage, you could bet that blindside hit of Danny’s would be shown.

Is the ‘01 season opener against Philly. The dreaded pickle juice game. That was brutal. I’m surprised I didn’t suffer a heart attack. However, that was the game I finally learned to turn the TV off & go to Lowes. That loss to philly was worse than ’08. The season was over & we still had 15 games to play.

That’s the one where they’re driving to win it at the end after Irvin catches a pass to get it down inside the 5. Of course, the Eagles pick it off in the end zone and are even brazen enough to lateral the pick from some linebacker(who gives a hell what his name was?) to Troy Vincent just so they can rub it in and score the “F U” pick six.

I was in disbelief at how the Cowboys couldn’t pull it out at the end in their own house against these jabronies; not that it wasn’t a decent Eagles team, 10-6; made the playoffs, but Ty Detmer and that scumbag diva primadonna punk Ricky Watters? After the team had won 4 in a row to claw back to 5-3 after that awful 1-3 start? Come on, man.

combined to run up the score on Tom Landry. 1988, I guess? Tom Landry was football royalty and that mongrel ran up the score on him and then refused to shake hands afterward, even though Landry was clearly going to offer to. HATE.

No other loss hurt worse.

I also saw The Catch and Jackie Smith and and the 44-0 loss to Chicago (and Ditka’s coming of age against his hero). Like you said, with sports fandom, you can’t experience the ecstasy if you don’t also experience the agony.

I think 2005. Up 13-0 in the fourth. Santana Moss two long bomb touchdowns in the final minutes and they steal the game 14-13. That was among the worst.

Thankgsgiving against the Dolphins.

Playoff game in Seattle.

2007 Playoff game against the Giants.

Getting blown out by the Lions (and Eric Kramer of all people) in the playoffs.

The morning in 1994 after we won the Super Bowl, when I read that Jimmy Johnson was no longer our our coach…That was the worst feeling ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Like 4 losses in one multiplied by Leon Lett with a square root of Pete Hunter.

The one that hurt me the most was the Colts SB. Sloppy game (sound familiar?) but losing a SB in the last few seconds was brutal. My mother sent me out of the house because I couldn’t control the angst.

2007 vs the patriots 48-27. Ever since then I hold the Lametriots in the same hate for Deadskins and Squeelers.

The blowouts I start coming to terms with early in the game. The shoestring losses are like unexpected stomach punches. Particularly when we dominate the game the loss comes out of nowhere.

The Cardinals game mentioned by OCC is one of those.

The Redskins game where we were set up for the winning field goal, and then Sean Taylor returns the block for 30 yards, and they get one more play because of a penalty by us, and they kick a winning field goal with no time on the clock. Ridiculously implausible.

The Redskins MNF loss where Brunell hit Santana Moss for 2 TDs within the last 3 minutes, after we’d been leading 13-0 all game.

The Seahawks playoff loss, obviously, with Terry Glenn’s fumble, then the Witten pass down to the 2 which almost got a TD or a first down, then setting up for the field goal, then Romo’s fumbled snap, then Romo almost scrambling for the TD, then wondering if he made the first down, then throwing a glass against the wall and being asked to leave the bar. Awful.

The Giants loss in which Jeremy Shockey gained 114 yards in the 4th quarter against Roy Williams.

The Giants playoff loss with Patrick Crayton’s dropped 3rd down conversion.

There are more…

Jackie Smith dropping the ball. Randy White (cast and all) dropping the ball. Steelers win Cowboys lose. Still makes me want to puke.

is Roy Williams

The rest of the Cowboys should be more like…Roy Williams. That almost hurt coming out.