March Madness tournament: Cowboys top 64 plays of all time, Round 1, Group 2

In case you weren’t around yesterday, we here at Blogging The Boys are putting together a 64-play tournament to help us quench our March Madness cravings. We kicked things off with our first group of plays, and so far - here is where the voting stands.

If you haven’t gotten in on the action yet, it’s not too late - you can vote here.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll throw out a group of plays and the BTB community will vote for what they feel is the best play. The winners will advance, and eventually we’ll have a winner that will have outlasted them all. Here are today’s group of plays.

It’s a catch

If the same the NFL catch rule that was in effect during the controversial Dez Bryant “no-catch” ruling in the playoffs against the Green Bay Packers existed during Super Bowl XII, then this play wouldn’t be listed here. The Cowboys beat the Denver Broncos 27-10 in the Louisiana Superdome, but the score would’ve been a little closer if this Butch Johnson touchdown was ruled incomplete.

Roger Staubach launched a pass 45 yards in what looked like it was going to sail over the receiver’s head, but Johnson laid out for the touchdown.

Snappy recovery

If you added up how many snap snafu’s that Tony Romo encountered throughout his career, I bet it would be a lot higher than you’d expect. There was never a shortage of excitement when no. 9 was behind center.

Of course, one of the most enjoyable of these gaffe’s was when Romo turned a would-be disaster into a gain. When the snap sailed over his head, Romo went after it, but couldn’t come up with it cleanly and kicked it around a bit. Luckily, the ball eventually bounced right into his hands. It looked like Romo was dead in the water for a 35-yard loss as two Rams defenders was hot on his trail, but thanks to the nimbleness of Romo, the savvy quarterback was able to run far enough to get the first down.

The Puntisher

Cowboys punter Chris Jones can do a lot of things. He’s a good athlete, which we’ve all seen whenever he decides to take off flying down the field on a fake punt. He even has a good arm as he was a quarterback in high school.

But the play we all remember the most is when the day he decided to lay the wood on Detroit Lions returner Andre Roberts. In front of a Monday Night Football audience, the Puntisher was born.

Off to the races

The Cowboys had such a remarkable defensive line back in the ‘80s. Players like Ed “Too Tall” Jones, Randy White, and Harvey Martin helped make up the Doomsday Defense. In 1983, they added another rusher with first-round pick Jim Jeffcoat.

Jeffcoat had a 15-year career in the NFL, including his first 12 with the Cowboys. He made a habit out of terrorizing quarterbacks, in particular - the New York Giants’ Phill Simms. He intercepted Simms not once, but twice, and returned them both for a touchdown. What’s ever stranger about these plays is that both times it came off a deflection off of Too Tall Jones. Defensive scores are fun, especially when a DLineman scampers off for a 67-yard touchdown.