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Championship round: What is the top play in Dallas Cowboys history?

We have narrowed it down to the final two plays.

Jacksonville Jaguars v Dallas Cowboys Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

There was no March Madness NCAA basketball tournament this year so we over here at Blogging The Boys decided to put together our own tournament featuring the top 64 plays in Cowboys history. We started out with 16 different groups of four plays each, and the BTB community voted to see which plays advanced to the Sweet 16 round. From that, four more groups of four were formed with the top vote-getter advancing to the Final Four. Now, two plays have emerged victorious from their respective regions and will square off in the championship.

It probably doesn’t surprise you which two plays have made it this far as they both are iconic plays in Cowboys history. It may be a little surprising that both of these plays occurred on the road against the Minnesota Vikings. Without further ado, here are the top two plays in Cowboys history, as voted upon by the BTB fans.

The original Hail Mary

Larry Allen had an impressive run, literally, as his chase down of a New Orleans Saints linebacker during his rookie season in 1994 kept advancing through the tournament. Unfortunately, it was no match for one of Roger Staubach’s most memorable comebacks.

The Cowboys finished with a 10-4 record in 1975, which was good enough to earn them the sole wild card spot in the NFC that season. Unfortunately, it meant a date on the road with the top seeded Vikings, who were coming off of two consecutive Super Bowl appearances (they lost both). On a cold and dreary day, both teams struggled to gain any traction on a muddy field as dominating defenses kept the score 7-7 through the first three quarters of the game.

Minnesota jumped ahead 14-10 late in the fourth quarter with the Cowboys having one final drive to win the game. Roger Staubach completed a crucial 4th-and-17 pass to Drew Pearson to keep their hopes alive, and then launched the 50-yard game winner to Pearson on one of the most famous plays in NFL history.

Some people think there was a penalty flag thrown on the play, maybe for some type of interference, but Pearson clarifies that what you see across your screen is just someone from the stands throwing an orange. Here is the video...

99 and a half

We had a little bit of a closer contest between’s Tony Dorsett’s 99-yard run and Alvin Harper’s over the middle catch against the San Francisco 49ers in the 1992 NFC Championship game, but it was still clear sailing for the eventual Hall of Fame running back.

Do you remember the year the Cowboys only won six games, but still managed to make it to the NFC Championship game? Okay, so technically it was a strike season where they only played nine regular season games.

The 1982 season was a weird one to say the least. It started off terribly with an opening Monday night loss to the hated Pittsburgh Steelers. Cowboys fans were not used to seeing their team lose on opening weekend as that loss snapped a 17-year streak where Dallas started the season undefeated.

The Cowboys put together a six-game wining streak to get rolling, including a big road win over the Washington Redskins. Unfortunately, the Cowboys lost their final two regular-season games, dropping them behind the Redskins for NFC supremacy. That meant the path to the Super Bowl went through RFK Stadium, and the Cowboys eventually lost to Washington 31-17 in the NFC Championship game. It was the second of three-straight NFC Championship losses the Cowboys suffered in the early ‘80s.

But before the playoffs got started, the Cowboys had to travel to Minnesota to face the Vikings in a Monday night season finale. While the game turned out to be meaningless for Dallas thanks to a Redskins victory the day before, little did we know something special was about to happen. Check out the Monday Night Football crew with the call...


Poll

Which play should be crowned the champion?

This poll is closed

  • 75%
    The original Hail Mary
    (882 votes)
  • 24%
    Tony Dorsett’s 99-yard run
    (284 votes)
1166 votes total Vote Now

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