Dallas Cowboys History

March Madness tournament: Cowboys top 64 plays of all time, Round 1, Group 11

We have a brand new set of plays to vote on today.

By Dan-Rogers@DannyPhantom24 Apr 6, 2020, 2:00pm CDT

Super Bowl XXVlI - Dallas Cowboys v Buffalo Bills

The BTB March Madness tournament continues with four new plays to vote on. Today’s group features some big passing plays, including a couple that went for touchdowns in the postseason. We also have a very special 11-yard run by one of the game’s true greats. Let’s get to it!

Harper’s 45-yard TD in Super Bowl XXVII

The Cowboys return the glory was such a joyous thing during the 1992 season. The fall of the Tom Landry era to the rise of Jimmy Johnson’s squad took a little getting used to, but all was well when the Cowboys headed to Pasadena to face the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVII.

After the Bills jumped off to a 7-0 start, the Cowboys went on a 31-3 run to take control of the game. Then an injury to Jim Kelly brought backup quarterback Frank Reich into the game. When Reich hit Don Beebe for a 40-yard touchdown to cut it to a two-score game, flashbacks to the Bills Wild Card comeback over the Houston Oilers (they were down 32 points in the second half) started surfacing. All that changed when Troy Aikman launched a deep pass to Alvin Harper that put away any thoughts of a Buffalo comeback. Harper dunked the ball over the goal post celebrating what would be the Cowboys first Super Bowl win in 15 years.

A new all-time rushing leader

Emmitt Smith was a star from the moment he stepped on the field for the Cowboys. In four of his first six years in the league, Smith led the league in rushing. He became the only player to rush for over 1,000 yards in 11 straight seasons. In his last year as a Cowboy, Smith passed the great Walter Payton as the NFL’s all-time leading rusher.

In front of a home crowd of 63,000 fans, Smith took the ball for an 11-yard gain in the fourth quarter against the Seattle Seahawks. He finished the day with 109 yards, but it wasn’t enough as the Cowboys lost the game on a Seahawks field goal in the final 30 seconds. When it was all said and done, Smith ended his career with 18,355 rushing yards.

Mr. 4th and Long

Back in 2011, the Cowboys avoided an 0-2 start with a nice come from behind victory against the San Francisco 49ers. Twice the Cowboys fell down by two scores, but kept clawing their way back into the game. A injury to Tony Romo’s ribs forced him out of the game, but he put on his cape and was back in action in the second half.

After rookie kicker Dan Bailey kicked a 48-yard field goal as time expired in the fourth quarter, the game went into overtime. On the Cowboys first offensive play in overtime, 4th-and-long winner Jesse Holley took a Romo pass 77 yards before he was tackled at the one-yard line. Bailey finished the job with a game-winning field goal.

Pearson ices the game against the Rams

At the start of the 1970’s, the Cowboys made it to the NFC Championship four straight times, advancing to the Super Bowl twice in that span, including taking home the Lombardi trophy in 1971. And one of the teams they met up with quite often that decade is the Los Angeles Rams.

After the Rams scored a touchdown to cut the lead to 17-16, the Cowboys found themselves in a dogfight. The Cowboys answered right back when Roger Staubach found Drew Pearson over the middle for an 83-yard touchdown. Staubach’s pass went right in between two defenders into the arms of Pearson who was then off to the races.