It has been more than 20 years since the Cowboys last played in a Super Bowl and it is thus hard to believe that they have participated in 8 of them. There have been many unforgettable memories made in those 8 Super Bowls. Some of those memories remind us of far better days and yet there are some we would no sooner hope to forget. Here is my list, including the good, the bad and the ugly, of the top 10 most memorable Super Bowl moments in Dallas Cowboys history.
10) Larry Brown game clinching Interception – Super Bowl XXX
During the offseason in 1995, the Cowboys had brought in the high profile, superstar, and future Hall of Fame cornerback Deion Sanders to help them get back to the Super Bowl. It was the lesser known Larry Brown though, who became the hero in this game and won the MVP award. With less than 5 minutes remaining in the game and the Steelers on a potential game winning drive, Larry Brown was gifted his second interception of the day. Brown was in the right place at the right time and the pick helped the Cowboys become the 1st team to win 3 Super Bowl titles in 4 years.
9) Robert Newhouse halfback pass – Super Bowl XII
Super Bowl XII pitted Cowboy QB Roger Staubach against his former teammate and the man he replaced as a starter, Craig Morton of the Denver Broncos. Yet, the most memorable touchdown pass in this game was not thrown by either QB. That honour belonged to Cowboys fullback Robert Newhouse, who took a pitch to the left and tossed the 1st ever TD pass by a RB in Super Bowl history. That TD in the fourth quarter put the Cowboys up 27-10 and sealed the victory for “America’s Team”.
8) Bob Lilly sacks Bob Griese – Super Bowl VI
The Dallas Cowboys “Doomsday Defense” set the tone early in the 1st quarter when Bob Lilly sacked the Miami Dolphins quarterback Bob Griese for a 29 yard loss. At the time, sacks where not recorded as a statistic in the NFL, but it resulted in a record for a negative yardage gained on a single play in the Super Bowl which still stands today. The Cowboys defense dominated the entire game and defeated the Dolphins 24-3 in route to winning their first ever Super Bowl.
7) Emmitt Smith runs through the Bills defense – Super Bowl XXVIII
The Dallas Cowboys were the defending Super Bowl champs and heavily favoured to repeat in a rematch of the previous Super Bowl against the Buffalo Bills. But the Bills had league MVP Emmitt Smith and the Dallas Cowboys on the ropes going into halftime with a 7 point lead. That all changed in the 3rd quarter when Emmitt Smith took over the game and on one memorable drive ran 64 yards on 7 carries capping it with a 15 yard TD. That score gave the Cowboys a lead they would not relinquish and helped Smith earn MVP honours leading Dallas to back to back Super Bowl wins.
6) Don Beebe strips Leon Lett at the goal line – Super Bowl XXVII
Leon Lett was one of the best defensive tackles of his generation and a pivotal part of the Cowboys dynasty of the 1990’s. Despite that, he is unfairly remembered for 2 bone head plays that occurred just months apart in his early career. There was the incident against Miami on Thanksgiving of 1993 when he inexplicably tried to recover a dead ball after a successful blocked FG. That play resulted in the Dolphins getting another opportunity to kick the game winning field goal and cost the Cowboys a win. Before that was Super Bowl XXVII. The Cowboys where blowing out the Bufallo Bills when Lett recovered a fumble and was about to score the TD that would have gave Dallas a new Super Bowl record for points scored by a team. The young DT decided to show boat on his way into the endzone holding the ball loosely in one outstretched hand as he attempted to strut his way across the goal line. That was when, the 185 pound, speedy wide receiver Don Beebe ran down the field like a man possessed and forced a fumble at the last second to prevent the score. The game was well out of reach at that point but the play made Beebe a legend and painted Leon Lett and the Cowboys as villains.
5) Jackie Smith drops a touchdown pass – Super Bowl XIII
In the third quarter, the Cowboys were down by a touchdown to the Pittsburgh Steelers when Roger Staubach had Hall of Fame tight end Jackie Smith wide open in the endzone. Staubach hit Smith in the numbers with the pass but the ball went through his hands and bounced off his chest. The Cowboys had to settle for a field goal after the dropped pass. Although it is impossible to determine what the outcome of the game would have been had Smith caught that pass, the game was ultimately decided by only 4 points. This has led to the belief by many Cowboys faithful that had Smith caught that pass, the Cowboys would have won that game and that they, not the Pittsburgh Steelers, would have six Super Bowl victories.
4) Troy Aikman raises his finger in the air – Super Bowl XXVII
The Dallas Cowboys dismantled the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVII and Troy Aikman was named the Super Bowl MVP after throwing 4 TD passes. The image of him parading around the field with his finger pointed in the air signaling “number one” will forever be associated with the Cowboys dynasty of the 90’s and the return to glory for ‘America’s Team’.
3) Tom Landry gets carried off the field – Super Bowl VI
Tom Landry is an icon and the symbol of the Dallas Cowboys franchise. When his team finally won the Super Bowl and shed the nickname “next years’ champion” he was triumphantly lifted unto the shoulders of his players and carried off the field. Prior to that Super Bowl victory, Landry’s Cowboys were labelled as a team that could not win the big one but that scene represented a transformation of the image of the Dallas Cowboys from chokers to champions.
Photo by © Jerry Coli | Dreamstime.com.LLC
2) Bob Lilly tosses his helmet into the air – Super Bowl V
As mentioned in the previous paragraph the Dallas Cowboys had been labelled as a team that could not win the big one. After a long history of disappointing playoff and championship game losses the Cowboys had an opportunity to win the biggest game of them all, the Super Bowl. The Cowboys would lose in a close one and as the Colts took a 16-13 lead with seconds left in the game, Bob Lilly hurled his helmet into the air in frustration. That image captured the emotion of the entire fan base at having once again failed to deliver in the big game. Redemption would come quickly though, and the very next year the Cowboys finally won their first Super Bowl.
1) Lynn Swann makes an unbelievable diving catch – Super Bowl X
This is not an image that any Cowboy fan remembers fondly but it is without a doubt the most memorable moment in Cowboys Super Bowl history. Lynn Swann had more than one spectacular catch in this game but the catch nicknamed the “levitating leap” is the probably the most famous reception in Super Bowl history. Swann’s diving, bobbling catch was nothing short of poetry in motion. It was an impossible catch that required a combination of pure athleticism, body control, and grace.
*Main Photo by BobbbyLight https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode
