America's Game - The Super Bowl Champions - 1995 Dallas Cowboys

[Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] how about them cowboys i don't think we'll be hearing that line coming from jimmy johnson anytime soon mike the team the owner the coach the end we have mutually decided that i would no longer be the head football coach with the dallas cowboys jimmy was looking for an exit door just when they reached the pinnacle people just had a hard time understanding why does this have to end we were all disappointed we were all sad to see him go because he was a great coach and he was our leader and it was stunning for me that he would he would walk away from a team that was fully loaded and ready to march on and win and three-peat here so it was it was frustrating for me i didn't think it was fair we'd always talked about team we always talked about when uh when we start winning championships there's going to be enough enough success to go around for everybody and then the people who were telling us that couldn't find a way to balance it out between the two of them and you know the group of guys missed out on an opportunity to try and make history i feel very strongly that we've got one of the most talented teams that there is in the nfl today if not the most talented team and one of the best that has ever been put together i feel very confident that the continuity can be kept in place and be motivated with the new head coach of the dallas cowboys barry switzer let me introduce you to it barry thank you jerry the energy and the electricity packed into that room that day it was it was very tense it was also uh very emotional uh and then and then about halfway through it um barry interjected some humor into it and i don't know that jerry was ready for it i hope i can do as good a job as jimmy johnson that's what you're hoping and that's damn sure what you're hoping that's why i'm here well i'm tan rested and ready you know that's all i can say to you i'm ready to go i want to start tomorrow nothing's going to change cowboy fans get ready to watch the dallas cowboys be the best in nfl we got a job to do and we're going to do it baby i think jerry here wanted to prove that uh that it wasn't all jimmy's doing i think he felt that he could bring anybody in and with the talent that we already had he could just plug someone in and we'd go on to win that 94 season well coach welcome to your new home thank you it's good to be here jerry thank you for that opportunity is this going to be the most exciting it's going to be the most challenging camp that we've ever been a part of and not just because uh barry switzer's coaching the cowboys instead of jimmy johnson uh but also because we are in pursuit of a third straight super bowl i think barry walked into the biggest no-win situation that any coach has in the history of the national football league he walked in with enthusiasm and he walked in eager to go this is what i look forward to really that's it's not uh yeah you know all the attention and all that's not important to me you know but i don't know that he knew the full depth of what a trap it really was because if he won he won with the players that were there that jimmy had coached to this level and if he didn't win to any level other than the super bowl it was a failure jimmy had the last saying things and i don't know barry had the last say on that field as far as how the team operated he was so hands off he allowed the coordinators to basically run practice if there's a problem he allowed them to make the adjustments with him i think barry switzer was smart and he respected his staff and his players enough not to lie to them say that i'm in control i'm making all the decisions it's me me me me he respected us enough not to say that he realized that mr jones was now moving and getting deeply involved in the in every aspect of it from talent to free agency to to coaching and that mr jones ultimately will be making those decisions the atmosphere just wasn't the same and i don't know maybe that was uh one of the reasons that we started to lose our edge because there wasn't that that threat there i am ready today i'm finally getting around to do what i want to do and i'll be glad to get rid of you guys where i can go do it and say i'm gonna do one interview a day and that's it and let me go coach let me go do what i want to do he was always very open um you know there were some bizarre things that you'd see on tv though during the course of our season when he'd uh when he'd be on camera they played with our own emotion today they got after it they spilled their bucket out there hope they didn't lose all of it they were ready to go it's not hard it's not hard to be a football coach especially when you've done it for 30 years it's overrated you people you people make the geniuses and the grooves and the myths out there you all make them out to be more than what they are and then when you know it's your fault for doing it then when they begin to believe it then it's their fault right now i never said nor is anybody saying that an assistant coach has a problem with barry switzer what i'm saying and what a lot of players are saying and what a lot of coaches are saying that assistant coaches are having problems with assistant coaches and players want you to step up and stop i think i think you don't know what you're talking about and they don't either dale hansen there is no problem here on this staff in the dallas cowboys i promise you that barry again had the philosophy they're either for your against you and it's not worth trying to kiss their butt because they can't help you and they can't fire you [Music] in 94 we were very very good but there wasn't that level of invincibility we are going to 3p we are going to make history we still had such a talented uh poised team that was made up of veterans in their prime that we could go out on form and for the most part handle anybody that we had to come up against barry switzer had not coached for five years but his many critics were silenced when the 94 cowboys marched to a 12-4 record and into the nfc championship [Applause] [Music] they've been waiting all year long to go play the 49ers in the championship game it's exactly what everybody said would happen and now it's going to happen nothing was going to be measured in terms of success in 94 as to whether we won 13 or 14 regular season games in the nfc championship game it was going to be did you beat the 49ers and did you win the super bowl it was that was that was success and everything else was bust my mindset going into that game and our mindset as a team was going in saying we had san francisco's number we felt if we went out and played our best game and they played their best game we'd beat them but we didn't do that back to throw against aikman some pressure gets the pass away eric davis picks it off he's got a lane down the left side touchdown 49ers the game was won in the first eight minutes of the game back to throw as aikman has time sends it down the left side ball is spotted knocked down that could be a bumble yes it is a fumble 49ers have the ball again tim mcdonald 21-0 deficit with eight minutes gone in the game they give it to floyd he gets in easy standing up washington grabs him it's too late 49ers after seven and a half minutes of this game lead 20 to nothing the 38 to 28 defeat left the cowboys devastated well if there was a honeymoon or some semblance of a honeymoon for barry switzer uh it ended that day out in candlestick park the mood was complete and total shock and i think everyone who was with that team from 89 or 90 onward shared that feeling couldn't believe we lost didn't want to get on the plane didn't want to do anything because you knew tomorrow morning you're going to have to get up go out to the front yard and pick up the paper and it was going to say cowboys drop nfc championship game not only barry and not only jerry was gonna be judged on whether the season was successful or not by winning the super bowl period and uh and and when that didn't happen um there was there was just the short there was a very short list of people to blame and it started with the two guys at the top while skeptics predicted a quick end to the joan switzer union the team rallied around their embattled head coach i think he related very well to players he loved football players he loved to talk to him he loved to know more about them loved to know about their families he'd asked me about my wife and kids and uh you know that's the type of person he was he was more of a player's coach he wanted to know how you're doing outside of football and a lot of black players gravitated to him because he was open black players loved him in the past and and the black players in the locker room loved him also red bull red bull twins twins 1995 began with many questions had the talent level slipped would free spirits and free agencies sink this impending dynasty let's go we started losing guys that were uh you know parts of that that that engine that we we had built over those those seasons that uh you couldn't replace them free agency decimated dallas lost were senator mark stepnowski and high wire receiver alvin harper let's live with giving him the final offer and then if he doesn't then we'll all live with it and then go get the other guy was that where we went the owner was also the general manager this two-headed monster was roasted by the media which enraged jerry jones meddling i will tell you right now if you have worked as hard as i have to get where i've got and somebody says you're meddling and what you've done that will make you a little defensive and turn you into something you don't like yourself and i'm tired of defending that the facts are that's not been the way it's been out here since 1989 it's not going to be the way it is going forward it has helped us win since 1989 and it's going to help us win again just keep on going you motivate me shift 18 red 18. two mediocre drafts produced rookies that even the veterans question we got these young guys we drafted they're great players and come in and and everybody's they're not you know you don't hit on every one of them but i mean he pumps up every single guy how you doing all right bad omens turned ominous when all pro offensive tackle eric williams shattered his knee in a car accident eric williams was one of the meanest guys i've ever been associated with on a football field and i was happy to have him on our team and he was never the same after his car accident there were more critics than champions of the cowboys this team seemed like a house of cards but in a game of texas holdem the cowboys still had a few aces up their sleeves [Music] the cowboys opened the 95 season explosively on the game's second play the handoff goes to him and smith his first run 45 50. he's gonna score touchdown cowboys a 60-yard ramble by emma smith is he back i would say so this is gonna be a great year you know look at that you know second play of the game they give us something we've never seen we pick it up everybody gets a hat on a hat and he goes untouched 60 yards you know you had a real good feeling about what that season was going to become just off of that game and especially that play [Music] you kind of got the feeling that that game was one of those their back type situations and uh whether whether the country liked it or not all these you know big star dallas cowboys guys are back in our face again on national television and it looks like they might be pretty good again on monday night dallas lost their all-pro cornerback for the season if kevin smith is out for any length of time how much more important would that make the signing of one dion sanders to the dallas cowboys [Music] i don't care what it takes you get me dia [Applause] are you ready i was born ready [Applause] [Music] the cowboy's quest to recapture their kingdom depended on signing the crown prince of cornerbacks dion sanders coverage of michael irvin was a big reason the 49ers won the 94 nfc championship locked in a contract battle with san francisco prime time was a free agent playing baseball with the yankees the cowboys plucked this plum like low-hanging fruit there was a huge rivalry between us and the 49ers so why not you know you need a corner we just lost you know our number one corner so why don't we take the one that was with the team that beat us last year in the championship game and won the super bowl in jerry's mind i think he felt that the only way we get back to the super bowl is that we take deion sanders away from san francisco and put him on our team in jerry's mind he viewed dion as a crown jewel and if he could make it work financially he wanted to do it he and his son stephen almost came to blows one night during the negotiation because stephen was concerned about the salary structure of the club who else comes on tv but jerry jerry said idea bringing him in was not just adding the best cornerback in football but it was adding another first name superstar to an organization that people said geez haven't don't they have enough he was a funny guy he once said to me rich i don't love the camera the camera loves me i don't love money money loves me so what's it going to be dion football or baseball both boss oh both fly offense or defense boom both boom boom boom pizza huh meat lovers or stuffed crust pizza oh so what would it be dion 15 20 million no without dion who was injured the cowboys won four straight games including an overtime thriller in minnesota smith left the running room to the five touchdown dallas this game is over and cowboys have wanted cowboys finally lost in week five to the lowly washington redskins touchdown washington redskins the redskins have done it upset the cowboys at rfk troy aikman was accused of playing soft against his former coordinator norv turner we heard the stories about you know troy going easy on norv which was you know bs i'm sure it was just the opposite troy wanted to prove to north that i can beat you without you troy is all about winning and i don't care if his mom was the head coach and his dad was the offensive coordinator on the other side he's going to want to beat him so it didn't matter that nor was over there the last thing troy's going to do is do anything to lose a game purposely to lose a game we invented the conspiracy theory in dallas i mean that's what we're known for when there would be a rumbling that troy didn't perform at his highest level when he was playing against norv people in the locker room just rolled their eyes and said that's garbage that's ridiculous that's baloney it was just part of the myth and madness of of what being around that era of america's team was all about the 7-1 cowboys came to atlanta where dion sanders made his long-awaited debut against the team that originally drafted him this is our house today what better time for him to come back than against the club that originally drafted him back in 1989 so um you know you can't script some of the things that that were revolving around that franchise for a while i had a little bit of a show business uh movie premiere type setting uh for dion coming back to the georgia dome playing his first game as a dallas cowboy the glitzy atmosphere turned into the golden gloves for prime time the only neon in dion's debut was on the final scoreboard here's a deep drop for aegon first hand pump fake going way down the field for michael urban bumping and grinding at the point touchdown [Music] [Applause] there was blood in the water when the red and gold came to texas stadium this was heavyweight championship fight type stuff there was a real sense of this is gonna be a big game and this is gonna be a great game and it was in november and we had the best record in the nfc and this was our opportunity to reestablish tip the scale back over to the dallas side reestablish the cowboys dominance in the nfc don't forget what happened last year it had some of that ali frazier type atmosphere for a football game and it wound up being george foreman and joe frazier i mean they knocked us out right out of the box and it was deja vu all over again they can't catch him he'll beat him touchdown 49ers we thought we'd line dion up on jerry and other corner go opposite the whole game but they didn't do that they moved jerry around they got him on linebackers they created match-ups of what they wanted to see there and we really wasn't prepared for that and it was hard to adjust we were all over the place we were playing trying to play man-to-man and larry brown was playing in a position where i was supposed to be playing a safety position rice is lined up on larry brown rice ate larry brown alive in both games last year larry brown had no idea what he was supposed to be doing in safety positions so that's how crazy it was [Music] you could just feel all the air going out of texas stadium and up through the hole in the roof it was really that devastating because of what had happened the previous january this one was actually worse than the championship game we never even [Applause] [Music] he's gonna go he'll go in touchdown 49ers again unbelievable are we in san francisco we haven't seen this before flashbacks from last year so the psyche had changed it went from us dominating them to them dominating us i think we just pretty much you know we got outcoached that game that was a point in the season where you started to think the cowboys aren't what the cowboys were and uh and maybe maybe the the pendulum of uh power has completely shifted to the to the bay area that san francisco game was the first time in a long time that any of us ever felt that they're just better than we are the devastating 49ers loss was compounded when taka leon lett was suspended by the nfl for substance abuse we needed leon led to to anchor down that defensive line to to get to where we needed to be and for him to already have a problem got help and then to basically do it all over again i thought he let down the team at the time at the same time i was concerned about who leon was and he was with a group that some of the guys had already been in trouble so it's going to take a very strong person to be able to decline some of the things that were going on at that point if there was a party going on in dallas the cowboys were a part of it i think a lot of us craved the discipline that we had with jimmy because we knew we had guys that you couldn't trust to be on their own they were going to make mistakes if you didn't if you didn't have somebody there that had a strong presence and instilled a little bit of fear in them it just was a little bit too loose while barry was there there was scrutiny and there was criticism because uh it was another opportunity to take a shot at our team the team was a media target and every player became caught in their crosshairs it was tabloid journalism where every step and misstep was gleefully recorded there were a front-page car crash the paparazzi's dream team ironically the team became the media many cowboys including the long snapper had radio or tv shows yeah i just want to know about dion's contract how long is it what are some of the terms you got that all written down already well i'm reading it right here off your little cheat sheet all right go ahead cowboy science sanders it's a seven year 35 million dollar deal i do basically the same things i've always done and basically what all head coaches do and i spend half my time instead of being on on the walk through out there today i'm in here talking to you guys you understand that's the role of a head coach no matter what jerry jones does somebody roasts it if the cowboys don't win the super bowl jerry jones will be fried nationally locally in reality and in effigy jerry jones will be hung by the dallas fort worth media certainly there was not a week that the cowboys could go without the press and just a free week we were dealing with something every week of that season and uh it was just a very difficult time for us and a lot of guys didn't know how to handle it there were so many distractions over over those times during that time the only time we were really happy was playing on sundays happiness came in week 12 when the cowboys defeated the raiders behind the playmaker michael irvin number 88. michael urban wide open [Music] irvin was the heart and soul of the 95 cowboys [Applause] his combative spirit lifted him above the competition 111 catches in 1600 yards were not the measure of this man you get into those lulls during a season or a game and he was the guy that could get you out of it they're starting to say we can't run the game football they want a live stand made up in that same difference we're gonna run on monday let's go damn day [Music] five on third and 13. going for the bomb again for michael irvin in the corner dale carter was there the ball was there and michael irvin stayed with it wins over the raiders and chiefs gave dallas a 9-2 record to put those two wins back to back after the totally deflating experience with the 49ers led people to believe we were on the right path and it was like little did they know that the december from hell was right around the corner [Music] the december from hell began on a heavenly sunday the cowboys lost once again to the underdog redskins we had some fallout during that during that game at halftime we there was a little fight that took place between larry larry brown and charles haley after uh during the halftime of that game nothing got accomplished at halftime we're back back on the field and rescues continue to stop us touchdown washington redskins there was an unsettling feeling starting to permeate its way through the locker room that what is our identity and and can we you know beat somebody we're supposed to beat we just got to take care of business in december and get it done i want to say the temperature was 19 and the wind chill and the vet was like seven below and and it cold in veterans stadium is a different kind of cold it's just it's unmerciful the cowboys burst to a 17-3 lead intercepted by larry brown he may score 40. we felt that we had control of that game i was able to go grab that ball and take it back and we felt we had a nice cushion there it was a game that we felt we shouldn't have lost and that we let slip away from us third goal handoff to waters he's in touchdown and the eagles are back in this game late in the game with a score tied at 17 the cowboys took a risky gamble on fourth down i remember dion saying you know it wasn't fourth in the foot it was fourth in the ding-a-ling when you have the offensive line that we've had and you had probably at that time arguably the best back in the national football league if that line can't push forward for one yard uh then then something's wrong there barry switzer makes the call eagles completed if they stop the cowboys here they give it to smith he doesn't make it [Applause] the eagles take over the eagles take over though the referees are talking we've got some problems we've got some problems we lucked out we got the snap off late two-minute warning goes off before the play so it looks as though we've dodged a bullet but no we're gonna go back and we're gonna do it again and not only we're gonna do it again we're gonna run the exact same place and i can't believe barry switzer goes with the same play why would we call the same exact play and run it right back in the teeth of that defense we're in december we're playing the worst football we've played all year i mean the media just they crucified barry barry takes a beating barry doesn't call the play he just says go for it uh barry says go for it again after the penalty and the exact same play is called but barry takes the heat and he's the head coach we felt like it's a 90 least chance of making it and we didn't make it so that's a consequence of and i'm bozo the clown and bozo the coach and i have to live with that so i'm type of guy can handle it everybody including me knows you're supposed to punt in that situation i know you're supposed to punt but there's times you believe in a football team and believe in decision you got to go win the ballgame we hadn't poured a drop the whole second half hadn't scored a punt hadn't done a damn thing we're gonna go try to get it done now in mid-december there was a sense of sincere worry i think throughout the the locker room our psyche is gone a little bit now we're not the most dominant team that that we have in the past something something's going on here that we haven't had a taste of for a long time we got on the plane to go to arizona on christmas eve to go play a monday night game in arizona last game of the year and one team got on that plane and another team got off it we knew before we got off the plane and the word spread through the plane through the rows of the plane like wildfire 49ers lost if we go into arizona and we take care of business on monday night christmas night against cardinals we can get home field advantage again the 37 to 13 win ended a roller coaster season a wild stomach churning ride that saw them go from commanding to collapsing to champions of the east touchdown the 25th rushing touchdown of the year for evan smith that game was just so special those guys were excited and i think it gave us the belief in ourselves again that we could do it that we could make it back to the super bowl everything that happened back there from the injury to kevin smith to get beat by the 49ers to the fourth in one disaster in philadelphia uh the losses all that stuff it's meaningless because guess what we did what we set out to do when we were in training camp so for the first time there was kind of a positive vibe but the vibe from troy aikman was that of a prisoner walking the last mile here comes the blitz anthony davis tax looks like he might have hurt his knee or ankle he shake it up [Music] davis looking left intercepted by an issue 1995 was less an odyssey than an ordeal for aquin media folks he was hounded by the press about his strained relationship with his head coach a relationship that began under switzer at oklahoma [Music] aikman transformed the sooners from a wishbone attack to a wide open offense but when he was injured his sophomore year switzer helped him transfer to ucla where he starred and became the nfl's number one draft choice in 1989 [Music] while his relationship with jimmy johnson had been harmonious it remained off-key with barry switzer i sort of knew that there was a little rift between the two between switzer and aikman the lackadaisical style of coaching that switzer uh had troy was a perfectionist he wanted to win games and he wanted things to go exactly the way they went when jimmy was there troy is a guy all he wants to do is win championships he wants everybody to do everything they possibly can and uh you know there were times when we felt that barry you know needed to to do more am i happy with my relationship with aikman as i've told you before you know i don't know where chuck noll had a great relationship with terry bradshaw or not it wasn't important he won four super bowls right that's the bottom line i'm not going to drink rc colas and double date and you know with them we're not going to do those things i mean just it's not part of the game it's not important it's kind of like jockey it's you can't ever get rid of thing you know you keep talking everybody keeps bringing it up and one of you have to answer it you know it rubs your raw the most volatile situation erupted when assistant coach john blake told barry switzer that aikman was criticizing just the black players barry had called me in the office to talk about it and what i told barry was hey listen you know troy he's not that guy and we don't look at troy i don't look at him personally as a guy that's a racist or if he's just yelling at black guys i told him listen this that's what i expect out of troy and i went to troy the same that same day after walking out of barry's office and telling troy hey listen we got your back the guy that summarized it best for me was charles haley and he said look around that huddle most of the people that he hands the ball off to or that he interacts with in the offensive huddle are black and it's his job to straighten them out if they step out of line and if he doesn't do it he's messing with my money and i'll go in there and do it for him he is a perfectionist he is the ultimate competitor the most competitive person i've ever met you didn't want to disappoint troy you don't want troy mad at you he had these physical gifts that were just god given the physical stature he just looked like a quarterback he looked like a statue to the game of football during the national anthem when number eight went out into the huddle you knew there was a top flight professional quarterback in there he was just out there cutting people up performing surgery aikman's discontent rarely surfaced and his bottom line was still accuracy efficiency leadership and guiding his team to championships [Music] all quarterbacks follow the same path but the great ones like troy aikman leave different footprints on the game you knew his ultimate goal was to win games that was his own that's what brought him happiness perfect being perfectionist and winning games people who who have that character trait where they're always looking for a way to improve a way to get better in a way not to be satisfied generally have a positive impact on the whole organization doing well from texas the packers had become the cowboys whipping boys and the lash was applied on a 99-yard drive before halftime you just take the ball off the one and you go right down the field there's nothing more demoralizing than that especially at that critical part of the game it was a vintage cowboy march powered by the triplets it drained the clock and the packers [Music] will [Music] handoff smith again blocking again and emmitt scores this time and the cowboys have taken the lead with the emmett smith touchdown with 24 seconds remaining in the first half that drive coming off of our goal line was absolutely huge and uh you know it it kind of is an indication of how of how far we'd come in a month's time you know back in early december i don't i don't know if we make that drive [Music] one more handoff emmitt smith at the 15th oh look at that hole to the tent he'll score him and smith dances to the end zone the steelers and the cowboys in arizona for super bowl 30. [Applause] you all y'all are tremendous and and i really appreciate some of the things that you guys said to me personally some of you players in the ball game it really means a lot to me it really does and i want to thank our coaching staff i want to thank these guys that uh all we have to put up with all the people outside hey they're loyal they stuck with me and fought their rear ends off and i believe in them and they believe in me [Music] the cowboys look to win the super bowl for the third time in four years for barry switzer the former oklahoma head coach his ultimate moment seemed no bigger than a college bowl game he kind of enjoyed just the circus atmosphere of it and didn't take it too seriously and i think for him it was like a big bowl game that's why we're at thorns ball that's why every i mean orange ball my god a big orange ball why we're at the big orange ball barry didn't pay lip service to uh uh taking care of his kids and enjoying his family and he wanted them to to enjoy this because he basically said to them this is why i did this this is why i put up with all this criticism my ex-wife's coming in too she told my daughter my daughter called her and said mom you want to go to the super bowl and says well i live with that for 22 years i said i i guess i can come to the super bowl and i said come on i'll put a roll away in there for you hey it's been a long time coming but we're finally here that's why he'll play a complete game let's go from the alpha to the omega let's go out here kick d pittsburgh steal his ass up and down the field and go home and enjoy it for four years [Music] the cowboys overpowering defense and picture-perfect offense overwhelmed the steelers wide open [Music] we've got control of the game all of a sudden there's a lull and and and we don't have control of the game anymore first and goal at the six slant pattern for the goal line touchdowns i remember the steelers scored right before halftime and it gave me a sick feeling in my stomach and i went up on the roof of the press box i was thinking if they if i could get on that helicopter and get out of here i would and i'd go home and watch it on tv because i don't know if i had the stomach to sit around and watch the rest of this one because these guys think that they're in it and we let them think that they're in it and and so they are all of a sudden they're back into it because we have a little bit of a lull during the course of the game and then we got to hold on and have a little bit of luck help us out at the end and uh larry brown happened to be in the right place at the right time twice my hands were so bad that uh as a rookie used to call me edward scissors hands he couldn't catch anything at practice um he had his biggest games against the best players on the biggest stages it was just a zone play for us there and i think neil o'donnell the ball got away from it just slipped he actually tried to hit a crossing route uh in my zone and ended up floating right to me i said i was going to make sure i caught it and i think at that time i was trying to score get up and down the sideline and get that ball in the end zone if i could it was a freebie it was a gift and gladly appreciate it [Applause] instead of burying the steelers they granted them a stay of execution [Applause] on the second interception we were blitzing and we were sending everybody i think neil recognized it as a blitz check and i beat the receiver to the spot and again i just tried to take it and get in the end zone [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] in motion handoff emmitt smith on the right hand side touchdown scores and dallas your cowboys are world champions again most valuable player at super bowl 30 larry brown it was such a unique uh bundle of of personalities unusual unpredictable circumstances and and results that i don't know that that another season will come along like that again and a team will wind up being on the platform with the trophy at the end victory was final vindication for barry switzer in his psychiatrist's stream of a team somehow they had survived this turbulent season and had won super i think that there was a collective side of relief mixed with a strong uh sigh of euphoria the joy just wasn't there man it was not the same it was thank god the season's over it was just a very very strange year a testimony to that team that we were able to get through all that and somehow find a way to win a championship my position coach joe brodsky said it was one of the best performances he'd ever seen by a team i asked him why and he said because he wish you guys won in spite of the coaching the cowboys would have made a great reality show when you think about the characters and the type of people we had from michael irvin dion sanders to barry switzer as a head coach to a unique owner and mr jones [Music] i think it was a relief off jerry's shoulders to say hey listen barry switzer sitting up here at this podium not jimmy johnson barry switzer and he's the head coach of the super bowl champ in dallas cowboys for barry especially a dramatic weight had been lifted off his shoulders and he just wanted to get up there and say we did it are you having a good time [Music] for additional video content photo galleries and more from america's game visit nfl.com america's game [Music] the nastiest man i've ever seen in my life y'all got some money for pornography by the dog charles was the guy that would say anything to anyone at any time what you want to do you want a baby take this home and show your wife this is what my body should look like this is what a warrior look like charles is one of those guys that you have to stand up to the first time you meet him and if you don't stand up to him he's he's going to make life miserable for you don't go to the other side i go in the middle of the damn field get down on both knees and lord help me please just because your head shaped like a bullet don't make your big shot down boy you couldn't let charles get the upper hand on you because once he knew he had the upper hand on you you were done how about y'all working the hell out my damn face at his best he is uh loving and caring and sensitive this is my this is the main one right here this is cj charles at his worst he's temperamental he's irritating he's caustic you don't want to grab me around my waist man i ain't the woman nobody you love me man he's uh sarcastic he's thinks he's funnier than he is look at that look at pogba the pig right here get on the other side of it some days you could not pay him to shut up other days you couldn't get him to talk when he showed up on that field i i've never seen a warrior more fierce more committed to winning wanting to lay it out there every down than this guy charles haley [Music] charles haley a demon both on the field and often was the final piece in the cowboys championship puzzle we couldn't spell super bowl in dallas until we got charles haley from the 49ers he was he was the key piece to the puzzle i think the best description i ever heard of emmett's running style was like a uh someone wrote that he he skittered across the field like a hot dog wrapper in the wind just stopping and then going a little bit more and then stopping and then moving laterally and eventually working his way down the field [Music] fullback daryl johnston was smith's most valuable teammate this bowling ball in cleats rarely carried the ball but when he did he adhered to the old maxim that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line with number 48 harsh contact was inevitable johnston's teammates valued this good soldier who provided the armed escort for all of emmett smith's sensational runs handoff to the ten to the five touchdown cowboys strong by emma smith he had a great sense of inner pride and wanted to be something more than just a good player he wanted to leave footprints on the game [Music] going home you wanted to play with michael you wanted to go to world michael every play baby every play do it die every play his personality was um magnetic electric uh charismatic it's hard to capsulize michael irvin's personality other than to say that he had more of it in his little finger than probably 98 of the population do in their whole body he was the personality the charisma [Applause] i think when you have a player like that who really genuinely cares about everybody on that team and how they play michael wanted that and he enjoyed it when you had success that's what made michael irving a tremendous leader without a doubt the hardest working guy on that team through that era nobody nobody's even close he was a machine [Music] it was two o'clock in the afternoon man probably close to 100 degrees in dallas brutal in july he runs around he throws up he sits there for a while sprays out his mouth he gets back on that line he ran about 10-15 more rounds one after the other man to work his work ethic was you couldn't match it you know he always said he goes hard on on both ends he's gonna go harder practice and go hard in life i remember michael irvin at training camp going out partying all night long walking in and getting ready to go to practice the next day that was him i mean he did he only needed to work off maybe a couple hours of sleep if that that was him he just he just burned it on both ends he apologized a number of times about his issues off the field i remember one meeting going in and uh having a team meeting and after the team meeting the coach coaches left and he he broke down crying talking about how he apologized for all all the things that uh all the problems he may have caused for that team and uh that he'll work 110 times even harder on that practical practice field to show us that uh he's intent on winning the championship and you know that was him he was an emotional person for larry brown football took a back seat to tragedy in 1995. wife at the time had uh actually had a baby and we were born premature and father i do pray for christopher brown just like russell did i pray that you would preserve him and strengthen him give cheryl and larry great endurance as they watch him in the hospital and spend time with him and father may he be raised to his full health there's not enough word there's not good enough words to describe what the feeling feeling he was going through not only himself but you know his wife and his family and his family that was with the cowboys for the whole season we knew that you know there was complications here and there and things i had to deal with there but that week was tough because he actually had passed that week and we had to bury him he had the funeral the day we were leaving uh for a game and uh that was on a saturday and uh we left out on an away game right after the funeral mr jones left his plane for me he said if you want to come it's up to you if you don't uh we understand and i talked to my family about it and i prayed about it and made this the commitment to go ahead and show up to the game and i think the most moving thing of it is uh my son's name was christopher brown when i got to the game every all the players had kb on their helmet and i wanted to play i want to play for myself i want to play for my son and it was one of the hardest things i ever had to do the raiders game uh was highlighted by i think my all-time favorite dion interception he he was covering rocket ismail down the field center of the field and dion went up and reached over the rocket snatched the ball with with two hands and then held the ball up in the air and it was just like wow darren woodson maintained the cowboy tradition of great safeties who possessed game-changing abilities [Music] i think we became more focused going in to that playoff run now we're with the same team were we as dominant as a team and then as athletic and as talented no we weren't but we were a team that was focused on winning that game the fourth and one fiasco in philly seemed ancient history when darren woodson knocked quarterback rodney pete out of the game he ran out of out of the pocket trying to get the first down and uh i just tried to brace myself and he ran he didn't see me at the time i was just trying to destroy him [Music] [Applause] cowboy fans saw why dion sanders was called prime time here's a reverse to deion sanders pets up field at the 25 hour versus direction finds a blocker at the 20 to the right to the 10 to the 5. you just shook your head and we're like that's that's unbelievable and i remember all that anybody was concerned about was not was he gonna get in the end zone but what type of dance he would do when he finally did here he goes here he goes dion sanders scores on the offense the sanders shuffle in the end zone [Music] here we go done a mood look done good done it was vintage 1966. someone called the dallas cowboys the now team of the mod times and don meredith was to be the leading man of pro football's new age olson once said that meredith has a charisma that's exactly what he's got you don't know why but he you just consider him exceptional i don't think i've ever come across to anybody in athletics that was as good at being a leader wing zig out we're cutting them i'll tell you what let's just group together everything's going all right we're just making some mistakes and those things we'll get them over with we're going to whip them we're going to whip them let's get on he always had his finger on the pulse of the team and everybody from the offense to the defense to the the star player to the last guy on the bench he cared about everybody and i i believe part of it was cunning you know part of it was just pure sheer animal cunning knowing that a team didn't win unless you did that meredith had been with the windlass expansion cowboys in 1960. by 66 he had them on a dizzying climb up the standings from 1966 through 1968 the dallas cowboys gained more yards and scored more points than any other team in the nfl number 22 bob hayes the world's fastest human made the cowboys the world's fastest football team head coach tom landry's multiple formation offense revolutionized pro football forsaking three yards and a cloud of dust for big plays in a burst of smoke on defense landry's flex was equally ahead of its time it too was the fastest unit in the league and ranked first against the run in 66 67 and 68. the cowboys had the muscle and the head it would be up to meredith to supply the heart we were playing the redskins and don was beaten up worse that day than i think i've ever seen any athlete take punishment like this in one game one of his ribs broke punctured along and while we're in the game i remember coming back towards the huddle and he's just lying down and i said don jesus you know somebody is calling somebody to come carry him off the field and he just looked up at me he said just get me to my feet the cowboys trailed 30-28 but meredith rose off the canvas and showed his teammates how to rise to the occasion we were down with just 90 seconds to go in the game and we had 99 yards to go the team should have been down uh mentally and ready to give up meredith came out stepped into the huddle when he smiled and he says okay boys we're going to run and pass this ball down the field and win this game now won't you to listen to me and listen good cause this is what we're gonna do we're gonna run the ball we're gonna pass the ball we're going right down this field and we're gonna score the most intense experience i ever had and i stepped back out of the huddle and i took off my helmet and i looked up and he was so focused you know and i looked up suddenly i was losing focus i saw the crowd and i could feel it was like i was being lifted out of the field and up into the air i mean i can i can feel that now and i get goose bumps when i think about it and we systematically marched on the field everybody in that offensive huddle knew that we were going to go and nothing washington did or could do was going to stop the dallas cowboys it was the fall of 1966 and the cowboys had climbed to the threshold of greatness only one team stood in their way it was a clash not so much of teams but of times tradition versus innovation destiny versus dynasty the invincible image of lombardi's packers was taking a beating twice green bay built leads of 14 points once the cowboys came back to tie and the second time the cowboys cut it to seven on meredith's 68-yard touchdown to frank clark with under two minutes to go the dynasty was in danger and the cowboys had their destiny and the ball at the two yard line [Music] [Applause] [Music] an offsides penalty cost them five yards then running back dan reeves tried to see the way to victory and i actually went in the line and i got hit in the eye by ron costelli and i probably should have come out of the ball game you know looking back on it but i had kind of a blurry vision or double vision and the next play uh you know as he laid it off to me i should have caught it because i had two chances i saw two balls but i didn't catch the ball all right 93 t pull on set ready [Music] on third down meredith had tight end pettis norman open at the goal line but under through him norman caught it at the two that brought fourth down and history hung on the execution of a single play [Applause] what happened was that coach lander sent in a play [Music] that was designed to go uh be run when frank clock and myself win the game and unfortunately bob page winning the game was in the game at that time and he didn't know how to run that play now it's important for frank clark who comes in always on goal line at the split end to block robinson the linebacker so he doesn't penetrate up field if he penetrates up field then you can't get your guard out in front of you and then your rollout chances are gone hayes has never played on the goal line he doesn't know what the play is he's never practiced it so haste doesn't make the block he just shoots between the linebacker and the tackle and goes out into the corner robinson's up field too fast he grabs meredith meredith just sits his fourth down he just throws the ball away [Applause] dave robinson nailed down meredith and the bankers have just taken the championship the analysis of the game is meredith throws an interception which was not what happened at all that was not what happened at all it was a it was a horrible thing to see happen one year later the cowboys again faced the packers for the nfl championship this time it was the chilling championship the ice bowl the most famous game in nfl history but this time the cowboys had the lead 17-14 and the packers had to travel 68 yards in the game's final five frozen minutes i remember the a sinking feeling in my stomach that i had never experienced before watching that game from the sideline um it was like a horror story being played out and i was part of it and it was real and i was being chased by the monster the packers took their final timeout at the one again the cowboys would need just one play to topple a king and become one themselves here are the packers third down inches to go debater 17 to 14. cowboys out in front packers trying for the go-ahead score [Music] [Applause] i gotta tell you i've never seen a loss take the heart out of a team like that loss took took it out of the dallas cowboys when the heart was gone the soul was soon to follow [Music] after a playoff loss to the cleveland browns the next year don meredith retired at the age of 31. we went into this restaurant and somebody noticed don and i and they started booming and the people sat there in this restaurant and stood up and booed him until he left oh it hurts to get booed the most disappointing thing is that in your heart you know you did the best you could you know you did the very best that you could and then they just say why am i you know they just like they really let you have it and you want to say hey you know but you really don't understand people you don't really understand what it's all about and just because they didn't win at all the greatness of meredith's cowboys may never be understood

Channel: Marc Sabourin

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Id: vXM0IEnMNn0

Length: 64min 37sec (3877 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 11 2020