NFL America's Game Super Bowl 12 Champions 1977 Dallas Cowboys

marecus game a countdown of the 20 greatest super bowl champions and now number 11 [Music] [Music] [Music] one of the more entertaining divisions in professional football the last several seasons has been the NFC East the Cowboys the Redskins and the Cardinals have waged their own version of a holy war with the Giants and the Eagles always bringing up the rear but this year the Cowboys have been established as a heavy preseason favorite to win that division because on the day of the draft without disturbing their team they were able to give to Seattle 3 draft choices in exchange for a Heisman Trophy winner we have never had the real big back the the breakaway back the back that can make the big play we've just been lacking that that one added dimension I think that is the dimension that will be added to the Cowboys by at 20 Dorsett failure in the running game cost Tom Landry's Cowboys in a loss to the Steelers in Super Bowl 10 [Music] the next year another playoff power outage of running back short-circuited Dallas against the Rams the losses magnified their need for a game breaking running where one player away from winning the Super Bowl and I promise you if it was ever true it was true for that 77 team we had this puzzle and the puzzle doesn't work unless you know every piece plays a role in the puzzle and we were missing one piece and that was Tony Dorsett no no no I got to find a piece of this puzzle I'm just a guy just tried to fit in I mean they already had all these great great players he's all for players and highly visible and internationally so I was just trying to blend in you see him for the first time you're wondering what this little guy and then you're a little skeptical because now he's in the pros and you look at his small stature and he's wondering if he can do the same things on a professional level that he did on a college look Tony Dorsett was always of stuff he was the nation's best high school player and NC Double A champion and Heisman Trophy winner at the University of Pittsburgh and the number one pick of America's Team covenant as a Heisman Trophy winner a lot of who-ville aw I knew there was going to be some people trying to test me there was going to be a lot of eyes upon me and and I might get jealous I know he had a certain error arrogance about him he had an era batting that yet he did have a sense of entitlement and he too looked at the cowboy team and knew that he was probably the best talent at the running back spot so he wanted the job it just didn't work that way you you weren't ever just handed a child you had to earn it he was a prima donna he was a sweet looking running son of a gun and an arrogant guy like me a self-promoting guy like me didn't mind I just wish I'd have got his money you know they got more money than I did we had to bring him down a notch and coastland he was very good at doing that Dorsett was beaten up in summer camp and beaten down by head coach Tom Landry Tom doesn't want prima donnas and Tom has a way of humbling people they would they would tell me and you know you got to do this and do that he's just gonna test you he plays these mind games and I got down on myself and I was really really really in the dumps everyone else was sky-high this perfect mix of urging guitars and veteran all pros expected to reach the Super Bowl coach Landry ran our team like a corporation we had goals we had methods to obtain the goals we had critical points to obtain the methods that attained the goals and then we had the individual exact details to perform the critical points to perform the methods to perform the goal and the goal was to win the Super Bowl always in the spotlight Tony Dorsett began the season as a spot player it was not the cold but the warhorse Preston Pearson number 26 who started that running back with Pearson at running back Dallas cruised through the early season I think Preston Pearson was raising a little hell that I'm the guy I know this system and you know you can't just put this guy in front of me he took a lot of pride in the fact that he was keeping a player like Tony Dorsett on the bench here's Roger back to throw across the middle post Landry knew he could always insert Tony in certain situations so he kind of handled him with kid gloves only using him in certain situations in games using him on certain plays that he was very familiar with [Music] and off dorset right garden attain to the 5 touchdown [Music] we knew eventually that Tony would be the man and it was just a matter of time before he took over in a reserve role Dorset scored twice against the Giants and displayed the explosive running the team had sorely lack [Music] I didn't like the way the media was handling the whole scenario from the standpoint of when I come into a game to expecting these miraculous things to happen as a running back that's not the way it goes it wasn't a situation where he had to come in and be the savior yeah we had a good football team in the fourth week Dorsett was still not starting but he revolutionized traditional cowboy running philosophy the whole team was the I am a running I run to daylight I run to what I see and it always not gonna be like you draw it up X's and O's we run a practice the role in this taking out our defense you know my plan the mock defense of acardo's they weren't they were moving and so they went and I seen it broke all the way back across like behind the center it would never it would never in a hundred years ever break like that today outside then announcing I got a runner what I see I Roseland 24 and broke back just like he said it would never break in a hundred years I go 77 yards for a touchdown cowboy runners were expected to slam into the proper hole but it was Dorsett's ability to improvise to transform losses into touchdowns that made the little man unique [Music] coach Landry changed the way he coached when Tony Dorsett showed him that he could cut back against the grain or get through holes that that nobody else has ever gotten through before hey the next day in the meeting goes energy comes in and he says okay Tony's a different type of runner what you guys gonna have to do as office alive and you're just gonna have to put your hats on your guy and keep your hat on he's gonna run to what he sees from that point on I never had another problem I was able to be become TD and be myself Tom Landry allowed Randy white to be himself when he moved number 54 to defensive tackle the two seasons wife is imprisoned at linebacker while dr. Frankenstein tried to build him into a monster a monster like dick bucks like the legendary linebacker he was ferocious but not quite skilled enough to play the position Randy is a down lineman you know he's not a guy that's comfortable playing standing up he likes to get down and in four-point stance and get actively what Dorsett added on offense white added on defense where he was the destructive inside force on the doomsday defense on game day this meek humble person turned into a monster I mean he was he was ferocious on game day and he scared me I've never been afraid of anything and Randy white and scared me white scared everyone but Thomas Henderson a player who challenged both coaches and teammates Thomas Hollywood Henderson was a provoker you know he was an instigator he was always trying to get under somebody's skin and he just picked the wrong guy you know Randy why why would you want to mess with Randy white you know he wasn't called the master for nothing half man half monster Randy white one of the strongest men in the National Football League Thomas Henderson cocaine addict wasn't fair that wasn't fair fight Randy proceeded to just lift him up and I think he lifts him with one arm and slammed him into the locker and and it was over pretty quickly he picked me up he stuffed me in my locker then he had me pinned to the floor and I said to him well hit while he had me pinned on the floor if you let me up I'm gonna kick your ass it was just this is crazy Randy did do a number on Thomas he was very good to him he could have hurt him a little more if he wanted to so he didn't pound me he didn't hit me he didn't whip my ass like he probably could have because he knew I'd probably kill him I mean you know I'd go home and get something and come back put on his big ass I actually think after that incident Randy and Hollywood became closer they had a better understanding of each other I know Hollywood had a better understanding of why Randy white and the ferocious front four were the bedrock of the Domesday defense the best defensive unit in the NFL because this defense red offenses instead of attacking them they were labeled as soft please let's hear a lot of teams talking about us being a finesse team and and not a physical football team we would laugh at that and say let's wait till Sunday and see what they say once they walk off the field and I don't know how anybody could ever say our doomsday defense wasn't physical doomsday was versatile and violent an equal-opportunity bully will beat up both running backs and quarterbacks [Music] number 79 Harvey Martin recorded the most sacks in the NFL and was named Defensive Player of the Year this is beautiful Harvey Martin come to you on a pretty windy day here in a brisk cold dallas texas and i guess you wonder why I call it the beautiful Harvey Martin show today we couldn't figure out why it was called beautiful Harvey Marcus Harvey one the greatest looking guy it was the Cowboys five and OH record that was truly beautiful [Applause] [Music] the team's perfect 500 record in 1977 did not satisfy their perfectionist head coach he was more of a disciplinarian than he ever was and didn't let us get away with anything his critiques on the games after the games we played we would win the game 30 points or so and we go to that meeting on Monday afternoon and it feel like we lost you know he'd beat us down he would never let us feel comfortable with what we had accomplished there's a great motivation to avoid coach Landry looking at you because we need to look at you and intellect and you knew that he's looking at you because you did something wrong mentally and you just wanted to crawl under the carpet you know it's hard to accept as a player his aloofness and the fear that we had for him being men ourselves and fearing this man if you really wanted to get a picture of Tom Landry it would be in Thousand Oaks California with him on that two-story apparatus with a bullhorn that's about as close emotionally that you got to him but the dour coach hid a whimsical side do you know me I'm one of the best known cowboys in Texas but a lot of people don't recognize me in a cowboy hat so I just carry the American Express card it can help you out in plenty of tough situations because you never know when you're gonna be surrounded by rescue party to apply for the card look for this display and take one the American Express card don't leave home without it if you liked anybody you probably like me but you know what I had no earthly idea of knowing that he never showed ever that he cared about any of us as an individual landry loved him now you know if you want to look around the football team and wonder who does the Landry does he like anybody he loved Charlie waters coach Landry and I had a different rapport than coach Landry and other players and the reason for that was is I played quarterback in and in college and and then when I came to the pros I played defensive back and coach Landry played quarterback in college and when he came to the pros he played defensive back coach Landry also played corner in the pros when he really wasn't a very good corner play he was really really good safety real smart and then that's just what I had to do also [Music] Charlie Walters journey from also-ran to Oprah was a painful Odyssey coach Lander came to me and asked me to play corner and I was a very good corner I didn't have the speed to play corner so he made a sacrifice to play the cornerback position even though he knew he was really a safety he took a lot of beatings there I've got humbled in a lot of ways I remember Charlie Taylors continually beating him sometimes it's just it didn't matter how smart you were how much how much technique he is I just couldn't play out there because I didn't have the overall speed that the play the cornerbacks spot and I was abused [Music] I've been exposed to a lot of Hell at the cornerback spot I got booed at Texas Stadium and you know and that was hard and I got beat four touchdown passes in games two where when I'd go to practice the next day and I'd have to sit in the room with the offensive team and coach Landry would point out that uh that I lost the game and you know he was real blunt about those core sort of things and so it taught me how to deal with adversity he paid his dues that cornerback and it's amazing that it didn't ruin his psyche knocked down but never counted out Watters fungally earned the admiration of his head coach coach Lander got up in front of the team and of course this is the game this is a game that I lost the game for him and and he said to the team he said look you know Charlie had a tough day yesterday that's an understatement and he said but you know if I'd had 45 guys that tried as hard as he did he said I wouldn't have lost a game in my whole career coaching with the switch to safety and 1976 waters became the brain behind the Brawn of doomsday rarely out of position his coach on the field turned himself into an all-pro Charlie is the smartest football player I've ever played with and he had to because he had to tell me the damn play most of the time there's no one player I have more respect for what he sacrificed for this game in the NFL to play as long as he played it than Charlie Wars because we were the Dallas Cowboys because we were America's Team we were in everybody's living room and people hated us everybody that played us every game was like a playoffs the hated Cowboys won their first eight games often as the result of its special team he's got it at the 15 a dance he cuts for the go Cowboys bob hamma's weights born at the 22 has it here comes the Russian fumbles the ball Giants pick it up and hand right Jaso he has the Cowboys had a strong supporting cast but the lead actor remained water vac Roger Staubach who general dis imaginative offense with precision [Music] with the game on the line captain comeback sought out mr. clutch Drew Pearson number 88 Pearson an undrafted free agent quarterback became the Cowboys all-time leading receiver Roger going deep for true down the sideline cut yeah they call it crutch what he brought through the Cowboys though was every week he vomited on the field you know he threw up and I would throw up - if I was skinned as he was but he walked over to Tom Landry on a timeout and just throw up and everybody on the defensive side of the ball just loved Drew Pearson because they knew how tough he was as far as performing on when you had to perform you trusted him you knew that he was gonna give up his body over the middle and he was a twig he weighed 160 pounds hundred fifty maybe he was just a guy you could count on and I think it's a combination of things that happen put you in a position to to make those big plays and the number one thing is you got to have the confidence of the coach call your number in those situations you don't have his confidence you definitely have to have the confidence of the quarterback and I had Rodgers confidence while Pearson looks like no one was fast enough to catch him with an 8 and a record the Cowboys were primed for a rush to the plains a bowl the team leaders never lost sight oh he was a leader for both on and off the field he not only did focally but he show by example I mean he did it both and you don't have many guys that do that but he was he was our man for the 77 Cowboys the glow of eight straight wins was dimmed by Tony Dorsett failure to become the Cowboys starting running back number 33 remained a pinch hitter because he could not grasp the complicated office [Music] 1977 seems like a lost season for Tony Dorsett iconic almost gave up on that year you know until coast lands you really pulled me in right before that tenth game of the season told me he has been expecting me to start by doing that I needed to just apply myself and work and act like I care on the football field because I was down I was down you know here we were late in the season and I'm not starting so I'm not feeling very good about that [Music] in week 10 the NFL's most sensational substitute finally became a story Dorsett had earned his cowboy Spurs and prodded Preston Pearson to the bench Preston's a smart play smart individual he realized eventually that Tony was going to have to be the man so Preston got in the mode of how can I compliment Tony ders [Music] when Tony and that have taken the job is the starting tailback from him they moved into the third down specialty back in and coach levy had special place set up just for Preston Pearson end up being the most specialized player of the NFL he created a new position the third down back [Music] if Pearson now a third-down specialist could the undersized Dorset to stand the punishment as a starter at 175 pounds people said well he's too small he's gonna be too small to take the pounding or the national football all that did was put motivation into this body to make me want to prove people wrong yeah I was small but I was always just said then piece of leather well put-together tony was a power bag not many people know that we ran him in third worn on awful lodges he was blessed with a with a chassis that was powerful to pick up short yardage tony was different than any pack that come into the NFL at that time and that he had blazing speed he could start from a stop and go full speed after the second step which is incredible I mean he was zero to 60 miles an hour after the second step [Music] Dorsett coming left he's after the Burnie breaks to the right 3540 still on his feet at the 51 more block he might go he's at the 30 he's being chased the 20 the 15 the 10 what's dad Cowboys he had that vision great vision and he could also see into the future on plays that were designed to go to the right he would bend it all the way back to the other side he could just see where the hole was gonna be [Music] the handoff goes to Dorset dances in a second Marion heads lab the 30 the 40 comes right he's gonna scare [Applause] although he started only a handful of games Dorsett rushed for over a thousand yards and was named the NFL's Rookie of the Year the city of Dallas treated its heroes like Hollywood celebrities and we're it in doubt we were like icons Rock Brut rock stars there's Michael Jackson than us we played hard we practice hard we worked hard and we partied hard we were a party in football team a great time to the advanced comp a great time once we got somewhere you know like a club or something the line would be wrapped around the building and of course here comes the Dallas Cowboys right away were ushered in and once we're inside the attention that we would get would be phenomenal a lot of things we did back then I'm sure wouldn't be acceptable nowadays if we had gotten caught but we didn't get caught that we had a good time doing it you were exposed to just about anything that you wanted to be exposed to and and and we were hoping that all of us in with the Cowboys kept it together one player that Tom Landry could not keep together was Thomas Henderson a burr under the head Cowboys settled I came into the Dallas Cowboys but a lot of disciplinary baggage I just didn't like Authority my rookie you and I came to training camp he said to me you gotta for shade that beer when do you talk mache my bad and come in to shave my beard can you play football you me say my BMS a my beer in 1975 both henderson and number 54 Randy white competed for the same linebacker position so he put me in Randy white in competition for the strong side linebacker position I am bearish Randy white as a linebacker I could cover the tight end I could cover the back out of the back feel like it Wooper tight in after we compete for this job and I've won the job instead of Landry saying Thomas you're my starting strong sideline back of course I was out of position I'm a weak side linebacker from heaven I played out of position my whole career [Music] after he told Randy white you go to defensive tackle he says now Thomas you're competing with Mike Hickman which really angered I mean I mean I was angry because frankly I had beat Randy white out for the strong side job but he didn't give me that job until the beginning the first game of the season and when I got the job he said to me it was really close you know very almost it was really really close [Music] [Applause] [Music] as fast as Henderson ran his mouth his legs were even faster [Music] Thomas Henderson was the most flamboyant County a player who gave himself his own nickname Hollywood tell him ever since I've known you you've always been very low-key very cool very laid-back are you really serious about all this Hollywood stuff oh no Janice a mere myth I had on a cowboy hat a mink coat and cowboy boots and shorts in a limo at the practice field in Dallas so you had calls from I like that damn fool or Hollywood so he was charismatic and he was charming you know a lot of people on the team did not like him and hold it against him to this day that he brought so much attention to himself coach glad you said Thomas you not gonna play see you're not going to start it was a Saturday morning practice which is pretty much the dress rehearsal Thomas put on a pair of combat boots walked outside crossed his arms and didn't move and he told coach he said is that you can replace me but you can't duplicate me he said if I'm not starting I'm not playing Hollywood was such an athletic marvel that he turned defense into instant offense in 1977 [Music] no matter how spectacular Hollywood played Landry never praised him he congratulated a lot of mediocre people but never would say Thomas had a great game congratulating Thomas is kind of like pouring gasoline on a fire on the field he often appeared disinterested off it the X's and O's bored him one day we're in a meeting around Washington and it's the lights are off and I look around and Thomas was sleeping while coach Daniel was running the film added nightlife and you know the nightlife you know didn't coincide with 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. darkroom projectors clicking to put you to sleep and so coach Lander got up and went over and flipped the lights on he said Thomas what are you doing those glass on this darkroom I said you know coz I'm cool and when you're cool the Sun is always shining while Hollywood reveled in his celebrity the Cowboys offensive line took invisibility to its extremes although they were the backbone of the high-scoring cowboy offense they took offense to any number but zero that's what zero means is nothing and these guys got no publicity whatsoever and they prided themselves on never being interviewed never did any appearances as the Dallas Cowboy never bring an attention to themselves and rarely with the coaches every mention of only time they talked was we're in that clique in the zero Club and the only time they were really asked to do interviews is when they you know did something negative they relish being the zero club and not have people talk about it was a catch-22 because the next thing you know they become popular here we are talking about the zero Club and you know that's just not right you're not supposed to do that nobody's supposed to get any publicity zero was nothing number associated with the offense Dallas piled up points like a pinball machine [Music] they won their last four games to finish the season with a 12 and 2 record Super Bowl 12 was clearly in their sights [Applause] there was little drama during the regular season and there would be absolutely none in the playoffs the championship chase began with a mismatch against the Chicago Bears defensively the whole game plan all we heard all week long was stopped Walter Payton least thought Walter Payton we got a good chance to win the football game we knew that they weren't going to be able to handle our defensive line and Walter Payton was a great running back the Flex defense was designed to stop the run [Music] the Bears could not run and they were not going to pass they had a quarterback named Bob a Bellini how much chance Bob a Bellini yeah gonna be Tuesday defense the star of the Cowboys 37 to 7 victory was Charlie waters who intercepted a divisional playoff record three passes [Music] tony dorsett rushed for almost 200 yards and scored twice draw blade or set to the 20 to the 15 to the 10 cuts right he's at the beach what did you say domination the Cowboys had one last baton pass to make on the anchor leg to Superbowl 12 good afternoon everybody and welcome to Texas Stadium in Irving floor today is National Football Conference championship encounter between the Dallas Cowboys and the Minnesota Vikings I've Bern Lundqvist along with Frank Lieber and Brad sham and the Cowboys favored to win this game and go on and meet either Oakland or Denver in the Superbowl championship two weeks from today Roger waiting to snap takes it inside handoff Dorsett right sides head in the NFC championship Tony Dorsett scored his third touchdown of the playoffs but it was the computer mind of Tom Landry that spit out the game-changing play he devised the strategy that exploited the aggressiveness of cornerback Bobby Bryant number 20 the whole key to the play was the pump faked that Roger put on Bobby miss Bobby was what we called back then a clue and then of the defensive back he was looked into the backfield and then pick you up as you came off the line of scrimmage but the best way to beat them was with counter routes because the Kluwer would jump on the initial route now you pump that and then you send somebody deep you can get somebody behind it the key was trying to keep Bobby Bryan from reading the play and drifting back deep enough to affect the play [Music] [Applause] the 23 to 6 triumph propelled the Dallas Cowboys into Super Bowl 12 Awards air wake up every player that plays the game the ultimate thing is to get there to the Super Bowl we've made that mistake before by saying all we ought to do was just get there and we did that in 75 and we got there and lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers so this time around we weren't just satisfied with just getting there one with Pittsburgh side rivalry didn't mean anything at this point with this close to the Super Bowl and we can't let this one get away America's game info Network football 24/7 [Applause] [Music] in New Orleans the Cowboys faced the Cinderella Denver Broncos and its Orange Crush defense there were many delicious subplots to this Super Bowl 12 matchup but it was the quarterbacks Roger Staubach and Craig Morton who provided the most ironic twist kind of a special treat I'd like to introduce you to fellows Craig Morton Roger Staubach Roger this is Craig Morton hello mr. Staub echo have you met before I didn't realize that go hard go hard anyway go hard no number 14 wanted to be the starting quarterback of the Cowboys possession in five years he waged a bitter battle with number 12 Roger Staubach's for the job Landry was so indecisive so unsure of who should lead his team that in one game he alternated the two quarterbacks on every play he finally ended the merry-go-round by choosing stop Morton was traded to the Giants in 1974 for a number-one draft pick that pick became Randy white we felt real confident going into the game with Craig over there we knew their offense we felt as though we knew how to beat Craig he wasn't gonna win this one he didn't have a chance it was doomsday in the dough another day at the office for the defense fold spindle and mutilate they overwhelmed Morten and helped the Broncos to just 35 yards passing the worst thing that Craig had going into that game was the fact that he'd played for the Cowboys and the fact that Coach new coach Landry knew him so well the one thing we knew that he couldn't do was run he had no legs to run he couldn't scramble so our whole philosophy on defense was to collapse that pocket around him we designed so many blitzes on the field and I got to where I was changing blitzes on the field drawing it up on the ground we had a list with me going up the middle and I met the fullback that was designated to block me and I got through him and got an arm up on Craig's chest and pulled his shirt and the ball just floated right into Randy's hand [Music] doomsday was pretty much unstoppable in that game your offensive line couldn't stop him Craig couldn't get rid of the ball and when he had time to throw the football our defensive backs or safeties were covering up their receivers more food will throw has time this time dub Tennessee Mexico it's intercepted again pick up by an Chi [Music] suffocating defense allowed Landry to make an aggressive play call in the first quarter with it fourth and one from the three the usually conservative coach disdained three points for six [Applause] well actually we kind of knew we had this game one at halftime pretty much counting our money at halftime we were we were in control I mean we would really had to fall way off the cliff for us to lose this game he had plays in there to take advantage of what these guys were given to hit him for big plays to get the ball in the end zone the first dynamic place squeezed the juice out of the Orange Crush defense [Music] deep across the middle way down field [Music] we didn't just come up with those plays on a saga we had worked those plays for two weeks in preparation to do those things in that game on that Sunday you give to coach Landry two weeks to prepare and we could probably end that war in Iraq could be given two weeks to prepare the gadget play would be in Robert Newhouse paths [Music] Bobbitt little hands and we were teasing him something horrible I thought they were just doing it as a joke at the end of practice because Bob couldn't could be I don't think you completed one of the fastest in practice God please ball you know don't be a duck you know quacking duck and he went to the right in practice every time and the ball was set on the hash that he had to go to his left and he turned around and set his feet perfectly and threw an absolute perfect pass [Music] [Applause] I'm celibate you bet the Cowboys it buried Cinderella they stole her handbag crushed her corsage and shattered her glasses Greg Morton had always wanted to quarterback the Cowboys to a Super Bowl victory on this day sadly he did from the beginning of 1977 into the finish the end result was enough a World Championship victory in the Superbowl 12 and then when the final whistle blows you know it was a feeling of elation we finally did you know where will world champions reach their goal and accomplished everything we wanted to do along the way in doing that and it was a tremendous feeling of elation it was a funny feeling because I was in that Stadium a year previous at the University of Pittsburgh playing for a national championship I thought that national championship this was off the chain [Music] you just multiply that by ten the world it's just unexplainable it doesn't hold a lot for your theme and you get there and you win this damn thing is just under like one in Super Bowl 12 is is my world championship house with 45 guys that for better or worse I loved everyone I can still say that you know January of 1978 I was part of the Dallas Cowboy football team that was war it was a feeling of a job well done I mean take a deep breath just saying to yourself hey yeah this is good it's the way it's supposed to be and all is right with the world I'll put this football team the 1977 football team up against any football team in the history of the NFL [Music] for additional video content photo galleries and more from America's game visit nfl.com slash America's game NFL 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Channel: david stronach

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Id: gOjouVtgUzI

Length: 44min 46sec (2686 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 09 2017