2014 (12-4, 1st in NFC East)
Week 3: Cowboys 34, Rams 31
Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
Be warned: the opening 21 minutes of this game is a painful stretch to watch, as the Cowboys spotted the St. Louis home team a three-touchdown lead. But little by little, Dallas’s defense buckled down and the offense chipped away at the deficit, finally drawing within a point late in the third quarter. After a Rams field goal, the Cowboys poured it on, first with an 84-yard scoring drive, then with a Bruce Carter interception return for a touchdown on the Rams’ first play afterward.
Morris Claiborne squelched St. Louis’s last-gasp drive by picking off Austin Davis, but it was Dez Bryant who had the play of the game with his third-quarter 68-yard touchdown haul from Tony Romo. (Watch this play on the All-22 angle for a full appreciation.) “No one ever comes that wide open,” Romo remarked afterward of the play. “You want to make sure you don’t do anything stupid.”
Week 12: Cowboys 31, Giants 28
Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports
What the world remembers from this Sunday night game is Odell Beckham’s signature one-handed overhead catch as he fell into the end zone. What Cowboys fans are quick to point out is that Tony Romo found Dez Bryant for a less-jaw-dropping-but-ultimately-more-important touchdown with a minute to go, capping a comeback win by Dallas in East Rutherford.
Bone-crushing hits, a Jason Witten shovel pass score, Cole Beasley’s wheels, legendary Romo scrambles, and yes, Odell’s impressive acrobatics (sigh)… this game truly had it all and is well worth a repeat viewing.
Divisional Weekend: Packers 26, Cowboys 21
Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports
This one still hurts as the Cowboys’ best team in recent memory was denied a shot at a ring due to a bad interpretation of a terrible rule. Thanks, Gene Steratore. He negated what the world- and the league- now recognize as Dez Bryant’s superhuman bobble-job catch late in the fourth quarter, a catch that would have likely propelled the Cowboys to the NFC Championship.
This was Dallas’s first road loss of the entire 2014 campaign and came in their first postseason trip to Lambeau Field since the 1967 Ice Bowl. Passing was hard to come by in the frigid Green Bay conditions, but Tony Romo let just four balls hit the turf (three, really… because #DezCaughtIt).
DeMarco Murray picked up the slack with 123 rushing yards. It remains gutting to watch, wondering what might have been for this group, but the game is a great reminder of how good the 2014 Cowboys were.
2015 (finished 4-12, 4th in NFC East)
Uh, no. Nothing to see here. Move along.
2016 (finished 13-3, 1st in NFC East)
Week 10: Cowboys 35, Steelers 30
Jason Bridge-USA TODAY Sports
The new-look Cowboys had already amassed a 7-1 record with rookies Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott, but it was this November clash of longtime enemies that forced the rest of the league to sit up and witness the power of Dallas’s fully armed and operational battle station. Prescott threw for 319 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while Elliott cranked out 209 scrimmage yards and three scores en route to the NFL rushing title that season.
Bryant added 116 receiving yards and a touchdown less than a week after the passing of his father. The defense showed out, too, turning away the Steelers on all four of their two-point conversion attempts. The whole game is an instant classic, but the final two minutes is a roller-coaster ride all its own: three lead changes, a fake-spike touchdown toss by Ben Roethlisberger, and, finally, Elliott’s 32-yard parting-of-the-black-and-yellow-sea touchdown sprint to put the Cowboys on top with ten seconds to go.[lawrence-newsletter]