Category: Cowboys History

Cowboys look to break curse, record first playoff win in navy jerseys

Dallas is 0-3 in postseason games wearing navy-colored jerseys; they’ll pair them with white pants Monday, a combo that went 2-0 this year. | From @ToddBrock24f7

The Cowboys will look to break a few streaks on Monday night if they can topple the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first round of the playoffs. A win would mark the club’s first postseason victory since 2018 and their first tournament road win since the 1992 postseason.

But if the Cowboys can escape Tampa with a victory, it will be their first playoff win wearing navy-colored jerseys… ever.

The team has announced that they will wear their navy jerseys and white pants to face the Bucs. It’s the same combo they wore in Week 5’s 22-10 win over the Rams and Week 8’s 49-29 victory against Chicago. (On Thanksgiving Day, the Cowboys did wear their throwback jerseys with white pants. While navy is the primary color, the “double-star” scheme on the shoulders makes those jerseys different than the regular navy set.)

The Cowboys first unveiled true navy-colored jerseys for the 1981 season. Prior to that, the team’s “road” jerseys were royal blue, and they were worn with the team’s regular light blue pants, and gray pants years before that.

The last on-the-field appearance for those uniforms (which many fans believed were cursed) was the 20-7 NFC Championship loss to Philadelphia in January 1981. The last postseason win in royal blue? The 1978 conference championship that put Roger Staubach & Co. in Super Bowl XXIII.

The Cowboys have played plenty of other road playoff games along the way: 11, to be exact. But thanks to the tendency of most teams to sport their colored jerseys in front of their home fans, the Cowboys were left to wear their traditional white-top set for those matchups.

Since switching to navy, Dallas has worn colored jerseys in three prior postseason games: 1982’s NFC title game loss to Washington, the 1996 divisional loss to Carolina, and 2003’s wild-card loss to, again, Carolina. All of those postseason losses came in grey pants.

As the home team, Tampa Bay got to select their jersey color for the upcoming Monday night contest. The Cowboys, forced into wearing colored jerseys, have opted to go with white pants rather than the silver pants they wore under navy in Weeks 3 and 18.

Using data compiled from The Gridiron Uniform Database, the Cowboys first used the navy-on-white pairing in 2017 and have worn it a total of eight times since then- including the two games earlier this season- but they’ve never before worn navy-on-white in a postseason game.

Their overall record in that uniform combo: 6-2.

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Speaker McCarthy weighs in on upcoming vote; topics in house address

From the HoF to being open and honest about the fragility of NFL careers in response to Damar Hamlin’s injury.. words from Ware, Woodson, McCarthy and Prescott. | From @KDDrummondNFL

The Dallas Cowboys are headed to Washington this week. While the nation pops their popcorn and settles in as political theatre plays out in the nation’s capital over the Speaker of the House vote, Thursday was another day of preparation for head coach Mike McCarthy and his team ahead of their Week 18 tilt against the Commanders.

McCarthy was among several press conferences speakers at The Star in Frisco, the house, err home of the Cowboys. Also appearing on Thursday were DeMarcus Ware and Darren Woodson, two of the 15 finalists for February’s vote for Hall of Fame induction. Here are some of the top quotes from everyone’s time behind the microphone.

Cowboys DeMarcus Ware, Darren Woodson named Hall of Fame finalists

Woodson is a finalist for the first time after six times as a semifinalist. Ware made it all the way to the final vote last year. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Cowboys legends DeMarcus Ware, Chuck Howley, and- yes- Darren Woodson have taken a big step closer to Canton.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced its finalists for enshrinement as part of the Class of 2023 on Wednesday night. The list of modern-day players includes Ware, who most feel should have been a shoo-in last year, and Woodson, who finally advances beyond the semifinalist stage for the first time after six previous tries.

Woodson is the Cowboys’ all-time leading tackler, a five-time Pro Bowler, a four-time first-team All-Pro, a three-time Super Bowl champion, and was just the 21st member of the Cowboys’ prestigious Ring of Honor.

Ware is a finalist for the second year in a row. After nine seasons in Dallas, seven straight pro Bowl appearances, and four first-team All-Pro nods, Ware played four more years as a Bronco and won a Super Bowl ring for the 2015 season.

He is the franchise leader in sacks, even factoring in those recorded by players before 1982, when the statistic was officially charted for the first time.

Linebacker Zach Thomas, the Texas Tech star who came home to the Cowboys for the 2008 campaign after a long career with Miami, was also named a Class of 2023 finalist.

This year’s 15 finalists will be discussed at length by the Hall’s 49-person selection committee, who will narrow the list down to 10, then five. Those remaining finalists are then voted on for induction, each on a yes-no basis, with an 80% “yes” vote required.

Chuck Howley was also named Wednesday as a senior finalist, advancing from a group of 12. He earned six Pro Bowl nods over 13 seasons and helped the Cowboys win their first Super Bowl. But perhaps the biggest claim to fame of his career came in Super Bowl V, when he became the only man to win the game’s MVP honors despite playing for the losing team.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2023 will be revealed during Super Bowl week.

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The 10 best Cyber Monday deals for the Dallas Cowboys fan in your life

The best holiday gift ideas for any Dallas Cowboys fan in your life.

Happy holidays, Cowboys fans!

We’re into the home stretch of the NFL season and it’s really the most wonderful time of the year.

After a big Thanksgiving-Day win against the Giants, Cowboys Wire is here to give you yet another reason to celebrate this holiday season.

Fanatics is offering 30% off all orders on Cyber Monday, so take at least 30% off the prices in the list below and get the perfect gift for the Cowboys fan in your life.

Whether you’re all in on Dak and the boys or just really love to reminisce about the days of Troy, Emmitt and Michael, we’ve got you covered with our list of best Cowboys gifts for the holiday season.

If you need another gift for the football fan in your life, consider a subscription to The Huddle. Win your fantasy football league with The Huddle’s award-winning fantasy football cheat sheets, rankings, sleepers and insider tools. Sign up today.

[afflinkbutton text=”The Huddle subscription – $49.99″ link=”https://tools.thehuddle.com/subscribe”]

Former Cowboys WR Cole Beasley retiring after 2 games with Buccaneers

The 33-year-old finishes his 11-year NFL career 18th in Cowboys history in receiving yards; he’ll spend more time with family. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Cole Beasley’s latest stint with an NFL team looks like it will turn out to be his last. The former Cowboys receiver and fan favorite signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers prior to the team’s Week 3 game; now he’s announcing his retirement from the NFL before Week 5.

NFL Network insiders Mike Garafolo and Tom Pelissero reported the news midday Wednesday after hearing from Beasley’s agent. “He is ready to be with his family after playing in 11 seasons and it’s time to be a full-time dad and husband,” Justin Turner told the network.

Beasley was brought on in Tampa at the urging of quarterback Tom Brady amid a plague of injuries at the club’s receiver position. Beasley, in his 11th pro season, caught four passes for 17 yards over his two games with the Buccaneers.

The 33-year-old will retire with 554 receptions over 151 game appearances with Dallas, Buffalo, and Tampa Bay. He amassed 5,726 receiving yards and scored 34 receiving touchdowns.

He played for Dallas from 2012 to 2018 and is currently 18th on the Cowboys’ list of all-time leading receivers with 3,271 yards. (Both Michael Gallup and CeeDee Lamb could pass him this season.) Beasley’s 23 receiving touchdowns in a Cowboys uniform place him 14th in franchise history.

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Former Cowboys tight end Gavin Escobar dies in climbing accident

Escobar played four seasons in Dallas and had recently become a firefighter in California. He leaves behind a wife and two children. | From @ToddBrock24f7

A former Cowboys tight end has died in a rock climbing accident in California. Gavin Escobar, 31, was one of two individuals identified by Riverside County sheriffs after an incident within the San Bernardino National Forest.

Escobar was a second-round draft pick in 2013 out of San Diego State. He played four seasons with the Cowboys, compiling 333 yards and eight touchdowns on 30 receptions over 62 games played.

Unable to make much of an impact on the same roster as Jason Witten, Escobar was released after the 2016 season. He went on to stints with the Chiefs, Ravens, Browns, and Dolphins, but didn’t amass any further stats. It was the end of Escobar’s NFL career, though he went on to play for the San Diego Fleet in the short-lived AAF in 2019.

Escobar, a New York native, had become a firefighter in Long Beach earlier this year and lived in Huntington Beach.

According to a KESQ report, a report of “hikers down” came in just past noon on Wednesday. Crews attempted a rescue but determined that both victims had died at the scene. It’s not yet known if Escobar and his companion were ascending or descending when an accident occurred, or if they died under some other circumstances.

Gavin Escobar leaves behind a wife and two children.

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Cooper Rush joins Roger Staubach in elite Cowboys history in win over Giants

It’s hard to be the first to do anything in a franchise as storied as the Cowboys. But being the second behind a Hall of Famer ain’t bad. | From @KDDrummondNFL

There’s been a grand total of 92 players who have thrown a pass in a Cowboys uniform since Dallas was awarded a franchise in 1960. 48 of them have been quarterbacks with 44 of them starting a game in their career. Of those 44 signal callers, 29 have started at least three games in their career for the organization.

Until Monday night, only one quarterback who began his career with Dallas had started, finished and won three consecutive contests with a star on the side of his helmet; Roger Staubach. That is until Cooper Rush happened.

With Monday night’s emphatic come-from-behind, 23-16 victory over the New York Giants, the Cowboys won their 10th game in 11 tries against the Gotham Knights. Rush performed admirably in his second consecutive start in place of franchise quarterback Dak Prescott. Nursing a broken thumb, Prescott cheered Rush and his teammates on from the sideline, watching them take down the team that bookended Prescott’s own 11-game winning streak in 2016. The Cowboys lost to the Giants in the opener, then again in Week 13. Those were the last times he lost to New York, going 10-0 since.

But this night was about Rush.

Finishing 21-for-31 for 210 yards and one touchdown, the stats don’t come close to telling the entire story. There were only a handful of misguided passes, the rest being on target, leading receivers into open spaces and away from danger. There were a handful of dropped passes and completely egregious missed defensive penalties that took away at least five completions and two more touchdowns. He was, dare we say it, surgical.

And the performance put him in great company.

Jason Garrett and Steve Beurlein had also won their first three decisions with the Cowboys, along with the legendary Staubach and man-of-the-hour Rush. However Garrett’s streak is tainted as in his first start, he went just 2-for-5 passing before Bernie Kosar took over and did the brunt of the work in leading to a 20-15 win over the then Phoenix Cardinals.

Beurlein actually won his only 4 regular season starts with the Cowboys, but by 1991 had already started 15 games over his first two seasons with the Raiders before heading to Dallas to backup Troy Aikman. He even started and won a playoff game that year, moving to 5-0 at the time. Then the calendar turned to January and he started the debacle against the Lions in the divisional round when Aikman tried to return but to no avail.

So that just leaves Staubach and Rush alone as the only Cowboys QBs to start their first three games as Cowboys and leave the field as the guy getting all the glory.

On Sunday, Rush will likely take on the Washington Commanders with a chance to stand alone in Cowboys history in one aspect. He’ll look to be the first homegrown QB to win his first career starts, while trying to repeat what Beurlein did in his relief of Aikman.

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Ernie Zampese, Cowboys OC for Super Bowl XXX win, passes away, age 86

The offensive genius was credited with designing the famed “Air Coryell” offense in San Diego, and eventually won a Super Bowl in Dallas. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Ernie Zampese, the longtime assistant coach who served as offensive coordinator in Dallas from 1994 to 1997 and then returned for a second stint with the team as a consultant, has passed away.

The 86-year-old spent nearly three decades on NFL coaching staffs, but his crowning achievement was helping to lead Troy Aikman and the 1995 Cowboys to a win over Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XXX, the third championship in four years for the dynasty.

Aikman paid tribute to Zampese earlier Monday with a post on Instagram.

“Lost a good one today,” Aikman wrote. “Ernie Zampese was one of the brightest offensive minds in the history of the game – many of his offensive concepts are still being used to this day. He was my offensive coordinator in Dallas from 1994-’97. One of my most memorable moments was winning Super Bowl XXX in Tempe, AZ in 1995 and Ernie getting the Super Bowl ring that had alluded [sic] his HOF career. A friend and mentor to so many.”

Prior to joining the Cowboys, Zampese rose to prominence with the San Diego Chargers. While there, he helped create the famed “Air Coryell” offense for quarterback Dan Fouts, a prolific scheme that led the NFL in passing yards six times in his seven seasons with the team. (The year they didn’t lead the league, they finished second.)

Chargers head coach Don Coryell got most of the credit for the offense that bore his name, but even he called Zampese “the best offensive coach I know.”

Norv Turner, who had his own very successful run as Cowboys OC, echoed that sentiment.

Yet, for all his football brilliance, Zampese never helmed a team of his own, at any level of the sport.

“He had no real ambition to be a head coach,” Turner said, per Mortensen. “He just wanted to coach. He loved teaching, creativity, game plans.”

Just two months ago, Zampese was named a recipient of one of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s inaugural Awards of Excellence.

Zampese’s son Ken, currently the quarterbacks coach for the Washington Commanders, accepted that award in Canton over the summer on Ernie’s behalf. Ken was reportedly excused from the Commanders by Washington head coach Ron Rivera over the weekend to visit his ailing father.

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Legendary Cowboys LB Chuck Howley named Hall of Fame senior finalist

Howley has been in the Ring of Honor for over 40 years and holds one rare NFL accolade all to himself; he’s now one step away from Canton. | From @ToddBrock24f7

A Cowboys legend who holds the rarest of NFL distinctions is one step closer to Canton.

Linebacker Chuck Howley, who played for Dallas from 1961 to 1973 and has already been in the franchise’s Ring of Honor for over four decades, is now a Senior finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, it was announced Wednesday. Jets defensive lineman Joe Klecko and Bengals quarterback Ken Riley advanced as well, out of a group of 12 senior candidates.

Howley started his pro career with the Chicago Bears in 1958. A first-round pick out of West Virginia, he retired after just two seasons following a training camp injury in 1960 and returned home to a blue-collar job running a filling station. But when he decided to make a gridiron comeback in 1961, the Bears traded Howley’s rights to the Cowboys, who were just a year old at that time.

“I went back because I decided there were better things to do than run a gas station,” Howley said. “Also, I thought it would be a unique opportunity to play for Dallas, a team that was just getting started.”

It proved to be a brilliant decision.

Howley played 165 games for the Cowboys over the next 13 seasons, earning six Pro Bowl nods and being named a first-team All-Pro five times. He helped the franchise win its first title in Super Bowl VI, recovering a fumble and an interception in the 24-3 win over Miami as part of the smothering “Doomsday” defense.

But it was the year prior, in Super Bowl V, that Howley put his name in the record books in a most unique way.

Despite the Cowboys’ 16-13 loss to the Colts in an error-filled contest, it was Howley who won the game’s MVP award after picking off two Baltimore passes. He was the first non-quarterback to win Super Bowl MVP honors and remains to this day the only player from a losing team to receive the accolade.

In typical Howley fashion, he said afterward that the only reason he accepted the MVP award was because it came with a brand-new station wagon. He gave it to his wife as a gift.

Howley, now 86, still ranks second in Cowboys history with 17 fumble recoveries over his career and has the franchise’s second-longest fumble return, a 97-yarder versus Atlanta in 1966.

The Cowboys inducted Howley into their Ring of Honor in 1977, just four years after he retired for the second time.

It will now be up to the Hall of Fame’s full selection committee- in January- to decide whether his achievements are enough to finally put him in Canton with the Class of 2023. Howley needs 80% approval for enshrinement.

Cowboys defensive back Everson Walls was among the nine Senior semifinalists who did not advance to the finalist round this year. Running back Dan Reeves, a longtime teammate of Howley’s in Dallas before going on to a lengthy head coaching career, is still a semifinalist in the Coach/Contributor category.

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Former Cowboys OC Ernie Zampese to receive inaugural Award of Excellence from Pro Football Hall of Fame

Zampese led Troy Aikman and the Cowboys to a Super Bowl XXX win. One of the top offensive minds of his era, he’ll now be honored in Canton. | From @ToddBrock24f7

One of the architects of the Cowboys’ most recent Super Bowl victory is making his way to Canton.

Ernie Zampese, the longtime offensive coach who served as coordinator in Dallas from 1994 to 1997 and then returned for a second stint with the team as a consultant, has been named a winner of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s inaugural “Awards of Excellence.”

The new awards are meant to recognize significant contributions made to the game by individuals from four football disciplines who are not typically considered for enshrinement along players and head coaches.

“These 20 outstanding assistant coaches, athletic trainers, equipment managers, and public relations personnel not only helped to determine results on the field, but they also helped to promote the game’s growth, safety, and popularity over several decades of devotion to their teams and to the National Football League,” Hall of Fame President Jim Porter said in a statement.

Zampese will be one of the assistant coaches honored Thursday, along with Fritz Shurmur, Terry Robiskie, Alex Gibbs, and Jimmy Raye.

The 86-year-old Zampese worked on a handful of NFL staffs nearly nonstop from 1976 until 2004. He already had 18 years of pro experience on his résumé when he came to Dallas in 1994. The Cowboys had just won their second straight Lombardi Trophy, and offensive coordinator Norv Turner had just left to take the head coaching job in Washington.

Then an established OC, Zampese was thought to be content to stay in Southern California, where he had played halfback collegiately for the Trojans and gotten his start in coaching with turns at Cal Poly, San Diego State, and the San Diego Chargers before joining the Los Angeles Rams.

“I think first of all, it’s the possibility of going to a Super Bowl,” Zampese said of the decision to move, per the Los Angeles Times. “I think that’s what we all aspire to do in this profession.”

Less than eight weeks after Zampese accepted the Cowboys job, head coach Jimmy Johnson’s departure rocked the organization. Barry Switzer was taking the reins. And Zampese would now be charged with trying to keep the Dallas offense within the ranks of the elite.

He did just that.

In his first year with Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, and Michael Irvin, Zampese’s unit finished second in the league in scoring, averaging 25.9 points per game. They compiled a 12-4 record, only to lose to San Francisco in a wild NFC championship game.

The following year, the Cowboys offense ranked third in points scored (27.2 per game), went 12-4 again, and beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XXX.

The Dallas dynasty effectively ended with that title. The Cowboys offense dropped to 25th and 22nd in the league in scoring the next two seasons. Zampese, though, had cemented his reputation as an offensive mastermind and moved on to helm the New England offense in 1998.

After two years with the Patriots, Zampese returned to Dallas as an offensive consultant starting with the 2000 season. It was head coach Dave Campo’s first… and would be Aikman’s last.

In his Hall of Fame speech years later, the Cowboys quarterback would call Zampese “one of the best offensive minds and greatest people that this game has ever known.”

And now Zampese will take his place alongside those legends at the Hall.

The four groups presenting these Awards of Excellence helped to create their own selection committees and set their own criteria for choosing the class members to be honored. The Hall of Fame did not take part in any nominating or voting, but will display the winners’ names in Canton.

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