Cowboys Redskins Rivalry
Considered the top NFL rivalry of all time and “one of the greatest in sports” by Sports Illustrated, the Cowboys Redskins rivalry is by far one of the most powerful. The Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins are the two wealthiest American sports franchises and have together have won 31 divisional titles and ten NFL Championships, making them two of the most dominant NFL teams in the nation. And what do two teams with that much success and power throughout the years have in common? Their intense desire to beat one another, thus forming the very well known Cowboys Redskins rivalry.
The Cowboys Redskins rivalry is one of the biggest in the NFL
Cowboys Redskins Rivalry History
The Cowboys football team was founded in 1960, and the first game played between the two was won by the Redskins on October 9, 1960. The Cowboys Redskins rivalry was fairly uneventful in the 1960′s, but reached full swing by 1971. Washington hired George Allen as head coach and in 1972 made it all the way to Super Bowl VII. The Redskins’ last stop before the Super Bowl, however, was a match-up against the Dallas Cowboys in the 1972 NFC Championship Game in which Washington won 26-3.
The two teams met up again on Thanksgiving Day in 1974 for one heck of a game. The Redskins came into the game with an 8-3 season record and were looking to secure a spot in the playoffs by beating the Cowboys who entered the game with a 6-5 season record. Things looked good for the Redskins with ten minutes left in the third quarter, who led with a score of 16-3, but things turned around. After a great second half of the game for Dallas, Cowboys’ rookie quarterback Clint Longley threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to Drew Pearson with 28 seconds left in the game, clinching the comeback win for the Cowboys 24-23. Redskins coach George Allen summed up the heartbreak by commenting post game with, “It was probably the toughest loss we ever had.”
Another thrilling comeback win for the Cowboys over the Redskins occurred at the 1979 NFC East Division Championship Game. The Redskins were confident in their hopes of a win leading up to the game, and allegedly sent Cowboys’ defensive end Harvey Martin a funeral wreath, which he in turn put in his locker for motivation to defeat the Redskins. Once the Cowboys pulled their huge 35-34 upset, Martin raced into the Redskins locker room and threw the funeral wreath in, interrupting their team prayer. Minor side events like these only added fuel to the already enraged Cowboys Redskins rivalry.
Luck turned around for the Redskins in 1983 when they defeated the Cowboys in the NFC Championship Game, locking down a spot in Super Bowl XVII. RFK Stadium was filled to its capacity with 54,000 fans, chanting louder than ever. The Redskins’ wins didn’t stop there, as they went on to defeat Miami for their first ever Super Bowl Championship.
The 2000 Warner Bros. movie “The Replacements” was based on the Redskins’ 1987 Super Bowl XXII victory with their veteran-less team during the 1987 strike. They met up with the Cowboys who had almost all of their veterans Danny White, Randy White, Tony Dorsett, Ed Jones, and others, and were expected to lose based on the difference in players’ experience. However, the Redskins upset the stacked Cowboys team 13-7, which Washington coach (at the time) Joe Gibbs named one of his greatest experiences and wins ever.
Today’s Rivalry
The Cowboys Redskins game encounters reached the 100 mark on December 27, 2009 and fans say there’s nothing else like it. Cowboys Redskins tickets these days provide an experience to a rival game that has been around for half a century and continues to strengthen in intensity. True football fans know that there is no comparison to a game against your all time biggest rival team. NFL is bigger than ever and it’s games like these that fans live for.
