I was a young teenager cowboy fan never felt more happy for anybody that much than for Bob Lilly Mel Renfro Leroy Jordan chuck.Howley Cornell Greene Jethro Puch and all the cowboys that suffered through those years of being so close to being a champion God bless all of you and you too Duane you definitely deserved it you were World Champion Dallad Cowboys
In his autobiography, Bob Hayes shared his perspective of Duane Thomas' implosion. "Duane wanted to be a bad counterculture hero like his mentor Jim Brown. But Brown was great first (9 seasons), then he was a bad boy. Duane wanted to be bad before he was great." Two special seasons doesn't scream greatness.
@@76vike19 Jim Brown was great because he played at a time when football players were generally smaller and slower. In fact, at 6'2" or 6'3", he was outrunning and bowling over players with average heights like 6' and under. So yeah, give him his props. He took advantage of what the circumstances were in his era. Same thing with Wilt Chamberlin. "Bullet Bob Hayes" was 100% correct about his assessment with Duane. If Thomas had bothered to realize that other football organizations don't treat players like Dallas did, he would have had a great career, and been rewarded handsomely for it. He gambled and lost everything. Later on he realized his mistakes and tried to resume his career... but a few years away from the game is a career killer. Daily News sports writer Dick Young said it best when he heard that Thomas was trying to get back into the game... "Duane Thomas is attempting to say hello when in fact he should be saying goodbye!"
@@georgeanthony7282 You have zero actually numbers to back up what you said. Also, why weren't their more Jim Browns? Why was their only one? Same with you dumb comment about Wilt Chamberlin? Chamberlin played against more HOF centers than Shaq, Ewing, Robinson, Hakeem, etc. Also, why didn't other black NBA players set over 100 NBA records in the 50s/60s? Bet you feel pretty STUPID right now.
@@georgeanthony7282 Thomas ran for 400 yards over two seasons in Washington, a contribution, but nothing that would justify his demand for a salary increase from $60,000 to $165,000 for the 1975 season.
Bob Lilly - pure class. Tackles Griese for a 30 yard loss and stands up like it's just another day at the office. No dancing or gyrating like they do today. Duane Thomas . . . still has a Super Bowl ring.
You're totally correct about Lilly but I think his business like approach was also a reflection of losing five years in a row in the playoffs. Neither Lilly nor any other Cowboy was going to celebrate until the game was theirs, particularly after the previous SB's nightmare against the Colts.
Sure, Thomas has that ring... but did you know he was desperate for money and had in fact sold the ring once before? You probably didn't know that, did you, fella. Luckily for him he was able to get it back. This is a guy who should have had a longer career, but threw it all away because he blamed everyone and anyone for his salary dispute.
Robbie Nichols was the rookie who picked up Bob Lilly's helmet. I believed Mr. Lilly chucked that helmet almost 45 yards, and the contrition to regret his actions. Class on and off the field.
Duane came back to the Cowboys in 76 but just wasn't the same. Landry once said that if he would of had Duane against the Steelers he would of won SB 10 and 13.
I was maybe a 10 year old kid (I was born in 1961) in Dallas when the Cowboys won that SB. Wow! How good it felt at the time even to a kid like me. It gave the city of Dallas an attitude (an arrogant one) which lasted for decades.
I was born in 1961 too and cried like a baby when they lost to the Colts the year before. It was a very good feeling when they won against the Dolphins. My mom ordered me a Dallas Cowboys sweatshirt from the Sears catalogue. Something she later regretted seeing that I wore it almost everyday and would still be wearing it now had I not outgrown it.
This is the greatest series of its type ever. I've watched the 1969 chiefs,1970 Baltimore Colts, and now this. I'm sure over time I have seen some others also, but making it my goal to binge watch every single episode of this series, including missing rings.
i watched them all heres my top 1- 76 raiders (it has madden in it, its always been my favorite now that he died youll like it even more. 2- 2002 bucs 3- 91 skins 4- 81 skins 5- 86 giants 6-07 giants
@@KWCline91 Well thats because they're made in the summer right after winning. Its a great tradition but these older one's both have nostalgia and hindsight. The 1992 Cowboys and 1974 Steelers episodes talk about setting up dynasties and how that first one felt, 1986 Giants and 1988 49ers have all time players like LT and Rice talking about their careers. Obviously harder to do these days but I still love them.
If only they would've paid Duane Thomas what he wanted. There's no telling how much better we would've been. And that Dolphins team was no joke. Look at they're record from 1970 to 1975/76.....they were a heck of a franchise. So glad my Boys were able to get them in the '71 season - the Dolphins were 14-0 going into that Super Bowl.
Dwayne was a BLM Woke activist in 1971. 😆. Ahead of his time in that respect...yes. Also he called out the owner of the Cowboys for being a scrooge and ripping people off. An ADMIRABLE thing but it caused him trouble. But he was definitely not understood by teammates or the Dallas Cowboy fan base in general. Regarding pay: EVERYBODY was underpaid...not just him. He basically did not get along....and really did not WANT to get along while he was there. He just wanted to be left alone. But he performed at a very high rate for 2 years ( 1970 and 1971 ...traded to San Diego in '72 at the start of the season).
@@JGldmn333, You described the situation and the greater reality of the organization, through the illumination his actions provided. Yet, you also chose to characterize him with a lazy, meaningless, and tiresome tag (which has largely been trotted out by demagogues and anti-democratic partisans generally), that's become a default replacement for thoughtful consideration by far too many in our culture. Your choice, of course, but an unfortunate one, IMO.
A lot of QBs in their final years were shells of themselves, Starr, Namath, Unitas, Dawson. But Staubach looked like he could have kept playing beyond 1979
@leoncolwin8645 what a pile of horse doodoo! Staubach was still in great shape and easily could have played 3-4 more years. He just wanted to give Danny White his shot.
If Bob Lilly wasn't such a nice guy, he could easily have walked into training camp and told everyone that he owned the NFL. Nobody would have argued with him. He played like superman. I was just telling a friend how every offensive play as a symmetry about it for the first couple of steps. Against Lilly, that symmetry is just gone. He is wrecking the play from the moment the ball moves. He either blows by the lineman, throws him into the backfield, or requires three guys to block him. In every onevof those instances the play is compromised. With his quickness, it's compromised instantly. Incredible football player.
yeah Bambi is one of the all-time greats for sure-people forget about his time with the Cowboys--he said that the 2 biggest catches of his career were in that 1st touchdown drive by Dallas capped off by his sideline TD catch...
@@quincee3376 - He was open more times in that game, but Staubach didn't pick him out AND Roger always had a late release. That first touchdown in Super Bowl 6 was by him. Roger threw it fast and hard for a change.
After so many fill ups at the Fina gas station with my mom driving her green Volkswagen bug we got a very nice set of Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl Champion 1971 drinking glasses. We still have them to this day.
The Patriots coached that wanted Thomas on a three point stance in the I formation was a fool. It’s hard to read the defense and see the holes when you start low to the ground. Glad Thomas got his ring.
Yea Duane Thomas is a good man. I have a long comment that I put on a another thread but don’t want to paste it & bore ppl. Lol Suffice it to say that men like Thomas who understood the value of the NFL & it’s players were thinking far ahead of their time. Without men like Thomas there would be no NFLPA. I’d there more like him, then the NFLPA would have more money & benefits for the average NFL players who have no voice & very little of their minds & bodies left after sacrifice themselves to the shield to improve their families’ legacies. If anyone wants the full, darker version of the text let me know. It’s much longer. As a Steelers fan since the mid 1970s I have a lot of respect for the Cowboys players & Tom Landry. You guys were every bit as much the team of the decade as the Steelers.
1966 through 1970. Post season losses to the Green Bay Packers, Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Colts.....all that heartbreak, frustration and disappointment. Finally that breakthrough season in 1971 with a Super Bowl 6 victory over the Miami Dolphins.after a drama filled and controversial first half of the regular season and a second half ten game winning streak including the Super Bowl. How sweet a victory and what an incredible relief it must have been for the 1971-72 Cowboys to FINALLY WIN THE BIG ONE. What most people don't know about the Dallas Cowboys is that from 1966 through 1985, that is 19 years and 20 seasons, the Dallas Cowboys had 20 consecutive winning seasons and only missed the playoffs twice. The Dallas Cowboys won 14 division championships, 5 NFC Championships and 2 Super Bowls. That is one extremely great achievement and a level of consistent excellence rarely ever reached by a pro football team. And the 1971-72 Cowboys had many players make it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Can you say Bob Lilly, Roger Staubach, Mel Renfro, Bob Hayes, Rayfield Wright, Chuck Howley and Cliff Harris ? And lets not forget sbout the huge contributions of ather Hall of Famers on that 1971-72 Cowboy team; former Chicago Bear and Philadelphia Eagle tight end Mike Ditka, former Green Bay Packer, defensive back Herb Adderly and former San Diego Charger wide receiver, Lance Alworth. And Tom Landry also made it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a Head Coach. In my humble opinion, Lee Roy Jordan should be in the PFHOF as well. And Charlie Waters should be in thete as well for what he accomplished later on in the 1970s with the Cowboys.
Was nice to see coach Landry, finally win it that year, after all those tough post season losses; too bad coach Lombardi wasn't around himself to have seen it.
It's worth pointing out that when Thomas tried out for the Cowboys in 1976, he was assigned Hollywood Henderson as a roommate. Maybe Landry figured they could coexist as they were both rebels. They couldn't. Henderson, in his autobiography, said Thomas 's bizarre behavior included having suitcases filled with rotting fruit, and that when Hollywood tried to tidy up/throw it out, Thomas got aggressive/hostile. Henderson wasn't sorry to see Thomas get cut. Sage wisdom....just because two people march to their own anti-establishment drums, doesn't mean they will care for each other's music. Thomas reached adulthood in the counterculture era of the late 1960's, dabbling in angry black militancy, though without joining the Black Panthers. Henderson came of age in the mid-1970's, a time of disco and cocaine hedonism. Very different mindsets. Thomas was about social defiance, Henderson was into self-indulgence. Probably as alien to each other as either one was to the Cowboy corporate culture. Reminds me of Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison both being anti-establishment music icons, but loathed each other after meeting at a party, partially due to Morrison being too handsy/aggressive.
@@traviscummings9178 a few reasons-no free agency--you had to hold out of camp if you wanted to be paid more; the only way you could switch teams was via a trade (see Dwaine Thomas), no social media or internet and little public knowledge of player contracts-some collusion between owners to keep player pay as low as possible; the owners had the hammer back then for sure-now it's almost the reverse...
Mr Duane Thomas. I’m fascinated by his talent & how his thinking was way ahead of his time. He knew his worth & it wasn’t inflated nor ego driven. He understood finances & the value of the NFL teams. The only thing that worked against him was that other players still didn’t get it so Mr Thomas could be ostracized as an example. When the NFLPA & their head stooge installed by management meets, they should begin the meeting with acknowledgment that men like Duane Thomas eventually got into the NFL in sufficient numbers to lock arms & demand better pay. The NFL owners were so fearful that a man who believed in a true labor union would open the books & demand a share of the rising values of NFL teams that they destroyed Jon Gruden through leaks to cause outrage & influence players without independent critical thinking skills to re-elect their chosen man on the inside who tells them they can all make QB money if they just play long enough to avoid debilitating injuries & brain disease. They did it by leaking the kind of emails that many men once sent privately before we realized that sending high quality pics of hot women was a waste of time & while sometimes acting like a sarcastic paranoid conservative was funny that it’s a better world when we don’t waste time worrying what consenting adults due behind closed doors. But corporations have learned that it’s so easy to avoid real scrutiny by destroying one employee. Getting the owners inside guy re-elected by meatheads was worth billions of dollars. Nations have gone to war for less as long as the right ppl got the benefit. Since everyone is so interested in Demar Hamlin, let’s see what the union does for him or what the NFL does before the union can discuss it. He will lose his voice in media if he ever speaks against the shield. Maybe they’ll let him earn money on the lecture circuit so they can argue that he’s already been paid. I hope I’m wrong. But I’d rather see each player making over $2.5M with the current salary cap than one player making $50M. Notice that the final 4 teams in the conference championship had 3 QBs on rookie contracts. The NFLPA should change its name to “the Union for QBs & Elite Players.” Lol 😂
I had shed tears of joy running down my face after this win, as I had tears of devastation as a 13 years old the year before when they had lost to the Colts...As a fan of the team, I'd endured the Browns losses and the put downs, LOL....But These were tears of redemption and joy for the team I'd lived and died for...Laugh if you will, LOL...But I was SO proud of those Cowboys finally getting over the hump and being champions....For a fan my age, it was a sweet moment...
had a comeback with the cowboys in 1976...sad to say he didn't make it,could have been an all time great like the #33 they drafted in 1977...Tony Dorsett!!!
I wonder how it would have gone over with the Raider players having a teammate who copped an arrogant attitude not saying hello. They certainly embraced all types of individuals but I don't recall them ever having someone that above it all.
I think he was reacting to the perceived hypocrisy in the Dallas system. The Raiders didn't run on that sort of thing. Of couse, the Raider players of that time would have put a stop to any bs. Al Davis and John Madden were both very direct and real. Do what you want; just win.
I want to think that the Cowboys would have beaten Pittsburgh in 1978 with a backfield of Tony Dorsett and Duane Thomas. But Landry was too set in his ways to pair Dorsett and Herschel Walker in the same backfield. This would have required flexibility to step outside the strategic box he had used for decades. Why would it be impossible to have two Hall of Fame tailbacks on the field at the same time? I would think it would be a nightmare for defenses but maybe too many coaches lack the imagination to break out of the basic speedy halfback, powerful fullback framework. For all his greatness, Landry was very set in his ways, woe be to anyone who made suggestions to his way of doing things. Charlie Waters, as an assistant coach, made the mistake of politely suggesting some alteration to the flex defense, and got a hurt facial expression from Landry in response.
The best team in the glorious history of the franchise. The 1971 Cowboys are the most underrated great team in NFL history. Their 11-3 record belies the awesome dominance of their season, and its the reason they are not listed among history's finest. In 3 playoff games they gave up 18 points, TOTAL. 6.0 per game, that is 3rd in the Super Bowl era, behind only the 85 Bears 3.3 points per game, and the 2000 Ravens 5.8 per game. Those are probably the 2 greatest defenses of all time.
@@redpillfreedom6692 Landry was too ridge as a coach and his schemes were too complex. Lombardi said he knew Cowboys players would eventually make a mental mistake. Lombardi also give his players more flexibilty. -On the last play in 1966, Robinson was not suppose to go after Don Meredith. -On the last play ln 1967, it was Starr's idea to run a QB sneak. Landry was like UNC's Dean Smith in college basketball, too emotionally tied to his system. A famous joke is - Who is the only person to hold MJ under 20 points? Answer: Dean Smith.
An ironic note. The Cowboys first round win over the Vikings was over a team whose coach was juggling three quarterbacks through the season, and who made a questionable choice in starting Bob Lee for that game.
@@76vike19 Pretty much, much like Cuozzo. Lee was more mobile and athletic (that was the reason Grant said he started him), but, outside of that one season in Atlanta, his performance never seemed to come up to his tools
I had a favorite player on the Dallas Cowboys back in those days. Walt Garrison, not only a Dallas Cowboy, but an honest to goodness cowboy. Walt Garrison bulldogged steers in the off-season. He was a tough guy. I got my first horse when I was 4 years old. And many summers I spent at my Uncle and Aunt's quarter horse farm in Virginia. So, I identified with Walt Garrison quite a bit. Since the team I was supposed to root for was terrible that season, I secretly rooted for the Cowboys and hoped to see Walt Garrison on the field during the games I watched on my own on my little B&W tv in my room. So, I saw this team a lot. A whole lot. I'm a little annoyed not to have heard a single mention of Walt Garrison's name even once, so far, in this show, and that's a shame. Wait a minute, I just heard the great Miami Dolphin, Nick Buoniconti, talk about the great Cowboy running game, and he mentioned Walt Garrison. By the way, Requiescat in pace, Nick Buoniconti. He was supreme player. I imagine that Walt Garrison is still cool at age 78. I'm happy to hear he's still with us, though I'll bet he has aches and pains that even I haven't dreamed of. I hope not. Hey, I'll give Duane Thomas respect, he was talented as H3LL. But to disrespect Nick Buoniconti is uncalled for, completely. This film did feature two interesting players. Bob Lily was a great and definitely deserves to be the Hall of Fame. Duane Thomas was a great player too. So, I mean no disrespect to him at all. Aha, another mention of Walt Garrison by Roger Staubach, another player I have nothing but respect for. This was an intriguing film. I'd like to see another of this series.
This man Duane Thomas was before his time, and he fought against a basic sharecropping system. He was woke when it wasn't cool to be considered enlightened to bad ethics to be politically correct about it.🙄 And Roger Staubach is the best Quarterback in Dallas Cowboys history! End of story.
It's weird. The Colts talk about not being happy about winning Super Bowl V, and the Cowboys were also sad. Was ANYONE glad to have won that game? Moreover, for the Colts, they feel like they should have two rings and should have won Super Bowl III. Well, why should they have won? Because they were the "almighty" NFL? Could they not remember the old adage, "On any given Sunday, any team can win"? That's true for any code of Football: American, Canadian, Rugby, Soccer, Gaelic, Aussie. They're still bitter about Super Bowl III to this day. They lost. The better team beat them that day. Get over it.
I think the Packers destroying the Chiefs and Raiders in the first two super bowls had a lot to do with the "NFL is vastly superior to the AFL," notion as well. That 68 Colts team is often regarded as one of the best teams to have not won the Super Bowl, which they probably were.
The first time I watched this documentary the ending always depressed me cause Martin Sheen mentions how Roger Staubach and Bob Lily are hall of famers and 2 of the greatest players in NFL history, while Duane Thomas’ career ended really quickly.
Dwayne was a great player. For two seasons. He had this huge chip on his shoulder about something....most of the Cowboy players he would not even talk to. He resented being underpayed....but who wasn't on those great Cowboy teams? (Bob Lilly earned less than the local dog catcher.) For the most part Dwayne was a net negative for the team...due to all the negative press he gave to the national media. I personally believe Dwayne Thomas was still dealing with issues relating to his parent's getting killed in a car crash. And it made him bitter and withdrawn. He was a detriment to his own great talent and the team for which he played. A tragedy.
@jaygoldman1924, How was he really a detriment to the '71 team? Their poor first half of the season was attributed to the QB clusterf**k, not him. He brilliantly did everything he was paid to do, and the team took it all, going away. All the rest is just pretty insignificant noise.
@@mitchellmelkin4078True. Landry was a great coach but it could be said the Cowboys won in spite of him and not because of him. Landry definitely carried a stubborn belief and blind pride in 'The System.'
morton got the broncos to the super bowl against the cowboys what a special season for the broncos, to bad one had to lose. and for a fan the 70s was the best decade in football, more teams were better than todays, at least 12 teams had a chance to go to the super bowl. and compete
Not a Cowboys fan(even less now considering how they treated their players) and I didn’t know that much about Duane, but I have a lot of respect for him. Yes he was different but he stood on principles rather than loyalty which Bob and Roger seemed to operate on more He sorta reminds me of Marshawn Lynch
Funny you mention Marshawn Lynch... in fact he reminded me a little of Duane when he played. I was a die hard Cowboys fan back when I was what... 13 yrs old... Duane could have had the world if he had changed his tune when he was traded to the Chargers or even the Patriots. Instead, he listened to bad advice from people like Jim Brown... and as a result, threw away his football career. Standing on principals are all good and well if you know how to channel them. But if you don't, and let your ego get the best of you, well, you know the rest.
The Dolphins should have never been in that game. The Chiefs were a fantastic team and a matchup with the Cowboys would have produced a great game. Damn you Jan Stenerud!!!!!
In response to Staubach saying that they were going to beat the Vikings in Minnesota, they got a lot of help from the Vikings in the form of 5 turnovers. If I were able to go back in time and tell Bud Grant something, it would be to tell the guys to take care of the darn ball (especially you Bob Lee). Punting the ball and playing defense might well have done the trick. Assuming it did, and they got by the 49ers (big assumptions), it would have been fascinating to see a Miami-Minnesota Super Bowl two years earlier than it happened.
Agree. The 1970s Vikings teams that went to multiple Super Bowl were amazing on hand & snake bitten by their own strengths on the other. Bud Grant had them play without heaters on the sidelines. They became the one of the greatest cold weather teams in NFL history. It was a lot like the “Epic in Miami” where the 1981 Chargers who outlasted the Dolphins in a hot & humid Miami double overtime where players suffered from heat exhaustion in the 88 degree w/heat index. The Chargers next playoff game was dubbed “The Freezer Bowl” in Cincinnati against the Bengals. It was -50 to -59 degrees Fahrenheit w/windchill just one week later in Cincy. The 138 to 145 degree swing into which the Chargers traveled was probably more than any athlete could handle. Bud Grant & those 4 tough as nails cold weather teams were rewarded for winning theIr conference by having to travel to Super Bowls in New Orleans (2), Pasadena, Calif (1) & Houston, TX. Those 4 great Vikings teams only played one away game in the playoffs. It was the 1973 season NFC title game where they beat the Cowboys in Irving, Texas. Those poor Vikings lost every Super Bowl in which they appeared despite seeming so dominant in December, especially at home. But I’ve always respected those teams because like the 1981 Chargers they played had huge differences in temps. If any of those Super Bowls had been played in frigid cold outdoors they’d probably have won. I’d they’d won all 4 games they’d be know as the team of the 1970s & maybe one of the greatest ever. Finally, It can be argued that the AFC teams against whom they played (especially the old NFL teams that moved over to the AFC due to the merger) had an easier path to the Super Bowl & this were less beat up from brutal playoff games. Sorry this was so long. I got carried away remembering all those great teams. Lol 😂
@r.williamcomm7693 , That line of reasoning is all well and good, but Grant's teams were dominated in every match-up. He merited getting into the HOF given how he maintained an excellent team over his tenure, but generally speaking, he didn't exactly oversee a very innovative offensive system and was poor in even much trying to make in-game adjustments when the situation demanded it at the highest level of competition.
@@mitchellmelkin4078 Most of the time they were in fact fairly simplistic on offense. Even the first year that Tarkenton was back (1972) there was a strong hint of.....plodding. Starting in 1973, when Chuck Foreman arrived, they got quite a bit more creative with their passing game and overall offensive strategy. They kinda had to as the defensive side was starting to slide.
@WayneKeen , Yes, with Foreman, they were at the forefront of emphasizing the running back in the passing game, though not Bill Walsh type of innovation. As you say, though, the stalwarts on defense and the OL were aging out, and Grant still wasn't great at adjusting in-game. Would you agree that last point is a fair one?
@@mitchellmelkin4078 Grant was not a tactical X-O's coach, I have heard several of his players say that. His strength was identifying football smart players and getting them to play consistent, good football. The only game that leaps to mind where their level of play changed in game was the Washington game in 1975 where they came back from a hole to almost win. Whether Grant or someone else on the coaching staff drove that, I have no clue. So making a short story long, I agree that your point is valid.
At 38:10, the footage of Landry celebrating with Bob Hayes is probably from the 5-0 1970 playoff victory over Detroit, as the dark sky is clearly not the sunny view of Super Bowl VI.
BlueStar, you are sooo 100% CORRECT! People here don't seem to realize that! Everyone and their dear old grandmother understands that Duane had a right to gripe about the unfairness of his salary... but you don't buck the system... meaning, you don't blame everyone and anyone connected with the NFL. Other players on other teams were getting paid handsomely. If he had just accepted the trade to the Patriots or the Chargers or any other team, without any fanfare, he would have gotten rewarded for his play. Instead, he turned against everyone including his own teammates, which is wrong, let's face it. So yeah, in retrospect, his career is basically a tragedy... unfulfilled... what could have been.
@georgeanthony7282, Your comments have provided some interesting and contrasting thoughts. In this instance, I'm unsure how Thomas can be characterized as turning against his teammates, by essentially playing a huge role in their finally grabbing the brass ring. He expertly did everything he was called on to do, save communicating with his peers, which didn't lend itself to camaraderie being forged, but that didn't seem to be an impediment, once the QB situation was resolved, so.....
@@drbonesshow1 Yes he was tough as nails & ultra competitive but did it with so much class. Staubach stood out as a great man at a time when there was still plenty of other great men. Imagine what his NFL stats would look like if he’d played right after the 1964 draft. Instead he served his nation & then began with the Cowboys in 1969 but didn’t become the starter until 1971.
@@r.williamcomm7693, So, you're just assuming he would have displaced Meredith pretty quickly? Hell, if Morton wasn't able to do that, how would Staubach have pulled it off?
@@mitchellmelkin4078 No I’m saying that if Staubach was available to start playing in 1965 that he most likely would’ve been drafted by a different team & had more years to play. The Cowboys selected Staubach out of the Naval Academy in the 10th round of the 1964 draft (Dec 2) knowing that he had to do his service time & wouldn’t be able to play until at least 1969. But I agree with you that he wouldn’t have displaced Dandy Don Meredith & become starter in the mid to late 1960s.
Announcers and sportswriters back then often mentioned that Fran Tarkenton was barely 6-0" tall while Roger Stauback was around that same height but it was hardly ever mentioned. Terry Bradshaw of the Steelers was between 6'2" and 6'3" and looked huge next to them.
Just think: If the Dolphins win this Super Bowl, we have our first Threepeat. Just think, they win this and then the 74 Super Bowl (they MIGHT'VE been able to get past the Steelers?), we'd have the first team to win 4 Super Bowls. Good lord that 70's Dolphins Team could've been something amazing.
You know who should have Three-peated? The 2016-18 Patriots. Benching Malcolm Butler against Philly in Superbowl 52 cost them the game that came down to the final minute. At least the 71 Dolphins got beat fairly in Superbowl 6
Dallas lost three Super Bowls in that era by a measly total of 11 points. Then if things had worked a lot better between the two JJs? There is a lot of coulda, shoulda, woulda speculation a lot of teams and fans can ponder.
Duane Thomas could have enjoyed a long prosperous NFL career. Instead, he screwed around. There is ample evidence to suggest he was a highly talented running back.
Thomas wasn’t paid fairly. All the Cowboys had to do was pay him according to what top RBs made in the rest of the league & they would’ve won more Super Bowls. They hid pay from the public.
@@r.williamcomm7693 Thomas signed a three year contract in 1970 and the Cowboys paid him accordingly. If he turned out to be a bust in the NFL, could the team have refused to issue him a pay check? If he had kept his head screwed on, he would have been rewarded handsomely with his second contract. A truth that often gets lost with these players demanding renegotiated salaries.
@@sportshistorybuff319 I’m not sure if you understand how little some, actually most NFL players were paid back then. As late as the 1980s there were some NFL players making less than their relatives who were truck drivers. When they were drafted almost none of the had agents in 1970 & had no real way to negotiate. Thomas was saying that as a pro football player who was held out as someone special to the community that he should at least be paid a wage commensurate with the position & the work required to get there. The teams only honored all years of the contracts if they thought it was a good deal for them & the contracts allowed them to cut players who were injured or who didn’t play well. So YES, a 3 year contract wasn’t guaranteed for 3 years. They were adhesion contracts forced upon players who had almost no bargaining power, no union, no agents (for 99%). I don’t favor NFL players getting generational wealth without achievement in the NFL but after Thomas proved he was a starter & valuable to the team then he should’ve been permitted to renegotiate. There was no free agency either. “This compares to the median for all men workers of $8,517. Men sales workers earned a median of $9,454, and men in the craftsmen and kindred workers group had median earnings of $8,730.” Bob Lilly was making $27,500 per year.
If I averaged 5.3 yards a carry in 1971 I promise to god I would’ve been arrogant and a little racist too 😂 we as blacks didn’t get any respect for shit especially not in football back then. So y’all can stfu with that
I could watch this show over and over. Hearing Lilly and Duane tell stories is pure gold. And BTW, they had MR. PRIDE do the concert after the win. I’m so sorry he is gone. Only one Charley Pride.
Team owner Clint Murchison and GM Tex Schram should have been extremely ashamed of themselves for the way they underpaid the Cowboy players and lied to them and treated them with such galling and astounding disrespect. I hope that Tom Landry was not a part of all that bunch of BS.
I wonder if Duane Thomas would have found a happy home with the Raiders, given how Oakland was a welcoming home for individuals who marched to their own drum? I have doubts because whatever latitude Madden gave them, they were still expected to respect each other on and off the field, not putting their own issues/drama first. On the other hand, Duane got the job done on the field, as Staubach commented, always carrying out his assignment. Would that have been enough to keep him in good graces with Madden's crew? After all, the slogan in Oakland was "Just win Baby!" Can we picture Atkinson, Tatum, Thomas, Sistrunk, Villapiano, Upshaw, Hendricks and Shell tolerating a teammate who doesn't say hello off the field, or would that have come across as arrogant, entitled, narcissistic?
I was good untill I heard Knick Buoniconts name.. I always felt bad for the Dolphins For the life of me I cant understand why most of my family members were Dolphins fans .. God only knows they must of really hated me in the early mid 90s being a Cowboys fan .. I just wished they would of been a little smarter..
I met Bob Lily this year. He was all class and great person to meet.
That's great happy for you Bob Lilly is a good man
Great Dallas Cowboy’s Documentary.
Laundry's alternating QBs was insanity. can't believe a guy w/ the experience didn't know better. and omg, bob lily is cool.
I was a young teenager cowboy fan never felt more happy for anybody that much than for Bob Lilly Mel Renfro Leroy Jordan chuck.Howley Cornell Greene Jethro Puch and all the cowboys that suffered through those years of being so close to being a champion God bless all of you and you too Duane you definitely deserved it you were World Champion Dallad Cowboys
That Bob Lilly story about Dan Dierdorf is so funny - "That doesn't look like a fat boy to me - that looks like a real strong guy!" LOL!!
In his autobiography, Bob Hayes shared his perspective of Duane Thomas' implosion. "Duane wanted to be a bad counterculture hero like his mentor Jim Brown. But Brown was great first (9 seasons), then he was a bad boy. Duane wanted to be bad before he was great." Two special seasons doesn't scream greatness.
There was more substance to Jim Brown. Thomas was just a contrarian.
@@76vike19 Jim Brown was great because he played at a time when football players were generally smaller and slower. In fact, at 6'2" or 6'3", he was outrunning and bowling over players with average heights like 6' and under. So yeah, give him his props. He took advantage of what the circumstances were in his era. Same thing with Wilt Chamberlin. "Bullet Bob Hayes" was 100% correct about his assessment with Duane. If Thomas had bothered to realize that other football organizations don't treat players like Dallas did, he would have had a great career, and been rewarded handsomely for it. He gambled and lost everything. Later on he realized his mistakes and tried to resume his career... but a few years away from the game is a career killer. Daily News sports writer Dick Young said it best when he heard that Thomas was trying to get back into the game... "Duane Thomas is attempting to say hello when in fact he should be saying goodbye!"
@@georgeanthony7282 yeah - good take.
@@georgeanthony7282 You have zero actually numbers to back up what you said. Also, why weren't their more Jim Browns? Why was their only one? Same with you dumb comment about Wilt Chamberlin? Chamberlin played against more HOF centers than Shaq, Ewing, Robinson, Hakeem, etc. Also, why didn't other black NBA players set over 100 NBA records in the 50s/60s? Bet you feel pretty STUPID right now.
@@georgeanthony7282 Thomas ran for 400 yards over two seasons in Washington, a contribution, but nothing that would justify his demand for a salary increase from $60,000 to $165,000 for the 1975 season.
Bob Lilly - pure class. Tackles Griese for a 30 yard loss and stands up like it's just another day at the office. No dancing or gyrating like they do today. Duane Thomas . . . still has a Super Bowl ring.
He was smoking that big cigar after the win
No jive dancing.
I agree with nfl players most of the time have to point first down
You're totally correct about Lilly but I think his business like approach was also a reflection of losing five years in a row in the playoffs. Neither Lilly nor any other Cowboy was going to celebrate until the game was theirs, particularly after the previous SB's nightmare against the Colts.
Sure, Thomas has that ring... but did you know he was desperate for money and had in fact sold the ring once before? You probably didn't know that, did you, fella. Luckily for him he was able to get it back. This is a guy who should have had a longer career, but threw it all away because he blamed everyone and anyone for his salary dispute.
It’s good to get Duane Thomas’ perspective.
OMG, I'm 61 years old, but as a child, I was the biggest Dallas Cowboys fan around.
We're in the same boat I'm 66 and I was 9 years old when I became a Cowboy fan the year of the ICE BOWL
eagles fan here. my hatred for the cowboys is in my dna. Total respect for Bob Lilly. Dude is a fkn total badass
Robbie Nichols was the rookie who picked up Bob Lilly's helmet. I believed Mr. Lilly chucked that helmet almost 45 yards, and the contrition to regret his actions. Class on and off the field.
Duane came back to the Cowboys in 76 but just wasn't the same. Landry once said that if he would of had Duane against the Steelers he would of won SB 10 and 13.
Uh, he had Tony Dorsett in Super Bowl 13...
@@chrisshockey5845 uhh that's not Duane Thomas!!!
@@brucedavis3816 evidently
@@unnanointedonesufi yes!
wasn't dorsett shredding the steelers early and then they stopped calling his number?
I was maybe a 10 year old kid (I was born in 1961) in Dallas when the Cowboys won that SB. Wow! How good it felt at the time even to a kid like me. It gave the city of Dallas an attitude (an arrogant one) which lasted for decades.
I was born in 1961 too and cried like a baby when they lost to the Colts the year before. It was a very good feeling when they won against the Dolphins. My mom ordered me a Dallas Cowboys sweatshirt from the Sears catalogue. Something she later regretted seeing that I wore it almost everyday and would still be wearing it now had I not outgrown it.
People who mention we havent won a superbowl in a while
Their fave teams have less superbowls and a longer time without success
Its unjust
This is the greatest series of its type ever. I've watched the 1969 chiefs,1970 Baltimore Colts, and now this. I'm sure over time I have seen some others also, but making it my goal to binge watch every single episode of this series, including missing rings.
i watched them all heres my top
1- 76 raiders (it has madden in it, its always been my favorite now that he died youll like it even more.
2- 2002 bucs
3- 91 skins
4- 81 skins
5- 86 giants
6-07 giants
I’m more than halfway thru the top 20… great series!!
Good luck! But I have to say the recent ones (2015-present) doesn’t have the same vibes as the ones like this one.
@@KWCline91 Well thats because they're made in the summer right after winning. Its a great tradition but these older one's both have nostalgia and hindsight. The 1992 Cowboys and 1974 Steelers episodes talk about setting up dynasties and how that first one felt, 1986 Giants and 1988 49ers have all time players like LT and Rice talking about their careers. Obviously harder to do these days but I still love them.
Hey it’s been a couple years, what are your top 5?
I’m sooo glad that Bullett Bob got him a super bowl ring...
Yes. He was a great man.
If only they would've paid Duane Thomas what he wanted. There's no telling how much better we would've been. And that Dolphins team was no joke. Look at they're record from 1970 to 1975/76.....they were a heck of a franchise. So glad my Boys were able to get them in the '71 season - the Dolphins were 14-0 going into that Super Bowl.
This is such a great episode - Duane Thomas was ahead of his time in more ways than one - Martin Sheen is always great - good narration.
Duane and Jim McMahon would have been a great comedy team
"Ahead of his time"... how? By alienating his fellow teammates as a result of his salary dispute??
Dwayne was a BLM Woke activist in 1971. 😆. Ahead of his time in that respect...yes. Also he called out the owner of the Cowboys for being a scrooge and ripping people off. An ADMIRABLE thing but it caused him trouble. But he was definitely not understood by teammates or the Dallas Cowboy fan base in general. Regarding pay: EVERYBODY was underpaid...not just him. He basically did not get along....and really did not WANT to get along while he was there. He just wanted to be left alone. But he performed at a very high rate for 2 years ( 1970 and 1971 ...traded to San Diego in '72 at the start of the season).
@@JGldmn333, You described the situation and the greater reality of the organization, through the illumination his actions provided.
Yet, you also chose to characterize him with a lazy, meaningless, and tiresome tag (which has largely been trotted out by demagogues and anti-democratic partisans generally), that's become a default replacement for thoughtful consideration by far too many in our culture. Your choice, of course, but an unfortunate one, IMO.
Thomas was likely one of the smartest players on that squad, rarely out of position, brilliant superb runner.
A lot of QBs in their final years were shells of themselves, Starr, Namath, Unitas, Dawson. But Staubach looked like he could have kept playing beyond 1979
After the shot he took to the head from L.C. Greenwood, Roger was finished in 1979.
to many concussions for staubach
Of course he could have! He wanted to let Danny White have his shot. Very classy move. And to go out looking good. Which he did.
@leoncolwin8645 what a pile of horse doodoo! Staubach was still in great shape and easily could have played 3-4 more years. He just wanted to give Danny White his shot.
@@JGldmn333no he didn’t, he would have stayed if Tom laundry would have let Rodger call the plays.
RIP Phyllis George
If Bob Lilly wasn't such a nice guy, he could easily have walked into training camp and told everyone that he owned the NFL. Nobody would have argued with him. He played like superman. I was just telling a friend how every offensive play as a symmetry about it for the first couple of steps. Against Lilly, that symmetry is just gone. He is wrecking the play from the moment the ball moves. He either blows by the lineman, throws him into the backfield, or requires three guys to block him. In every onevof those instances the play is compromised. With his quickness, it's compromised instantly. Incredible football player.
No mention of Lance Alworth? I know he was old at this time but he finally won a ring.
yeah Bambi is one of the all-time greats for sure-people forget about his time with the Cowboys--he said that the 2 biggest catches of his career were in that 1st touchdown drive by Dallas capped off by his sideline TD catch...
Super Bowl 6
@@StellarFella thx.
@@quincee3376 - He was open more times in that game, but Staubach didn't pick him out AND Roger always had a late release. That first touchdown in Super Bowl 6 was by him. Roger threw it fast and hard for a change.
Lance without pants Alworth? Correction it wasn't Alworth. It was Lance Rentzel.
After so many fill ups at the Fina gas station with my mom driving her green Volkswagen bug we got a very nice set of Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl Champion 1971 drinking glasses. We still have them to this day.
We have a green Volkswagen bug 2. We went traveling in it with my mother best times I ever had.
Duane Thomas was a great player...... evidently!
Two years, bruh...
@@georgeanthony7282 Meaining he only played two years?...
@@AHMAD-2324 2 years only with Dallas he also played 2 years for Washington
The Duane Thomas / Jim Nance situation is hilarious 😂. Also, One of my favorite teams of all time 🏈⭐️🇺🇸
The Patriots coached that wanted Thomas on a three point stance in the I formation was a fool. It’s hard to read the defense and see the holes when you start low to the ground. Glad Thomas got his ring.
Yea Duane Thomas is a good man. I have a long comment that I put on a another thread but don’t want to paste it & bore ppl. Lol Suffice it to say that men like Thomas who understood the value of the NFL & it’s players were thinking far ahead of their time. Without men like Thomas there would be no NFLPA. I’d there more like him, then the NFLPA would have more money & benefits for the average NFL players who have no voice & very little of their minds & bodies left after sacrifice themselves to the shield to improve their families’ legacies. If anyone wants the full, darker version of the text let me know. It’s much longer. As a Steelers fan since the mid 1970s I have a lot of respect for the Cowboys players & Tom Landry. You guys were every bit as much the team of the decade as the Steelers.
Not a Cowboy fan, but this is very well done.
My sentiments exactly
They all are. Every Super Bowl Champion videos.
1966 through 1970. Post season losses to the Green Bay Packers, Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Colts.....all that heartbreak, frustration and disappointment. Finally that breakthrough season in 1971 with a Super Bowl 6 victory over the Miami Dolphins.after a drama filled and controversial first half of the regular season and a second half ten game winning streak including the Super Bowl. How sweet a victory and what an incredible relief it must have been for the 1971-72 Cowboys to FINALLY WIN THE BIG ONE. What most people don't know about the Dallas Cowboys is that from 1966 through 1985, that is 19 years and 20 seasons, the Dallas Cowboys had 20 consecutive winning seasons and only missed the playoffs twice. The Dallas Cowboys won 14 division championships, 5 NFC Championships and 2 Super Bowls. That is one extremely great achievement and a level of consistent excellence rarely ever reached by a pro football team. And the 1971-72 Cowboys had many players make it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Can you say Bob Lilly, Roger Staubach, Mel Renfro, Bob Hayes, Rayfield Wright, Chuck Howley and Cliff Harris ? And lets not forget sbout the huge contributions of ather Hall of Famers on that 1971-72 Cowboy team; former Chicago Bear and Philadelphia Eagle tight end Mike Ditka, former Green Bay Packer, defensive back Herb Adderly and former San Diego Charger wide receiver, Lance Alworth. And Tom Landry also made it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a Head Coach. In my humble opinion, Lee Roy Jordan should be in the PFHOF as well. And Charlie Waters should be in thete as well for what he accomplished later on in the 1970s with the Cowboys.
Duane Thomas seems like he’s fun at parties.
@danielmoore411, I think it's easy to make such a surface characterization, but the reality might be far different.
George Allen said he was the worst player he's ever coached. Allen was a players coach.
@@russellmilam5686, I guess Thomas found him to be the warm and fuzzy plastic man.
Was nice to see coach Landry, finally win it that year, after all those tough post season losses; too bad coach Lombardi wasn't around himself to have seen it.
Yes, they were good friends, Vince would have been happy for him, experiencing personally how it feels 5 times!
TOM LANDRY WHAT A MAN AN AMERICAN ICON
It's worth pointing out that when Thomas tried out for the Cowboys in 1976, he was assigned Hollywood Henderson as a roommate. Maybe Landry figured they could coexist as they were both rebels. They couldn't. Henderson, in his autobiography, said Thomas 's bizarre behavior included having suitcases filled with rotting fruit, and that when Hollywood tried to tidy up/throw it out, Thomas got aggressive/hostile. Henderson wasn't sorry to see Thomas get cut. Sage wisdom....just because two people march to their own anti-establishment drums, doesn't mean they will care for each other's music. Thomas reached adulthood in the counterculture era of the late 1960's, dabbling in angry black militancy, though without joining the Black Panthers. Henderson came of age in the mid-1970's, a time of disco and cocaine hedonism. Very different mindsets. Thomas was about social defiance, Henderson was into self-indulgence. Probably as alien to each other as either one was to the Cowboy corporate culture. Reminds me of Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison both being anti-establishment music icons, but loathed each other after meeting at a party, partially due to Morrison being too handsy/aggressive.
Great Post.
Thank You.
Bob Lily is awesome.
Interesting analysis. Even as a Cowboys fan, I knew very little about both men until recently. Both unique personalities in their own right.
Duane Thomas is the Man!
Duane Thomas:"We won!"
Tex was a slave driver. Its mind boggling how cheap the Cowboys were paying the players. Its almost criminal.
Ikr?! How the hell did he get away with that?
If that happened today, there will be serious issues with the cowboys vs the NFL with that kind of move.
@@traviscummings9178 a few reasons-no free agency--you had to hold out of camp if you wanted to be paid more; the only way you could switch teams was via a trade (see Dwaine Thomas), no social media or internet and little public knowledge of player contracts-some collusion between owners to keep player pay as low as possible; the owners had the hammer back then for sure-now it's almost the reverse...
Well one out of one ain't bad!!!
Mr Duane Thomas. I’m fascinated by his talent & how his thinking was way ahead of his time. He knew his worth & it wasn’t inflated nor ego driven. He understood finances & the value of the NFL teams. The only thing that worked against him was that other players still didn’t get it so Mr Thomas could be ostracized as an example. When the NFLPA & their head stooge installed by management meets, they should begin the meeting with acknowledgment that men like Duane Thomas eventually got into the NFL in sufficient numbers to lock arms & demand better pay.
The NFL owners were so fearful that a man who believed in a true labor union would open the books & demand a share of the rising values of NFL teams that they destroyed Jon Gruden through leaks to cause outrage & influence players without independent critical thinking skills to re-elect their chosen man on the inside who tells them they can all make QB money if they just play long enough to avoid debilitating injuries & brain disease. They did it by leaking the kind of emails that many men once sent privately before we realized that sending high quality pics of hot women was a waste of time & while sometimes acting like a sarcastic paranoid conservative was funny that it’s a better world when we don’t waste time worrying what consenting adults due behind closed doors. But corporations have learned that it’s so easy to avoid real scrutiny by destroying one employee. Getting the owners inside guy re-elected by meatheads was worth billions of dollars. Nations have gone to war for less as long as the right ppl got the benefit.
Since everyone is so interested in Demar Hamlin, let’s see what the union does for him or what the NFL does before the union can discuss it. He will lose his voice in media if he ever speaks against the shield. Maybe they’ll let him earn money on the lecture circuit so they can argue that he’s already been paid. I hope I’m wrong. But I’d rather see each player making over $2.5M with the current salary cap than one player making $50M. Notice that the final 4 teams in the conference championship had 3 QBs on rookie contracts. The NFLPA should change its name to “the Union for QBs & Elite Players.” Lol 😂
I had shed tears of joy running down my face after this win, as I had tears of devastation as a 13 years old the year before when they had lost to the Colts...As a fan of the team, I'd endured the Browns losses and the put downs, LOL....But These were tears of redemption and joy for the team I'd lived and died for...Laugh if you will, LOL...But I was SO proud of those Cowboys finally getting over the hump and being champions....For a fan my age, it was a sweet moment...
Super Bowl 6 between the Cowboys vs Dolphins had two head coaches who went to the NFL Hall of Fame.
Texas Stadium wasn't ready for the 1st 2 home games
Duane Thomas was really good in this video
He was freaking hilarious in this video
Duane Thomas is hilarious! I can't help thinking that he would have been a perfect fit for The Oakland Raiders of that era.
had a comeback with the cowboys in 1976...sad to say he didn't make it,could have been an all time great like the #33 they drafted in 1977...Tony Dorsett!!!
The Raiders would have paid him
I wonder how it would have gone over with the Raider players having a teammate who copped an arrogant attitude not saying hello. They certainly embraced all types of individuals but I don't recall them ever having someone that above it all.
I think he was reacting to the perceived hypocrisy in the Dallas system. The Raiders didn't run on that sort of thing. Of couse, the Raider players of that time would have put a stop to any bs. Al Davis and John Madden were both very direct and real. Do what you want; just win.
I want to think that the Cowboys would have beaten Pittsburgh in 1978 with a backfield of Tony Dorsett and Duane Thomas. But Landry was too set in his ways to pair Dorsett and Herschel Walker in the same backfield. This would have required flexibility to step outside the strategic box he had used for decades. Why would it be impossible to have two Hall of Fame tailbacks on the field at the same time? I would think it would be a nightmare for defenses but maybe too many coaches lack the imagination to break out of the basic speedy halfback, powerful fullback framework. For all his greatness, Landry was very set in his ways, woe be to anyone who made suggestions to his way of doing things. Charlie Waters, as an assistant coach, made the mistake of politely suggesting some alteration to the flex defense, and got a hurt facial expression from Landry in response.
In his later years, Landry held the Cowboys back.
No. Duane would have helped a lot in SB X against Pittsburgh, but not XIII. He would have been washed up by then.
Duane you were amazing. You ,haysWalt , we’re amazing with that running game.
Bob you were amazing leading the defense.
Roger amazing quarterback
The best team in the glorious history of the franchise.
The 1971 Cowboys are the most underrated great team in NFL history.
Their 11-3 record belies the awesome dominance of their season, and its the reason they are not listed among history's finest.
In 3 playoff games they gave up 18 points, TOTAL.
6.0 per game, that is 3rd in the Super Bowl era,
behind only the 85 Bears 3.3 points per game, and the 2000 Ravens 5.8 per game.
Those are probably the 2 greatest defenses of all time.
The episode clearly shows why Tom Laudrey only won 2 Super Bowls.
And why he couldn't beat the Packers in the 60s or Steelers in the 70s.
What reason was that?
@@redpillfreedom6692
Landry was too ridge as a coach and his schemes were too complex.
Lombardi said he knew Cowboys players would eventually make a mental mistake.
Lombardi also give his players more flexibilty.
-On the last play in 1966, Robinson was not suppose to go after Don Meredith.
-On the last play ln 1967, it was Starr's idea to run a QB sneak.
Landry was like UNC's Dean Smith in college basketball, too emotionally tied to his system.
A famous joke is - Who is the only person to hold MJ under 20 points? Answer: Dean Smith.
@@RK-um9tu, Well, putting aside the rationale you've laid out, he surely would've won a 3rd if not for the egregious call made by a gullible referee.
An ironic note. The Cowboys first round win over the Vikings was over a team whose coach was juggling three quarterbacks through the season, and who made a questionable choice in starting Bob Lee for that game.
Yeah but Quozzo wasn’t much of a better option. I’m not even sure who #3 was, maybe Norm Snead?
@@76vike19 Norm Snead was the other QB.
@@drwayne88 is it just me or did Norm Snead look like a 60 year old man when playing?
@@76vike19 Pretty much, much like Cuozzo. Lee was more mobile and athletic (that was the reason Grant said he started him), but, outside of that one season in Atlanta, his performance never seemed to come up to his tools
Happy Birthday Duane Thomas
I had a favorite player on the Dallas Cowboys back in those days. Walt Garrison, not only a Dallas Cowboy, but an honest to goodness cowboy. Walt Garrison bulldogged steers in the off-season. He was a tough guy.
I got my first horse when I was 4 years old. And many summers I spent at my Uncle and Aunt's quarter horse farm in Virginia. So, I identified with Walt Garrison quite a bit.
Since the team I was supposed to root for was terrible that season, I secretly rooted for the Cowboys and hoped to see Walt Garrison on the field during the games I watched on my own on my little B&W tv in my room.
So, I saw this team a lot. A whole lot.
I'm a little annoyed not to have heard a single mention of Walt Garrison's name even once, so far, in this show, and that's a shame.
Wait a minute, I just heard the great Miami Dolphin, Nick Buoniconti, talk about the great Cowboy running game, and he mentioned Walt Garrison. By the way, Requiescat in pace, Nick Buoniconti. He was supreme player.
I imagine that Walt Garrison is still cool at age 78. I'm happy to hear he's still with us, though I'll bet he has aches and pains that even I haven't dreamed of. I hope not.
Hey, I'll give Duane Thomas respect, he was talented as H3LL. But to disrespect Nick Buoniconti is uncalled for, completely.
This film did feature two interesting players. Bob Lily was a great and definitely deserves to be the Hall of Fame. Duane Thomas was a great player too. So, I mean no disrespect to him at all. Aha, another mention of Walt Garrison by Roger Staubach, another player I have nothing but respect for.
This was an intriguing film. I'd like to see another of this series.
@ciAMkia, Sadly, as you're almost certainly aware, Garrison died last October.
@@mitchellmelkin4078 True enough. His memory will remain though. He was quite a man.
This man Duane Thomas was before his time, and he fought against a basic sharecropping system. He was woke when it wasn't cool to be considered enlightened to bad ethics to be politically correct about it.🙄 And Roger Staubach is the best Quarterback in Dallas Cowboys history! End of story.
Next Year 's Champions became This Year's Champions
Starting in week 8 they were a runaway freight train
Tex made good on that 10th round draft choice in 1964
I'd think had Landry played Roger in SB 5 they win
It's weird. The Colts talk about not being happy about winning Super Bowl V, and the Cowboys were also sad. Was ANYONE glad to have won that game? Moreover, for the Colts, they feel like they should have two rings and should have won Super Bowl III. Well, why should they have won? Because they were the "almighty" NFL? Could they not remember the old adage, "On any given Sunday, any team can win"? That's true for any code of Football: American, Canadian, Rugby, Soccer, Gaelic, Aussie. They're still bitter about Super Bowl III to this day. They lost. The better team beat them that day. Get over it.
I think the Packers destroying the Chiefs and Raiders in the first two super bowls had a lot to do with the "NFL is vastly superior to the AFL," notion as well. That 68 Colts team is often regarded as one of the best teams to have not won the Super Bowl, which they probably were.
The first time I watched this documentary the ending always depressed me cause Martin Sheen mentions how Roger Staubach and Bob Lily are hall of famers and 2 of the greatest players in NFL history, while Duane Thomas’ career ended really quickly.
I love Duane Thomas.
Best America's game 71 boys
Dwayne was a great player. For two seasons. He had this huge chip on his shoulder about something....most of the Cowboy players he would not even talk to. He resented being underpayed....but who wasn't on those great Cowboy teams? (Bob Lilly earned less than the local dog catcher.) For the most part Dwayne was a net negative for the team...due to all the negative press he gave to the national media. I personally believe Dwayne Thomas was still dealing with issues relating to his parent's getting killed in a car crash. And it made him bitter and withdrawn. He was a detriment to his own great talent and the team for which he played. A tragedy.
@jaygoldman1924, How was he really a detriment to the '71 team? Their poor first half of the season was attributed to the QB clusterf**k, not him. He brilliantly did everything he was paid to do, and the team took it all, going away. All the rest is just pretty insignificant noise.
@@mitchellmelkin4078True. Landry was a great coach but it could be said the Cowboys won in spite of him and not because of him. Landry definitely carried a stubborn belief and blind pride in 'The System.'
Triste de ne pas pu vivre cette époque. Les cowboys étaient une grande équipe.
morton got the broncos to the super bowl against the cowboys what a special season for the broncos, to bad one had to lose. and for a fan the 70s was the best decade in football, more teams were better than todays, at least 12 teams had a chance to go to the super bowl. and compete
Not a Cowboys fan(even less now considering how they treated their players) and I didn’t know that much about Duane, but I have a lot of respect for him.
Yes he was different but he stood on principles rather than loyalty which Bob and Roger seemed to operate on more
He sorta reminds me of Marshawn Lynch
Funny you mention Marshawn Lynch... in fact he reminded me a little of Duane when he played. I was a die hard Cowboys fan back when I was what... 13 yrs old... Duane could have had the world if he had changed his tune when he was traded to the Chargers or even the Patriots. Instead, he listened to bad advice from people like Jim Brown... and as a result, threw away his football career. Standing on principals are all good and well if you know how to channel them. But if you don't, and let your ego get the best of you, well, you know the rest.
yeah and look what happen to Lynch?
True but Bob and Roger were still resentful of Tex's penny pinching ways
After all these years, I now know why we couldn't beat the steelers in those superbowls. Tom Landry
Be nice to feature the Mike Ditka speech he gave after the 4-3 start that Staubach mentioned about Ditka from the nfl top 100 players.
The Dolphins should have never been in that game. The Chiefs were a fantastic team and a matchup with the Cowboys would have produced a great game. Damn you Jan Stenerud!!!!!
Next years champs became America's team
"If we swap quarterbacks every play, the defense won't know what's going on." Too bad your offense won't know, either
I wish Tom Landry was alive to do this
Tex was great and he helped save Cowboys in 1988.
Duane Tomas is my kind of guy. Should have been a raider
I’m surprised Al Davis didn’t pick him up after SD let him go. Al was big on reclamation projects.
Duane Thomas would have been the MVP of that game he just got in his own way
My oldest brother was born during training came of that season (assuming they had it in early August back then).
In response to Staubach saying that they were going to beat the Vikings in Minnesota, they got a lot of help from the Vikings in the form of 5 turnovers. If I were able to go back in time and tell Bud Grant something, it would be to tell the guys to take care of the darn ball (especially you Bob Lee). Punting the ball and playing defense might well have done the trick. Assuming it did, and they got by the 49ers (big assumptions), it would have been fascinating to see a Miami-Minnesota Super Bowl two years earlier than it happened.
Agree. The 1970s Vikings teams that went to multiple Super Bowl were amazing on hand & snake bitten by their own strengths on the other.
Bud Grant had them play without heaters on the sidelines. They became the one of the greatest cold weather teams in NFL history.
It was a lot like the “Epic in Miami” where the 1981 Chargers who outlasted the Dolphins in a hot & humid Miami double overtime where players suffered from heat exhaustion in the 88 degree w/heat index. The Chargers next playoff game was dubbed “The Freezer Bowl” in Cincinnati against the Bengals. It was -50 to -59 degrees Fahrenheit w/windchill just one week later in Cincy. The 138 to 145 degree swing into which the Chargers traveled was probably more than any athlete could handle.
Bud Grant & those 4 tough as nails cold weather teams were rewarded for winning theIr conference by having to travel to Super Bowls in New Orleans (2), Pasadena, Calif (1) & Houston, TX. Those 4 great Vikings teams only played one away game in the playoffs. It was the 1973 season NFC title game where they beat the Cowboys in Irving, Texas.
Those poor Vikings lost every Super Bowl in which they appeared despite seeming so dominant in December, especially at home. But I’ve always respected those teams because like the 1981 Chargers they played had huge differences in temps. If any of those Super Bowls had been played in frigid cold outdoors they’d probably have won. I’d they’d won all 4 games they’d be know as the team of the 1970s & maybe one of the greatest ever. Finally, It can be argued that the AFC teams against whom they played (especially the old NFL teams that moved over to the AFC due to the merger) had an easier path to the Super Bowl & this were less beat up from brutal playoff games. Sorry this was so long. I got carried away remembering all those great teams. Lol 😂
@r.williamcomm7693 , That line of reasoning is all well and good, but Grant's teams were dominated in every match-up. He merited getting into the HOF given how he maintained an excellent team over his tenure, but generally speaking, he didn't exactly oversee a very innovative offensive system and was poor in even much trying to make in-game adjustments when the situation demanded it at the highest level of competition.
@@mitchellmelkin4078 Most of the time they were in fact fairly simplistic on offense. Even the first year that Tarkenton was back (1972) there was a strong hint of.....plodding. Starting in 1973, when Chuck Foreman arrived, they got quite a bit more creative with their passing game and overall offensive strategy. They kinda had to as the defensive side was starting to slide.
@WayneKeen , Yes, with Foreman, they were at the forefront of emphasizing the running back in the passing game, though not Bill Walsh type of innovation.
As you say, though, the stalwarts on defense and the OL were aging out, and Grant still wasn't great at adjusting in-game. Would you agree that last point is a fair one?
@@mitchellmelkin4078 Grant was not a tactical X-O's coach, I have heard several of his players say that. His strength was identifying football smart players and getting them to play consistent, good football. The only game that leaps to mind where their level of play changed in game was the Washington game in 1975 where they came back from a hole to almost win. Whether Grant or someone else on the coaching staff drove that, I have no clue. So making a short story long, I agree that your point is valid.
At 38:10, the footage of Landry celebrating with Bob Hayes is probably from the 5-0 1970 playoff victory over Detroit, as the dark sky is clearly not the sunny view of Super Bowl VI.
Duane Thomas was right, but handled the situation wrong. Oh, what could have been....
BlueStar, you are sooo 100% CORRECT! People here don't seem to realize that! Everyone and their dear old grandmother understands that Duane had a right to gripe about the unfairness of his salary... but you don't buck the system... meaning, you don't blame everyone and anyone connected with the NFL. Other players on other teams were getting paid handsomely. If he had just accepted the trade to the Patriots or the Chargers or any other team, without any fanfare, he would have gotten rewarded for his play. Instead, he turned against everyone including his own teammates, which is wrong, let's face it. So yeah, in retrospect, his career is basically a tragedy... unfulfilled... what could have been.
@georgeanthony7282, Your comments have provided some interesting and contrasting thoughts. In this instance, I'm unsure how Thomas can be characterized as turning against his teammates, by essentially playing a huge role in their finally grabbing the brass ring. He expertly did everything he was called on to do, save communicating with his peers, which didn't lend itself to camaraderie being forged, but that didn't seem to be an impediment, once the QB situation was resolved, so.....
Love the old baseball diamond on the St Louis Cardinals field at 22:12 & the clothesline tackle of Staubach was brutal at 23:21.
The Redskins once ripped off Staubach's helmet - still he held onto the ball.
@@drbonesshow1 Yes he was tough as nails & ultra competitive but did it with so much class. Staubach stood out as a great man at a time when there was still plenty of other great men. Imagine what his NFL stats would look like if he’d played right after the 1964 draft. Instead he served his nation & then began with the Cowboys in 1969 but didn’t become the starter until 1971.
@@r.williamcomm7693, So, you're just assuming he would have displaced Meredith pretty quickly? Hell, if Morton wasn't able to do that, how would Staubach have pulled it off?
@@mitchellmelkin4078 No I’m saying that if Staubach was available to start playing in 1965 that he most likely would’ve been drafted by a different team & had more years to play. The Cowboys selected Staubach out of the Naval Academy in the 10th round of the 1964 draft (Dec 2) knowing that he had to do his service time & wouldn’t be able to play until at least 1969. But I agree with you that he wouldn’t have displaced Dandy Don Meredith & become starter in the mid to late 1960s.
Announcers and sportswriters back then often mentioned that Fran Tarkenton was barely 6-0" tall while Roger Stauback was around that same height but it was hardly ever mentioned. Terry Bradshaw of the Steelers was between 6'2" and 6'3" and looked huge next to them.
When Griese was sacked for 29 yards they were going to win
How bout them Cowboys!
Bob Lilly trusted Tex.
Tex screwed him.
The frigging licks that Roger would take. Damn...it was bad. 23:22
The roll call..that's funny!
Staubach, Hayes, Alworth. What could go wrong?
Fans will say that Deacon Jones, or Eller, or Olsen were better than Bob Lilly, but I would never believe that!!!!
Dallas won 61 games from 1965-71 but they were still called losers
Look at the Cowboys the last 25 years. All those division titles and regular season wins, no rings
Just think: If the Dolphins win this Super Bowl, we have our first Threepeat. Just think, they win this and then the 74 Super Bowl (they MIGHT'VE been able to get past the Steelers?), we'd have the first team to win 4 Super Bowls. Good lord that 70's Dolphins Team could've been something amazing.
You know who should have Three-peated? The 2016-18 Patriots. Benching Malcolm Butler against Philly in Superbowl 52 cost them the game that came down to the final minute. At least the 71 Dolphins got beat fairly in Superbowl 6
Dallas lost three Super Bowls in that era by a measly total of 11 points. Then if things had worked a lot better between the two JJs? There is a lot of coulda, shoulda, woulda speculation a lot of teams and fans can ponder.
"Roger Starback"
I think that is just Sheen’s odd pronunciation. On Apocalypse Now it sounds like he says dorsier instead of dossier.
Duane Thomas could have enjoyed a long prosperous NFL career. Instead, he screwed around. There is ample evidence to suggest he was a highly talented running back.
No Tex screwed Duane...
Thomas wasn’t paid fairly. All the Cowboys had to do was pay him according to what top RBs made in the rest of the league & they would’ve won more Super Bowls. They hid pay from the public.
@@mikeyoungblood1642 I agree fully,
@@r.williamcomm7693 Thomas signed a three year contract in 1970 and the Cowboys paid him accordingly. If he turned out to be a bust in the NFL, could the team have refused to issue him a pay check? If he had kept his head screwed on, he would have been rewarded handsomely with his second contract. A truth that often gets lost with these players demanding renegotiated salaries.
@@sportshistorybuff319 I’m not sure if you understand how little some, actually most NFL players were paid back then. As late as the 1980s there were some NFL players making less than their relatives who were truck drivers. When they were drafted almost none of the had agents in 1970 & had no real way to negotiate. Thomas was saying that as a pro football player who was held out as someone special to the community that he should at least be paid a wage commensurate with the position & the work required to get there. The teams only honored all years of the contracts if they thought it was a good deal for them & the contracts allowed them to cut players who were injured or who didn’t play well. So YES, a 3 year contract wasn’t guaranteed for 3 years. They were adhesion contracts forced upon players who had almost no bargaining power, no union, no agents (for 99%).
I don’t favor NFL players getting generational wealth without achievement in the NFL but after Thomas proved he was a starter & valuable to the team then he should’ve been permitted to renegotiate. There was no free agency either.
“This compares to the median for all men workers of $8,517. Men sales workers earned a median of $9,454, and men in the craftsmen and kindred workers group had median earnings of $8,730.”
Bob Lilly was making $27,500 per year.
Sounds like they didn't pay the players
Duane is still bitter.
he's a racist
ARROGANT.
I'm not judging, God's MY JUDGE, but REALLY Duane. I never really even kow you played, ... Thank you all for the video.
If I averaged 5.3 yards a carry in 1971 I promise to god I would’ve been arrogant and a little racist too 😂 we as blacks didn’t get any respect for shit especially not in football back then. So y’all can stfu with that
@brfswigcham, Hard to know as the film is over 15 years old.
When Texas Stadium opened it was like a sauna
Try Levi’s stadium dude. It’s like a damn oven there. I miss candlestick. Idc if it’s cold or not
Duane Thomas is a different kinda guy
I could watch this show over and over. Hearing Lilly and Duane tell stories is pure gold. And BTW, they had MR. PRIDE do the concert after the win. I’m so sorry he is gone. Only one Charley Pride.
5:55 I'm not being cute but bloody hell how does a white boy run like that and scramble he's like a hybrid
Roger was very gracious, but should have even at interview said Landry was stupid. Lilly was in the same situation with Dallas.
Team owner Clint Murchison and GM Tex Schram should have been extremely ashamed of themselves for the way they underpaid the Cowboy players and lied to them and treated them with such galling and astounding disrespect. I hope that Tom Landry was not a part of all that bunch of BS.
Imagine that ,Roger Staubach wanted to be traded because of the QB situation
I wonder if Duane Thomas would have found a happy home with the Raiders, given how Oakland was a welcoming home for individuals who marched to their own drum? I have doubts because whatever latitude Madden gave them, they were still expected to respect each other on and off the field, not putting their own issues/drama first. On the other hand, Duane got the job done on the field, as Staubach commented, always carrying out his assignment. Would that have been enough to keep him in good graces with Madden's crew? After all, the slogan in Oakland was "Just win Baby!" Can we picture Atkinson, Tatum, Thomas, Sistrunk, Villapiano, Upshaw, Hendricks and Shell tolerating a teammate who doesn't say hello off the field, or would that have come across as arrogant, entitled, narcissistic?
24:48
What’s wrong with this picture?
image not from 1971..Robert Newhouse not on that team
@@davidcharles34 you got it buddy , Newhouse arrived in 72
Wow!!!!😊
At the time,I didn't Realize the fact that, I would Miss football in the 1970's😢....Thank You Very Much 😊😊
His name is "STAW-BAHK" not Starback!!
Thomas is right everybody else is wrong haha
I was good untill I heard Knick Buoniconts name.. I always felt bad for the Dolphins For the life of me I cant understand why most of my family members were Dolphins fans .. God only knows they must of really hated me in the early mid 90s being a Cowboys fan .. I just wished they would of been a little smarter..