Yes, it’s early spring, but I’m already thinking football. The NFL draft is just around the corner, and fans nationwide pulse with excitement over a more promising future…unless you’re a Raiders fan, of course.
I’m not much for top-whatever lists most of the time, but recently a friend asked me for some of my all-time Dallas Cowboys plays. Memories flooded forth in a dam-burst of spectacular runs, passes, returns and sacks, too numerous to count; after all, this is the Dallas Cowboys, winners of 5 Super Bowls, participants in 8, and no stranger to legendary players and moments.
The hard part isn’t selecting them, but ranking! It’s all subjective anyway, so who cares whether any given play is #7 or #4? Here are my top 20:
1. Hail Mary! The one, the original, the legend-maker:
1:46 at this video
2. Staubach to Tony Hill, last-minute TD caps off miracle rally to beat Redskins 35-31 in 1979:
2:18 at this video
3. Bob Lilly’s wild, serpentine, NFL-record 29-yard sack of Bob Griese in Super Bowl 6. If anybody has a link to video of this, please send it along!
4. Tony Dorsett’s NFL-record 99-yard TD run with 10 men on the field:
this video
5. Tony Romo somehow runs back a high snap 40 yards to gain first down on a 3rd-and-4.
this video
6. Aikman-to-Harper slant pattern seals the deal to send Dallas back to its first Super Bowl since the ’70s.
this video
7. Jason Witten gets his helmet knocked off against Philly, keeps on going:
this video
8. Butch Johnson’s diving TD catch of a 45-yard bomb from Roger Staubach on a post pattern, Super Bowl 12 (yes, it counted!):
0:37 in this video
9. Emmitt Smith “Great Escape” against the Falcons
2:06 in this video
10. Emmitt Smith sets NFL all-time rushing record:
this video
11. Tony Romo’s “Houdini Play” touchdown pass against Atlanta:
this video
12. Deion Sanders weaves through everybody to return a punt for a TD vs Giants:
4:46 in this video
13. Tony Hill’s one-handed TD catch on 3rd-and-10, in a comeback from 23-3 down to beat the Redskins in 1983:
1:58 in this video
14. Aikman to Rocket Ismael, 76-yard TD bomb to beat the Redskins in OT:
this video
15. Marion Barber’s “Great Escape” run against New England:
1:08 at this video
16. Aikman-to-Harper playoff-record 94-yard TD (thrown from deep in the end zone):
this video
17. Michael Irvin’s leaping, dodging TD catch against Buffalo, Super Bowl 27:
this video
18. Irvin’s “Escape the Headhunter” catch-n-run for a TD against Arizona:
this video
19. Miles Austin’s catch-n-run to beat KC in OT:
this video
20. Demarcus Ware introduces himself to the NFL by intercepting Michael Vick for a TD the other way:
this video
The links work for now, but might fail in the future, since not all of these are, ahem…officially sanctioned NFL online videos. If you find a better copy of any, please let me know. Also, be advised that going to any of those links will expose you to other Cowboys highlights videos, and potentially, an hours-long feeding frenzy of Cowboys footage!
Enjoy…