Dallas vs. Dallas
This entry was posted on 2/22/2007 7:11 PM and is filed under Great Teams of the Decade.
It's not "Kramer vs. Kramer" or "Who Shot JR?," for that matter, but the Cowboys of the 70s and the Cowboys of the 90s could be consider rivals of a sort. Sure, the Triplets of the 90s boast 3 Super Bowl rings, but Roger the Dodger and the Doomsday Defense get the last laugh.
Many may be surprised to find that the Cowboys of the 70s actually rank third in the Complete Decade Ratings list (
www.teamsofthedecade.com), and deservedly so. Only the Steelers of the same decade and the 49ers of the 80s top these 'Boys. The Cowboys of the 90s rank fifth, just behind the 60s Packers. Taking a deeper look reveals why the 70s team is ranked higher than the 90s version.
The Cowboys of the 70s own perhaps the most impressive stat of all, maybe even more impressive than the five championships won by the aforementioned Packers. These Cowboys made it to the playoffs an amazing 9 out of the 10 years of the decade. No other team in NFL history can make that claim. And consider that this was before numerous wild card teams were created. In fact through out most of the decade, only one non-division winner was awarded a playoff berth. Hardly mattered to these Cowboys though - they only relied on the wild card on two occasions. On all other occasions, they won the division except for 1974; the only year in the decade they missed the playoffs.
Need more proof? The 70s team won more playoff games than the 90s team. They also had a fairly significantly better regular season winning percentage: .729 to .631. Not impressed yet? That .729 winning percentage is topped by only by four teams - none of which played after 1959.
While the Cowboys of the 90s own one more championship, the Cowboys of the 70s enjoyed a better decade overall.