The 1987 Season

Record: 7-8
2nd Place in NFC Eastern Division

Synopsis:

This season began on a poor note. The original owner of the Cowboys, Clint Murchinson, passed away. The Cowboys, now drafting lower in the order, had the chance to get those better players to help the team. Dallas selected Danny Noonan in the first round. However, later round picks Kelvin Martin and Kevin Gogan were the best picks of the draft. Dallas also picked up Jim Jeffcoat to help the defense.

The season was marred by another players strike after the second game. Instead of canceling games as before, "replacement" players were hired and the season continued a couple of weeks later. There were some players who didn't strike or backed down due to management threats. It was these regular players and their use by Tom Landry that began a rivalry against a coach more than a team. Dallas started these regular players in the second half of the Eagles game. Dallas was already comfortably ahead and Eagle head coach Buddy Ryan was irate, and revenge was only a couple of weeks away. The strike was over after a couple of games and before the next Eagles game. Philadelphia was ahead 30-20 with only a few seconds to play. But instead of kneeling on the ball to run out the clock, Ryan called for a bomb which resulted in a pass inference call and the Eagles promptly scored on the next play. It would be as close as Buddy Ryan would ever come to actually winning a playoff game. Dallas struggled to a 7-8 record and didn't make the playoffs for the second year in a row. The offense scored a total of 340 points, but the defense allowed 348.

Notables:

• Original owner Clint Murchinson, Jr dies on March 30
• Player's Strike cut out one game from schedule
• Roger Ruzek kicks NFL record 4 FGs in one quarter vs NY Giants on November 2

see 1987 NFL Standings