Super Bowl XXX: COLTS vs Cowboys?

[ShinobiMusashi]

Also love the post above pointing out the coaching transition the 94-95 Cowboys went through. I've always found the 95 Cowboys squad to be pretty underrated, to me I felt like they played the toughest schedule out of the 3 Super Bowl teams, plus had a prime Larry Allen and Deion 2 big elements there that the 92-93 team was missing. I do feel like with Jimmy Johnson never leaving 1 of these 2 things for sure happens; they either win 3 in a row with another ring in 94, or this 95 team is like one of the all time great super-teams with a 15-1 or 14-2 caliber season and dominant playoff run(like '85 Bears or 89 49ers level blowouts). One of those two happens if Johnson never leaves Dallas.

[Ten Minute Ticker]

Lived in Indy at time. If the Colts had made the Super Bowl they would have been beaten handily. Solid team, but nothing like a great team. Would’ve ranked as one of the worst Super Bowl ever.

[7DnBrnc53]

Lived in Indy at time. If the Colts had made the Super Bowl they would have been beaten handily. Solid team, but nothing like a great team. Would’ve ranked as one of the worst Super Bowl ever.

That only would have happened if you assume that Dallas was that much better.

Honestly, I don't think those 90's Dallas teams were nearly as good as people think.

And, the Colts would have gone into that game with a devil may care attitude (which the Steelers never really had under Cowher).

[conace21]

The next year, we got a taste of what could have happened when the Colts beat Dallas in Texas Stadium. I think the Colts had a better chance of winning than some think. They wouldn't have come out as uptight as the Steelers did. I don't see Harbaugh throwing the INT's to Larry Brown that O'Donnell threw.

I remember that game, but I don't think you can use that as an indication of how a Super Bowl would play off. On offense, Jay Novacek had retired, and Michael Irvin was suspended. On defense, Russell Maryland, Larry Brown, Dixon Edwards, and Robert Jones had all left as free agents, and Charles Haley was greatly hobbled with a back injury (he played 5 games in 1996, and recorded 1 sack.) Also, Emmitt Smith, for whatever reason, slipped. He would never again be named 1st or 2nd Team All Pro after the 1995 season.

[74_75_78_79_]

The more I think of this, I really think more and more that the Colts actually pull this off! Yes, Steelers deserved and earned their trip to Tempe in Jan '96 if, however, real close it was! But just like the Steelers would have given San Fran quite the better game a year earlier in my and I'm sure most opinions, this '95 Indy team, I'm thinking, gives it to Big D even more so and are all-but a 50% chance at victory, now, with me!

'92/'93 Cowboys? Okay, a different story! Same with '94, I'd imagine.

But '95 Big D, though having strong very credible moments throughout, cracks have been showing and it really came into fruition sometime that 2nd Q in Tempe. Their D still was on-fire throughout, but that's just one side of the ball! Marchibroda simply had that demeanor to get it done on that very day against a just-about-to-falter Dallas team. If the Steelers aren't so uptight early on IRL, who knows?? I think, most-likely, that the Colts don't get uptight, but simply un-nervously pull all stops! WAS Harbuagh a better QB than Neil? I feel sure-enough that he doesn't throw those two vital INTs!

End-of-day, I actually think it would have been a better and more-suspenseful game than the actual one which, yes, Steelers still had quite a chance as well!

PS - you DEFINITELY take the COLTS and the POINTS! Heck, they may win OUTRIGHT!

[7DnBrnc53]

I remember that game, but I don't think you can use that as an indication of how a Super Bowl would play off. On offense, Jay Novacek had retired, and Michael Irvin was suspended. On defense, Russell Maryland, Larry Brown, Dixon Edwards, and Robert Jones had all left as free agents, and Charles Haley was greatly hobbled with a back injury (he played 5 games in 1996, and recorded 1 sack.) Also, Emmitt Smith, for whatever reason, slipped. He would never again be named 1st or 2nd Team All Pro after the 1995 season.

I think that Emmitt got hurt in Week 1 against the Bears.

Also, while Haley and Novacek were huge losses, Maryland, Brown, Edwards and Robert Jones weren't any great shakes.

[conace21]

I remember that game, but I don't think you can use that as an indication of how a Super Bowl would play off. On offense, Jay Novacek had retired, and Michael Irvin was suspended. On defense, Russell Maryland, Larry Brown, Dixon Edwards, and Robert Jones had all left as free agents, and Charles Haley was greatly hobbled with a back injury (he played 5 games in 1996, and recorded 1 sack.) Also, Emmitt Smith, for whatever reason, slipped. He would never again be named 1st or 2nd Team All Pro after the 1995 season.

I think that Emmitt got hurt in Week 1 against the Bears.

Also, while Haley and Novacek were huge losses, Maryland, Brown, Edwards and Robert Jones weren't any great shakes.

Regarding Emmitt's injury:
-It didn't affect him for the rest of his career.

-It came on Dallas' last offensive play of the game. He rushed 18 times for 70 yards in that game. Not bad, but hardly on par with his 1995 campaign.

Those four defenders I named were all key members of the Cowboys rotation. Not stars, but they fit the defense well, and allowed the team to substitute in wave after wave of defenders, to stay fresh and keep playing fast. That's one of the things that eventually undid the Cowboys. Other teams kept making lucrative free agent offers to players who weren't worth the money. Dallas was right not to try and pay big dollar for those players (also James Washington, Thomas Everett, Vinson Smith, Darren Smith.) Problem is that after Jimmy left, the Cowboys didn't consistently draft well enough to fill the holes left behind by free agent defections.

[7DnBrnc53]

Problem is that after Jimmy left, the Cowboys didn't consistently draft well enough to fill the holes left behind by free agent defections.

Exactly. They drafted people like Shante Carver, Sherman Williams, and Kendall Watkins in the first two rounds while passing on Derrick Brooks, Ken Dilger, and WR Chris Sanders.

[Ten Minute Ticker]

A lot of wishful thinking in this thread.

By score differential, the Colts were barely above .500 in expected win total. Their 9-7 out-performs their expected record.

Harbaugh was a solid game manager, but nothing more. Marshall Faulk was good, but not spectacular at the time. Defense was decent, but not elite.

They surprised an equally good, but just OK Chargers team in the first round. They then needed a Lin Elliott meltdown to slip past the Chiefs. The Steelers? Decent, but hardly a juggernaut. (Expected record 10-6.)

AFC was really weak at the time. Ripe for a team like the Colts to get hot (as the Jags did a year later), but not a reflection of quality.

Cowboys were plus-144 in score differential and had championship pedigree. They ranked top five in offense and defense.

And to those who think Colts mo would have mattered? The Cowboys also put down my Packers, who were rolling on momentum much as the Colts were (Packers were 5-4, only to win eight of nine games entering the NFC Championship Game) only with a much-better team than Indy had.

Cowboys beat the Colts comfortably in that hypothetical Super Bowl. Very likely would have been a 49ers-Chargers style blowout.

[CSKreager]

The wildest thing about 95 IND is that in a season with a handful of QB’s having monster passing seasons (Mitchell, Kramer, Moon, Favre, Blake, Elway, George), it was Jim Harbaugh that won the passer rating title