Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

It can be a regular season game or post-season but the latter between these two teams, of course, has quite the history. Eight times from ’73 through ’85 they met in the playoffs. Both are even at 4-apiece. Winner not only gets the lead, but it’ll be the first time that either of these two make it to a CC since 2001.

Instead of picking from the obvious field (’70s/early-’80s), I’ll begin with this 1969 match...(Landry vs Allen, Morton vs Gabriel)...

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/ ... 230ram.htm

Pre-game-hype-wise, this game was ’90 NYG/SF-like in that Rams entered the game at 9-0, Dallas at 8-1. Sure enough, Dallas would have appreciated the two-point-conversion being in-effect.

THe Rams were actually one of the teams that beat the '92 Cowboys during the regular season. Norv Turner came from the Rams so I think they were a little more familiar with that style of offense than most teams were at that point.

Other games. The '85 wildcard round won 20-0 by the Rams in which Dickerson ran all over the Cowboys. Many will probably point to this as the end of the competitive era of the Landry reign (though I think it was Danny White's injury in '86 against the Giants as the Cowboys were 6-2 at that point and probably would have been a playoff team in '86 had he not broke his hand).

'83 playoff game probably ended any thought that the Cowboys were still a regular super bowl contender.

'80 playoff game dominated by Dallas let people know that they were still going to be legitimate even though Staubach was gone.

'79 playoff game. Staubach's final game.

'78 nfc championship game won 28-0 by Dallas

'75 wildcard round won by Dallas.

These teams played quite a few regular season games during the '70's as well and I think the Rams faired better there against Dallas than they did in the playoffs. The '70's Cowboys often seemed to be teams that didn't get off to strong starts.

When you go back through the eras it is surprising how much playoff history there was between these two teams in the '70's through mid '80's.

Lastcat3, that is a great run down of a great series of games between these two teams. I will add the 1973 Divisional Playoff game in Texas Stadium where Staubach was under siege by the Rams defensive line most of the second half, then hit rookie Drew Pearson on a clutch third down throw, and the Ram victory in 1976 at Texas Stadium in a tough defensive game.

I think the best Cowboys Rams game may have been the 1973 regular season shootout at the LA Coliseum, that the Rams won 37-31. Harold Jackson had a career game, catching seven passes for 238 yards and four TD's. The TD passes were for 63, 16, 67 and 36 yards, and all came in the first half.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/ ... 140ram.htm

I predicted the Rams would beat the Cowboys in 1992 by a score of 27-24. I ended up off by one point and all the high school kids who laughed at the pick on Friday had to say they were amazed on Monday.

75 wildcard round won by Dallas.

championship round, actually

JWL wrote:I predicted the Rams would beat the Cowboys in 1992 by a score of 27-24. I ended up off by one point and all the high school kids who laughed at the pick on Friday had to say they were amazed on Monday.

It was surprising as the Cowboys went into that game 8-1 and had just beaten the Lions the week before 37-3 and the Rams were struggling that year. They actually slumped a bit for the next three or four games before catching fire in the last couple weeks of the season going into the playoffs. Offense only scored 16 against the Cardinals and were only leading 9-3 at halftime against the Giants.

One of my favorites was the 1971 Thanksgiving Day game in Dallas where the Cowboys beat Roman Gabriel and the Rams 28-21 in a really good back-and-forth game that featured an Ike Thomas 89-yard KO return for a TD to start the game. Another was 2 years earlier at the Coliseum where the Rams were undefeated at 9-0 and Dallas was 8-1. On the 1969 Rams highlight film they show all the Hollywood celebrities that came out for the game like Kirk Douglas, etc. The Rams held on 24-23 to remain undefeated (the Vikings would snap their streak 2 weeks later) but it was a great game by Gabriel in his MVP season.

Third game of their 11-1-2 campaign in '67, Rams slammed NFLCG-participant-to-be Dallas at the Cotton Bowl, 35-13. Gabriel vs Meredith. Game was close enough at the end of the 3rd Q, 21-13 (Dallas missed a PAT in the 1st Q following a Dan Reeves TD), before LA pulled away.

JWL wrote:I predicted the Rams would beat the Cowboys in 1992 by a score of 27-24. I ended up off by one point and all the high school kids who laughed at the pick on Friday had to say they were amazed on Monday.

Good prediction! I do remember that '92 upset, but without looking their series history up can I recall a single game between them since (other than today, of course). Back to '92, Knox was back at helm, and they weren't bad record-wise (4-6) after that win. But losing convincers the next two weeks, each at home, to SF and then Minn took air out of any hope of a rally.

Lol, I have never seen the '92 Cowboys/Rams game a second time but the image I do have of it is the Cowboys players just shaking their heads while the game was going on like they were in disbelief that this team was able to compete with them.