The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team is headquartered in Frisco, Texas, and has played its home games at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, since its opening in 2009. The stadium took its current name prior to the 2013 season. In January 2020, Mike McCarthy was hired as head coach of the Cowboys. He is the ninth in the team’s history. McCarthy follows Jason Garrett, who coached the team from 2010 to 2019.
Super Bowl V was an American football game played between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Baltimore Colts and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Dallas Cowboys to determine the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1970 season. It was the fifth edition of the Super Bowl and the first modern-era NFL championship game. The Colts defeated the Cowboys by the score of 16–13 on a field goal with 5 seconds left in the game. The game was played on January 17, 1971, at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, the first Super Bowl game played on artificial turf, on first-generation Poly-Turf.
Super Bowl XII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Dallas Cowboys and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1977 season. The Cowboys defeated the Broncos 27–10 to win their second Super Bowl. The game was played on January 15, 1978, at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans. This was the first Super Bowl in a domed stadium, and the first time that the game was played in prime time in the Eastern United States.
Super Bowl XIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Dallas Cowboys to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1978 season. The Steelers defeated the Cowboys by the score of 35–31. The game was played on January 21, 1979, at the Miami Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, the fifth and last time that the Super Bowl was played in that stadium.
Randall Lee White nicknamed "the Manster", is an American former professional football player who was a defensive tackle for the Dallas Cowboys in the National Football League (NFL) from 1975 to 1988. He played college football for the Maryland Terrapins from 1972 to 1974. He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame (1994), the Pro Football Hall of Fame (1994) and the Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame.
Thomas Wade Landry was an American professional football coach, player, and World War II veteran. Regarded as one of the greatest head coaches of all time, he was the first head coach of the Dallas Cowboys in the National Football League (NFL), a position he held for 29 seasons. During his coaching career, he created many new formations and methods, such as the now default defense the 4–3 defense that is used by a majority of teams in the NFL, and the "flex defense" system made famous by the "Doomsday Defense" squads he built during his tenure with the Cowboys. His 29 consecutive years from 1960 to 1988 as the coach of one team is an NFL record, along with his 20 consecutive winning seasons, which is considered to be his most impressive professional accomplishment.
Robert Lewis Lilly, nicknamed "Mr. Cowboy", is an American former professional football player who was a defensive tackle for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons. He played college football for the TCU Horned Frogs. Lilly was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1980 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1981.
James William Johnson is an American sports analyst and former football coach. Johnson served as a head football coach on the collegiate level from 1979 to 1988 and in the National Football League (NFL) for nine seasons. He is the first head football coach to win both a college football national championship and a Super Bowl, achieving the former with Miami and the latter with the Dallas Cowboys.
Charles Louis Howley is an American former football linebacker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, primarily with the Dallas Cowboys. He spent his first two seasons with the Chicago Bears, who selected him seventh overall in the 1958 NFL Draft, and played the remainder of his career for the Cowboys. Recognized as an original member of the Doomsday Defense, Howley received six Pro Bowl and five first-team All-Pro selections, while appearing in two consecutive Super Bowls and winning Super Bowl VI. Howley was also named the MVP of Super Bowl V and is the only player on a losing team to receive the award. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2023.
Lee Roy Jordan is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). After playing college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide under head coach Paul "Bear" Bryant, he played 14 years in the NFL for the Cowboys from 1963 to 1976. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983.
Charles Lewis Haley is an American former professional football player who played in the National Football League (NFL) for the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys (1992–1996).
Harvey Banks Martin was an American professional football player who was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys from 1973 until 1983. He starred at South Oak Cliff High School and East Texas State University, before becoming an All-Pro with the Cowboys.
Randy Charles Gradishar is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker in the 1970s and 1980s for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). A native of Ohio, Gradishar was a one-time consensus and one-time unanimous All-America for the Ohio State Buckeyes, before playing ten seasons for Denver, where he was the centerpiece of their "Orange Crush Defense".
Ernest Alfred Stautner was a German-American professional football player and coach. He played as a defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He also served as a coach for the Steelers, Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at Boston College. Stautner was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1969.
Larry Rayfield Wright was an American professional football player who was an offensive tackle for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, having been inducted in 2006.
Clifford Allen Harris is an American former professional football player who was a safety for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL) for ten seasons. A Pro Football Hall of Famer, he appeared in five Super Bowls and was selected to six consecutive Pro Bowls. Harris retired from football at 31 to focus on his work within the oil business.
David Monroe Edwards was an American football linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at Auburn University.
Dwight Douglas Lewis is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at Mississippi State University and was drafted in the sixth round of the 1968 NFL Draft. Lewis was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2001.
The Dirty Dozen were the rookies that made the Dallas Cowboys team in 1975. These players were credited with helping the Cowboys advance to Super Bowl X and were a key foundation of the team's success during the latter half of the 1970s going into the early 1980s, as by 1979 many of these players would have replaced many of the Cowboys' aging starters of the 1960s. The rookies came up with the nickname inspired by the film of the same name, and spent half of the season without shaving.
The Cowboys–Steelers rivalry is a rivalry in the NFL. The Cowboys currently lead the all-time series 17–16. The two teams met in the Super Bowl three times, the most of any two teams. As the Cowboys are in the NFC and the Steelers are in the AFC, they usually only meet once every four regular seasons and occasionally in the preseason. CBS Sports ranked this rivalry No. 2 of the best NFL rivalries of the 1970s.
