The Cowboys Greatest Postseason Warriors

[Doomsday]

During that 5 year period Larry Brown led all Cowboy defenders in INT's with 18.

Umm, no. He only had a total of 14 interceptions his entire NFL career. You might have meant to type 8 instead?

And yes he was a huge liability in coverage, and would have been on the bench after we signed Deion, had Kevin Smith not wrecked his knee.

 

[Statman]

Umm, no. He only had a total of 14 interceptions his entire NFL career. You might have meant to type 8 instead?

And yes he was a huge liability in coverage, and would have been on the bench after we signed Deion, had Kevin Smith not wrecked his knee.

I included playoff INT's. Of course he would have been benched. Kevin Smith was a stud and it's a tragedy his career was shortened. But doesn't this make Brown's accomplishments even more relevant?

There's no argument here that he wasn't the most talented player but I would say he was one that did the most with what he had. I mean, look at some of the backups we've had over the past several seasons....Larry Brown wouldn't have been an upgrade?

How can a team have a "huge liability" in their leading interceptor while going to four consecutive NFC championship games and winning three Super Bowls? You can take all the times he was burned and those two Super Bowl game saving INT's more than make up for it. The Cowboys pretty much lost a Super Bowl because a Hall of Fame TE couldn't catch a simple pass, is this not true?

Anyway, not saying he was a stud, just that he showed up in the most important games. Our recent 1st round picks at CB over the past ten years probably got burned more often than Brown. No way to quantify that, of course.

 

[Doomsday]

I included playoff INT's.

You're still saying 18 ints? When his entire career, playoffs and all, is only 14?

Larry Brown, DB at NFL.com

I mean, look at some of the backups we've had over the past several seasons....Larry Brown wouldn't have been an upgrade?

In today's game where you can't even give the QB a dirty look much less hit him, and you can't rough up receivers without drawing a flag, Brown wouldn't even make the worst team in the league. He was a 12th round pick for a reason. There's only 7 rounds today.

Your main point that he came up big in big games isn't arguable. And you have him at #10 on your subjective list - I don't have a beef with that either. But like you finally said, he was no stud and if you don't remember him getting torched regularly that's okay too. I do remember it. He was definitely the weak link in the Dallas D of his era.

 

[Statman]

Umm, no. He only had a total of 14 interceptions his entire NFL career. You might have meant to type 8 instead?

And yes he was a huge liability in coverage, and would have been on the bench after we signed Deion, had Kevin Smith not wrecked his knee.

Larry Brown had 13 regular season It's including 4 in 1994 and 6 in 1995. He had 5 playoff it's for a total of 18 for the Cowboys.


Don't worry, I'm not smug. You'll get me next time.

 

[w8lifter]

Larry Brown is the ultimate Right Place Right Time guy.

I just tried to find the interview from 20 years ago (to no avail). I vaguely remember an interview from one of the other Cowboys players talking to the press after the game about Larry Brown preparing for that game.

This Cowboys player told the press Larry Brown sat up Saturday night and Super Bowl Sunday morning until ~ 4:00 AM watching game tapes of Neil O'Donnell. Another one of the Cowboys players came in the film room (or where ever it was) and saw Larry Brown watching the game tapes and the player asked Larry Brown what he was doing up so late before the game.

Brown told the player he wanted to know all O'Donnells tendencies. Later Brown stated how when he watched the game tapes he saw O'Donnell would have a certain look and then dump the ball off on short routes in that same area of the field in the tapes.

So it might also have been Larry Brown was in the right place at the right time because he was prepared very well right before the game.

 

[Statman]

An article that mentioned Larry Brown:

http://deadspin.com/5051649/excerpt-boys-will-be-boys-by-jeff-pearlman

"He was a really good guy with a great outlook on life," says Greg Briggs, a Cowboys defensive back. "He appreciated what he had going."

Brown's unyielding positivism was put to the test in August 1995, when his son, Kristopher, was born 10 weeks premature, weighing one pound, nine ounces. Immediately following his delivery, the baby was brought to the ICU and placed on a ventilator. With each passing hour, Larry and his wife Cheryl gained hope. Their 1 1/2-year-old daughter Kristen had been three months premature, and she turned out to be perfectly fine. "Then I was holding him one day and I noticed that the back of his head was kind of soft," says Cheryl. "They took him in to do an X-Ray and found that part of his brain had dissolved." Kristopher Brown was brain dead. "The hardest day was when we had to decide to take him off the respirator," says Brown. "We talked and prayed, but when you're not going to have a brain, there's no hope. I'm still in disbelief. Every day, I'm in disbelief."

Kristopher died on Thursday, November 16, the worst day in Larry and Cheryl's lives. Brown had been away from the team for several days, and Switzer insisted he not return for that Sunday's game against the Raiders in Oakland. "Take whatever you need," Switzer said. "Give yourself time to heal."

Despite his wife's objections, Brown decided the best way to recover would be to do what he loved most. On the day before the game Brown flew to Oakland on Jerry Jones' private jet. He was mentally drained and physically weak-and shocked by the reaction of his teammates. The Cowboys had decided to dedicate the rest of the season to Kristopher. Every helmet was adorned with a small KB sticker.

"The whole thing moved me to tears," he says. "Before the game I told myself, 'Play this for Kristopher,' and I did. My conditioning was so poor that they took me out to give me oxygen, but I felt like I was in the right place." Dallas won 34–21, momentarily lifting their cornerback's blighted spirits.

For the remainder of the regular season and into the playoffs, Brown was a mixed bag of emotions. He could focus on football, but thoughts of his son always crept in. There were good days and bad days, smiles and tears. Against Green Bay in the NFC title game, his fourth quarter interception of a Brett Favre pass sealed Dallas' trip to Tempe.

"Larry had a very, very hard season," says Darren Woodson. "He deserved something really great happening to him."

 

[Midswat]

I do remember the passing of his baby that season. Even remember them mentioning it during the Raiders game.

And that's how I know God is real. Sure, he'll let your infant son die but to show you his unconditional love he'll make you Super Bowl MVP to make up for it.

 

[Doomsday]

Larry Brown had 13 regular season It's including 4 in 1994 and 6 in 1995. He had 5 playoff it's for a total of 18 for the Cowboys.


Don't worry, I'm not smug. You'll get me next time.

Hey man, it's 14 career total. You're not arguing with me, you're arguing with official stats at NFL dot com.

And what you SAID was, "during that 5 year period Larry Brown led all Cowboy defenders in INT's with 18."

No, he did not.

EDIT: Okay, I stand corrected. Yes he did.

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/B/BrowLa22.htm

In the 1995 postseason he had 3 picks. To go with his 6 regular season picks. Add that to his 1991 and 1992 totals and it is 18 during that 5 year period.

His actual career total, regular season and postseason all-time is 19.

 

[Statman]

#6 Tony Tolbert

Considering the makeup of the defensive line in the 90's I think most would be surprised to learn that the regular season leader in sacks was Tony Tolbert....by a very large margin.

The same is also true for the postseason where he recorded 10 sacks. In the Super Bowl seasons of 92 and 95 he recorded at least one sack in each playoff game.

While it is true that Haley was being double and triple teamed, perennial playoff teams like the 49ers, Packers and Steelers rarely have weakness along their offensive lines. Tolbert was matched against the likes of 11th overall draft pick Rob Searcy, 8th overall pick Antone Davis and All Pro Barton Harris.

But his sacks don't tell the whole tale. Tolbert, taken in the 4th round of the Jimmy Johnson's first draft, was a complete player, a beast against the run. I realize that we are talking about the playoffs but I would be remiss if I didn't mention that from 1991 to 1995, he was the only defensive lineman to record at least 5 sacks and 50 tackles in a season.

Tony accomplished that all 5 years in a row. No other Defensive lineman (Ware and Spencer. 3-4 LB's) has accomplished this since.

 

[Statman]

#5 Harvey Martin/Randy White/Ed Jones

How good was the Doomsday II defensive line?

Since the beginning when sacks were first compiled, all three are in the top 8 all time postseason sacks with Martin the NFL all time leader with 17.5 sacks. You could take two of them and you would not find another duo in the NFL that accomplished what they did in the playoffs. The fact that there are three of them is absolutely phenomenal.

Four of the top 13 worst playoff game passer ratings were recorded by quarterbacks against this line, including the all time worst. That happened in Super Bowl 12 by former Cowboy and "NFL Comeback Player of the Year" Craig Morton in the first half before he was benched. His passer rating for that game was a whopping 0, as in zero, goose egg, nada!

This earned two of the Cowboy linemen, Martin and White, Co-MVP.

Pat Haden scored a 9.9 for his efforts in the 1978 NFC Championship game, Ron Jaworski a 12.3 in the 1981 NFC Championship game, and Doug Williams a 16.1 in a playoff game. Brutal.

In 19 playoff games from 1975 to 1982, the Cowboy defense averaged 3.5 takeaways. In 4 games they had 6 or more. This was in large part due to the pressure placed on opponent offenses by this defensive line. The three combined for 42 sacks, 5 fumble recoveries and two INT's during the playoffs.

In 12 of the 19 playoff games from 1975 to 1982 the Cowboy defense held their opponents to less than 300 yards. In those 19 games opponent quarterbacks completed a combined 46% of their passes for 23 TD's and 46 INT's.

 

[Doomsday]

Dude, you skipped #7.

Unless I missed something.... Checked twice... So far you have:

#10 Larry Brown
#9 Chuck Howley
#8 Alvin Harper
#7
#6 Tony Tolbert
#5 Harvey Martin/Randy White/Ed Jones

 

[bbgun]

cramming three guys into one spot is cheating. they are not interchangeable. one player for one spot, please.

 

[SixisBetter]

cramming three guys into one spot is cheating. they are not interchangeable. one player for one spot, please.

Statman may have to.With 4 spots left(5 with mystery spot 7)it's going to get crowded up in here.

 

[w8lifter]

I was only a teenager when I lived in Dallas in the late '70's, so I didnt keep up with all the stats. I gotta say, Im really enjoying this history lesson.

 

[bbgun]

looks like Larry needs dough

1995 Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl XXX Championship Ring Presented | Lot #80066 | Heritage Auctions

 

[UVAwahoos]

looks like Larry needs dough

1995 Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl XXX Championship Ring Presented | Lot #80066 | Heritage Auctions

This warms my loins. I met him once when I was young and he was a giant arrogant dbag. Completely full of himself and totally bought into the whole super bowl MVP hype. The only person crazy enough to think he had any skill was Al Davis. Nuff said.

 

[Statman]

Oops, #7 was Drew Pearson, I accidentally skipped him but will get back to him soon.

I can't lump them together? The Super Bowl did.....co- MVP?

Anyway......

I'm at work but will get #7 and #4 tonight.

 

[Irving Cowboy]

I'm guessing #4 is James Washington or Charles Haley.

 

[Doomsday]

I can't lump them together?

It's your list, you can do anything you want.

 

[Statman]

I'm guessing #4 is James Washington or Charles Haley.

Sorry, but I cannot select a member of the 49er Hall of Fame, someone that played more playoff games for the 49ers than the Cowboys, someone that chose Eddie DeBartolo to introduce his admission into the NFL Hall of Fame.

I understand that it was his business decision. This is my fan decision.

James Washington had some great plays for the Cowboys in the playoffs, just not enough to be included over Thomas Everett or Ray Horton. Also, four seasons as a Cowboy is just not enough.


#4 Troy Aikman

Troy Aikman actually gets criticized for not producing big numbers like the One Hit Wonders that count Pro Bowl appearances using both hands and Super Bowl rings with their middle leg.

He is also underestimated because, gosh, he played with the greatest RB ever.

Let me maker these points:

Troy Aikman didn't produce big numbers because he didn't have to for success in most cases. You succeed as a quarterback by helping your team win games and no NFL quarterback won more games in the 90's than Troy Aikman.

If Troy Aikman needed to pass for 300 yards in a game then that's what he would have done. In fact, that's what he did when he had to. Emmitt Smith didn't run for a hundred yards every playoff game, sometimes a team would dedicate their entire defensive gameplan to stopping him. Troy Aikman made them pay for their blunder.

There were 5 occasions in which Emmitt Smith failed to make 80 yards rushing in a playoff game. Three of the four 300 yard passing games by Troy Aikman in the playoffs occurred in one of these games.

Troy Aikman was John Wayne with a helmet. When things got tougher he played better. In the different playoff levels you would not expect A quarterback to consistently perform better when playing the best teams in the deepest part of the playoffs but that's exactly what troy Aikman did.

Troy Aikman's passer rating for his six divisional playoff games is 89.7. For his four conference championship games it is 100.3. For his three Super Bowl appearances it is 111.9.

Troy Aikman started 16 playoff games, the same number of games in a regular season. I mention this because the season in which troy Aikman passed for the highest number of yards is the postseason. The same is true for number of completions.The season in which he passed for the most TD's is a tie between the 92' season and the postseason.

Troy Aikman is one of only three quarterbacks in NFL history to start 3 or more Super Bowls and be undefeated.