For 14 weeks of the 1983 season, the Cowboys looked as if they could contend for the NFC title. The Cowboys started at 12-2 leading to a winner-take-all game against the Washington Redskins. We will get to that game a little bit later.
After the Cowboys opened the season with a 31-30 win over the Redskins, Dallas tore through its next six opponents. The Cowboys narrowly lost to the Raiders and Chargers, but Dallas’ high-scoring offense looked like it could compete against anyone.
Week 2: Dallas 34, St. Louis 17
Dallas erased an early 10-0 deficit and defeated St. Louis 34-17 in week 2. Ron Springs rushed for two touchdowns in the win.
Week 3: Dallas 28, N.Y. Giants 13
Two touchdown passes from Danny White to Doug Cosbie gave Dallas a first-half advantage, and defensive touchdowns by Michael Downs and Dexter Clinkscale secured the win for the Cowboys.
Week 4: Dallas 21, New Orleans 20
In one of the most bizarre wins in franchise history, the Cowboys trailed New Orleans 20-13 in the fourth quarter. The Saints lined up for a field goal, but Dallas blocked the kick, and Ron Fellows returned the ball 62 yards for a touchdown. Rafael Septien missed his first field goal attempt in three years, though, meaning that Dallas trailed 20-19.
With just over two minutes remaining, Danny White threw an interception in the end zone, but New Orleans defender Dennis Winston tried to run the ball out and only got to the New Orleans 5. On a second down pass play, Anthony Dickerson sacked Saint quarterback Ken Stabler for a safety, giving Dallas a 21-20 win.
Week 5: Dallas 37, Minnesota 24
The Cowboys overcame a 24-13 halftime deficit to beat the Vikings in the Metrodome. Tony Dorsett led the Cowboys with 141 rushing yards on 26 attempts.
Week 6: Dallas 27, Tampa Bay 24
The winless Buccaneers nearly pulled off the upset against the unbeaten Cowboys. With the Cowboys trailing 24-17 with only 57 seconds remaining, White hit fullback Timmy Newsome along the left sideline for a 52 yard touchdown. Here is a video clip of the play:
Septien kicked a field goal in overtime to give Dallas a 27-24 win.
Week 7: Dallas 37, Philadelphia 7
Dallas jumped out to a 23-7 first-half lead against the Eagles and never looked back. Four different players scored for the Cowboys, who improved to 7-0 on the season.
Week 8: L.A. Raiders 40, Dallas 38
In a seesaw battle that saw six lead changes, the Raiders prevailed in a 40-38 shootout. Mike Hegman’s nine-yard touchdown return of a fumble gave Dallas a 38-34 win, but the Raiders managed two field goals to pull out the win. The teams combined for 838 yards of total offense.
Week 9: Dallas 38, N.Y. Giants 20
White completed 15 of 33 passes for 304 yards and five touchdowns in a 38-20 blowout win vs. the Giants. It marked the first time that White threw for five touchdowns in a game, tying a team record.
Week 10: Dallas 27, Philadelphia 20
White threw touchdown passes to Tony Hill and Timmy Newsome in a 27-20 win for the 9-1 Cowboys.
Week 11: San Diego 24, Dallas 23
Thanks to a great game by San Diego backup quarterback Ed Luther, the Chargers raced to a 24-6 lead in the third quarter, but the Cowboys roared back. Dallas cut the lead to 24-23 with just over eight minutes to play, but the Cowboys could get no further and suffered their second loss of the season.
Week 12: Dallas 41, Kansas City 21
Two Tony Dorsett touchdowns gave Dallas a 27-0 lead, and the Cowboys barely looked back in a 41-21 win over the Chiefs. Dorsett finished with 108 yards.
Week 13: Dallas 35, St. Louis 17
Though the Cowboys gave up a 71-yard touchdown pass from Neil Lomax to Roy Green early in the game, the Cowboys took a 21-7 halftime lead in a 35-17 win. Dorsett had another good day, rushing for 102 yards and two touchdowns.
Week 14: Dallas 35, Seattle 10
For the third consecutive game, Dorsett topped the 100-yard mark. The Cowboys outgained the Seahawks 418 to 216 in the Dallas win.
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In the Raiders game, Marc Wilson was the starter over Jim Plunkett and played like the second coming of Daryl Lamonica. If one looks at the box score from Pro Football reference, they can see how much yardage on rushing and passing was given up by the defense. That year, Dallas was rarely “Doomsday.” And a portent of future struggles even though the offense could ring up the points many times.
Yeah and Frank Hawkins (who?) had over 100 yards rushing. And the Cowboys offense was actually pretty mediocre that night. But I guess there’s a reason that the Raiders ended up winning the Super Bowl that year, eh?
My original entry indicated that the teams combined for 538 yards. That should have said 838 yards, with 519 coming from the Raiders.
The 1983 season was similar in many respects to the 2007 season. Lots of fireworks on offense, but there were cracks that showed up several times. Once the team lost the “No, Danny, No” game, it was all over.
With the talent on the Cowboys team, we could easily go to the superbowl if we had Tony Dungy as head coach AND Jerry Jones would get out of his way so he would have freedom to do as he knows how to do it!!!!
Uh, what does Tony Dungy have to do with the 1983 season? Cowboy fans need to stop hoping for a saviour. You want a saviour, go to church. If Dungy still wanted to coach, he’d be coaching the Colts right now. And it’s not like he’s been the greatest playoff coach anyway. And maybe the Cowboys aren’t as talented as we’d like to believe. But we’ll see, it’s a long season. Wade Phillips is the coach this year, this season, and Jerry Jones will run this team until he dies, and then his son Stephen will run the team, so get over it. If you can’t handle that I’d suggest you find a new team to follow because the GM for the Cowboys will have the last name of Jones for the next 40 years at least.