Between 1980 and 1985, the Cowboys opened seasons against the Washington Redskins four times. In those four games, Dallas managed to come away with four wins.
- Dennis Thurman and the Cowboys helped Joe Theismann celebrate a birthday in 1985.
The last of those games took place at Texas Stadium on Monday, September 9, 1985. That happened to be Joe Theismann’s 36th birthday. The Cowboys helped Joe celebrate by picking him off five times in a 44-14 demolition of the Redskins. Add a Jay Schroeder interception and a fumble, and Washington turned the ball over seven times.
The 62,292 fans in attendance celebrated by singing “Happy Birthday, Dear Joe-oe.”
Danny White only completed 14 of 33 passes, but he had 214 passing yards and a touchdown without an interception. The touchdown pass was a 55-yarder to receiver Mike Renfro.
The famous Thurman’s Thieves were named after defensive back Dennis Thurman, who played his last season in Dallas in 1985. He was the one who picked off Schroeder and returned the interception 21 yards for the final score of the game.
Thanks to NocturalRyte, here are the highlights:
Great vido Matt (except for the annoying richochet bullet sound). This game made me think perhaps Dallas had turned the corner–of course it had not but at least for one night they were fantastic!
The guy who posted that video does a good job of editing, but I agree about the bullet sound. As for the Washington game, I remember it very well, thinking that the team had shaken off the problems from the year before. There were also some other highlights that year, but there were also some very ugly losses along the way.
Just as the Cowboys had missed the playoffs in ’74,and made the playoffs the next year,they repeated the same scenario ten years later.Tim,we really thought they were back after Joe’s birthday bash didn’t we?The difference of course,no dirty dozen,just another bad draft save for Herschel.Tom Landry probably did more with this least talented “playoff” team than any other he coached.
Matt, great to have these articles back. Will help get us through the long offseason.
As for this game, I taped it on VHS and still have it (pretty good quality). If I need a pick-me-up, it never fails.