AMERICA'S TEAM

COWBOY'S HISTORY

    The Dallas Cowboys are one of the most "storied" franchises in the history of the NFL and because of that they were given the nickname "America's Team".  Their dynasty started in the 1970's while under coach Tom Landry.  The Cowboys had many great battles with the other great team of the '70's, the Pittsburgh Steelers.  The Cowboys sort of fell off in the 1980's and went through some really hard times.  Those hard times lasted until the early '90's when Jimmy Johnson took over as head coach and pulled off the greatest trade in NFL history.  In 1989, the Dallas Cowboys traded running back Herschel Walker to the Minnesota Vikings for five veteran players and eight draft choices. Although the Cowboys would go on to finish the '89 season with a dismal 1-15 record, the blockbuster trade eventually brought an influx of new talent that would fuel the Cowboys' return to greatness.  The Cowboy's used these these picks wisely as they landed hall of famers in three consecutive drafts.  The first coming in '88 when the Cowboys selected WR Michael Irvin.  They followed that up with the first overall pick in '89 when they selected their future field general, QB Troy Aikman.  The next year they drafted future hall of famer, and dancing with the stars champion, running back Emmitt Smith.  They went through a couple more tough seasons but by the 1992 season they would start their run as the greatest dynasty of all time.  They won the super bowl in 1992 and would go on to win 2 more of the next 3 super bowls.  During this time the nickname "Triplets" was coined in regards to Irvin, Smith, and Aikman (pictured below) courtesy of Cowboys-forum.com.

Accomplishments

As I previously said, the Cowboys dynasty started in the '70's and during that time they won their first 2 super bowls in 1972 and 1978.  They won their last three super bowls during their great run in the 90's in 1993, 1994, and 1996.  The Cowboys have had 9 players inducted into the hall of fame including the latest inductees, Troy Aikman who is the winning est quarterback of any decade(Aikman accomplished this feat in the 90's) and Michael Irvin who presented probably the most moving induction speech in NFL history.  The cowboys will get another player in the hall as soon as Emmitt Smith is eligible.  On October 27, 2002 Smith reached 16,728 career rushing yards, passing Walter Payton as the all-time career rushing leader.  He ended his career with 18,355 yards. Smith is also the career leader in rushing touchdowns with 164.

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