Blogging The Boys
It is Day 57 of our 100-day countdown to kickoff. We are looking back at the 100 most iconic games in Dallas Cowboys history. The countdown will leads us right up to the opening game of 2026. Our look back doesn’t depend on just one criteria for our rankings. We take into consideration things like how big the game was for the organization, how memorable the game was, games that had unusual events take place, games that are a part of NFL lore, Cowboys firsts, and games where the Cowboys just plain dominated. Variety is the spice of life and we have all different kind of Cowboys games to review. At the bottom, we’ll link each day of the countdown so you can go back and check out any you missed.
Welcome everyone to Day 57 of our 100-day countdown to kickoff, when we revisit one of the ugliest wins that somehow carries real emotional weight in Cowboys history. The 1989 Cowboys were bad …historically bad. Jerry Jones had bought the team, Tom Landry had been replaced by Jimmy Johnson, Troy Aikman was a rookie, the roster was being torn down and getting ready to build back up. The worst part of this entry was Dallas entering Week 9 at 0-8, a very dark time in the team’s rich history.
The game was not pretty. In fact, it was exactly what you would expect from a winless team trying to scrape together anything it could find. The first quarter was scoreless, and the only points of the first half came with two seconds left, when Roger Ruzek hit a 20-yard field goal to give Dallas a 3-0 lead. The key play was a Bill Bates interception of Doug Williams, followed by a 25-yard Steve Walsh completion to Kelvin Martin that set up the kick. A pretty uninspiring half.
Washington then tied it in the third quarter on a 35-yard Chip Lohmiller field goal, but Dallas finally found the one touchdown the game would produce. Paul Palmer, who had arrived after the Herschel Walker trade, broke a 47-yard draw up the middle to put the Cowboys near the goal line. Two plays later, he scored from two yards out to give Dallas a 10-3 lead.
From there, the Cowboys leaned on defense and just enough field position. Washington moved the ball better statistically, finishing with 346 total yards to Dallas’ 262, but the Cowboys forced two interceptions and held Washington to only 50 rushing yards on 21 carries. Ruzek added a 43-yard field goal in the fourth quarter, and that was enough to finish off a 13-3 win.
Steve Walsh started at quarterback with Aikman sidelined, and the numbers were modest with no touchdowns, and no interceptions. But in this season modest was enough. Palmer was the offensive story, rushing 18 times for 110 yards and the only touchdown....
