1996 Dallas Cowboys season

Dallas’ season as defending champions got off to a terrible start between the five-game suspension of Michael Irvin and a poor performance by Troy Aikman with two interceptions and just 21 passes completed. Emmitt Smith had seventy yards rushing but suffered temporary paralysis. The Cowboys surrendered four turnovers (Aikman had a fumble in the fourth quarter as did Deion Sanders) in the 22-6 loss.

At home the Cowboys rebounded by intercepting Giants quarterback Dave Brown three times and limiting him to just 55 yards. Emmitt Smith and Sherman Williams combined for 31 carries and 120 yards while Aikman threw for 228 yards and three touchdowns in the 27-0 shutout.

What fell an Aaron Bailey touchdown drop short of being the Super Bowl XXX matchup happened at Texas Stadium and the ensuing game was a tight affair. After the Cowboys raced to a 21-3 lead the Colts lived up to Jim Harbaugh’s “Captain Comeback” nickname as Harbaugh stormed the Colts to lead 22-21 in the third. After an exchange of field goals (25-24 Colts) in the fourth Aikman completed two passes to the Colts 39. Chris Boniol booted the ball for the 57-yard field goal but it bounced off the crossbar; asked in post game about his range he said it was “fifty-six and a half.”

Following an ugly loss at Pittsburgh the week before the Bills had to start young Todd Collins in injured Jim Kelly’s stead hosting the team that had denied them in two Superbowls. The Bills defense took over; Troy Aikman was intercepted three times and he suffered an ankle injury on his final throw as he was sandwiched by Bruce Smith. The result was a 10-7 Bills win in a game with just 416 total net yards of offense.

Returning to the site of the controversial twin attempt to convert a late 4th down the year before, the Cowboys fell behind 10-0 then raced to lead 20-10 and ultimately won 23-19 in a game with seven turnovers, five of them by the Eagles. Rodney Peete of the Eagles was lost for the season during the game.

Michael Irvin returned from suspension and the Cowboys won 17-3. Irvin caught five passes on ten targets for 51 yards. Despite the return of Irvin teammate Darren Woodson lamented, “We’re not close to being a championship team. If we think getting Michael back fixes everything, we’re kidding ourselves.”[1]

Few expected the 0-6 Falcons embroiled in controversy between coach June Jones and benched quarterback Jeff George to put up serious resistance to the Cowboys but after Dallas led 17-6 the Falcons behind Jamal Anderson and Bobby Hebert stormed to lead 28-25 with 7:09 to go. After an exchange of punts the Cowboys in the final 2:46 needed just one minute and a 60-yard Troy Aikman touchdown to Kelvin Martin to ultimately win 32-28.

This was the most anticipated regular season game of the season in the meeting of the Cowboys and their former coach. But Jimmy Johnson, questioned incessantly all week about his former team, could only watch as his Dolphins collapsed from a 10-6 lead in the second to a 29-10 loss. While Troy Aikman (363 yards and three touchdowns) downplayed the meeting, Charles Haley, only in his fourth game of the season, spoke freely about hating Johnson over a “no practice, no play” rule during his time in Dallas; Haley was held without a tackle.

The Cowboys’ playoff hopes took a hit in a 31-21 home loss to the now-7-2 Eagles. Troy Aikman was intercepted twice while Ty Detmer threw one touchdown and ran in another.

For four seasons this had been the rivalry of football and it was once again a league-wide measuring stick. After Steve Young was sacked out of the game the Cowboys fell behind 17-10. Aikman was intercepted by Marquez Pope at San Francisco’s 9-yard line in the final seven minutes, but on the next play Elvis Grbac was intercepted by Fred Strickland. Given new life Aikman found Eric Bjornson and the game went to overtime tied 17-17. A long Emmitt Smith run in overtime resulted in the winning Cowboys field goal. The win was Barry Switzer’s only win over the Niners and Dallas was now just one game out in the NFC East.

Seven Chris Boniol field goals were more than enough to beat the Packers 21-6, but the game was marred by a sideline argument between Switzer and head trainer Mike Woicik.

A 20-6 loss to the now-5-7 Giants in which the Cowboys yet again failed the score a touchdown left Dallas still on course for the NFC East but eliminated from a playoff bye.

Emmitt Smith rammed in three touchdowns, the first for Dallas since the San Francisco game, in a 21-10 win over a Redskins team in free fall after starting 7-1. Troy Aikman had his worst showing of the season with just 63 yards and a pick.

Aikman had a touchdown to Irvin while George Teague and Darren Woodson picked off Boomer Esiason in a 10-6 Dallas win.

Once again the Cowboys failed to score a touchdown but held the surging Patriots to just two field goals; rookie kicker Adam Vinatieri also ran down Herschel Walker on a long kick return as the Cowboys clinched the NFC East in a 12-6 win.

Having clinched the division and out of contention for a playoff bye the Cowboys rested Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith among others while the Redskins, out of the playoffs at 8-7, played their final game at RFK Stadium and won going away 37-10. Wade Wilson and Jason Garrett combined for just 11 completions for Dallas.

The Cowboys put the game away in the first half in exploding to a 30-0 lead and ultimately winning 40-15. The Cowboys forced six Vikings turnovers and put up 438 yards of offense.

The dynasty of the decade in essence ended in a 26-17 defeat to the second-year Panthers in their first ever playoff game. The week started ominously with sexual violence allegations against Michael Irvin and Erik Williams (later disproven). Irvin’s weekend ended on the game’s second play as he was brought down by Lamar Lathon and broke his collarbone. Deion Sanders was later injured on a tackle by Tyrone Poole as the Panthers clawed to a 23-17 lead in the fourth. Troy Aikman’s final two possessions ended in interceptions as the game combined for just 471 yards of offense.