1966 Dallas Cowboys season

1966 Dallas Cowboys season
Head coach	Tom Landry
Owner	Clint Murchison, Jr.
Home field	Cotton Bowl
Results
Record	10–3–1
Division place	1st NFL Eastern
Playoff finish	Lost NFL Championship

The 1966 Dallas Cowboys season was the seventh for the franchise in the National Football League. It involved the 10–3–1 Cowboys qualifying for the NFL post-season for the second time in franchise history, by winning the NFL Eastern Conference title, before losing the NFL Championship Game to the eventual Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers.

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Attendance
1	Bye
2	September 18, 1966	New York Giants	W 52–7	60,010
3	September 25, 1966	Minnesota Vikings	W 28–17	64,116
4	October 2, 1966	at Atlanta Falcons	W 47–14	56,990
5	October 9, 1966	Philadelphia Eagles	W 56–7	69,372
6	October 16, 1966	at St. Louis Cardinals	T 10–10	50,673
7	October 23, 1966	at Cleveland Browns	L 30–21	84,721
8	October 30, 1966	Pittsburgh Steelers	W 52–21	58,453
9	November 6, 1966	at Philadelphia Eagles	L 24–23	60,658
10	November 13, 1966	at Washington Redskins	W 31–30	50,927
11	November 20, 1966	at Pittsburgh Steelers	W 20–7	42,185
12	November 24, 1966	Cleveland Browns	W 26–14	80,259
13	December 4, 1966	St. Louis Cardinals	W 31–17	76,965
14	December 11, 1966	Washington Redskins	L 34–31	64,198
15	December 18, 1966	at New York Giants	W 17–7	62,735

Playoffs

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Attendance
NFL Championship	January 1, 1967	Green Bay Packers	L 34–27	75,504

Standings

NFL Eastern Conference
	W	L	T	PCT	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Dallas Cowboys	10	3	1	.769	9–3–1	445	239	W1
Philadelphia Eagles	9	5	0	.643	8–5	326	340	W4
Cleveland Browns	9	5	0	.643	9–4	403	259	W1
St. Louis Cardinals	8	5	1	.615	7–5–1	264	265	L3
Washington Redskins	7	7	0	.500	7–6	351	355	L1
Pittsburgh Steelers	5	8	1	.385	4–8–1	316	347	W2
Atlanta Falcons	3	11	0	.214	2–5	204	437	L1
New York Giants	1	12	1	.077	1–11–1	263	501	L8

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

Season recap

With the growth in popularity of televised NFL games, the league began looking for a second team in addition to the Detroit Lions, to host an annual Thanksgiving Day game. Every team turned down the offer, except for the Dallas Cowboys. General Manager Tex Schramm recognized this as an opportunity for the franchise to increase its popularity and establish its own Thanksgiving Day game tradition.

In 1966, the Cowboys who had been founded six years earlier, adopted the practice of hosting Thanksgiving games. It is widely rumored that the Cowboys sought a guarantee that they would regularly host Thanksgiving games as a condition of their very first one (since games on days other than Sunday were uncommon at the time and thus high attendance was not a certainty). Since then, the two "traditional" Thanksgiving Day pro football games have been in Detroit and Dallas.

Roster

Dallas Cowboys 1966 roster
Quarterbacks 17 Don Meredith 14 Craig Morton 13 Jerry Rhome Running Backs 32 Walt Garrison FB/KR 43 Don Perkins FB 30 Dan Reeves 46 Les Shy 24 J. D. Smith Wide Receivers 26 Buddy Dial 35 Pete Gent 22 Bob Hayes Tight Ends 82 Frank Clarke 84 Pettis Norman WR		Offensive Linemen 68 Jim Boeke T 53 Mike Connelly C/G 62 Leon Donohue G 72 Tony Liscio T/G 51 Dave Manders C/G 73 Ralph Neely T 76 John Niland G 70 Bill Sandeman T 57 Malcolm Walker C/G 65 John Wilbur G Defensive Linemen 66 George Andrie DE 77 Jim Colvin DT 74 Bob Lilly DT/DE 75 Jethro Pugh DT 79 Larry Stephens DE 71 Willie Townes DE		Linebackers 52 Dave Edwards OLB 56 Harold Hays OLB 54 Chuck Howley OLB 55 Lee Roy Jordan MLB 50 Jerry Tubbs MLB Defensive Backs 45 Dick Daniels SS 27 Mike Gaechter SS/CB 34 Cornell Green CB 23 Mike Johnson CB 41 Warren Livingston CB/FS 25 Obert Logan FS/CB 20 Mel Renfro FS/CB/PR Special Teams 11 Danny Villanueva K/P		Reserve Lists Currently vacant Rookies in italics 42 Active, 0 Inactive

Awards and honors

• Don Meredith, Bert Bell Award

External links

• 1966 Dallas Cowboys
• Thanksgiving and the NFL