The Dallas Cowboys schedule, like the schedules of all of the other NFL teams, always includes regular games against the division rivals. This leads to some pretty intense rivalries being developed over many years of playing against the same team.
In the case of Dallas, the rivalry with the Washington Redskins has gone on to be regarded as one of the legendary rivalries in the history of all sports. This is not surprising, as the problems all started long before any football was actually played. Dallas had applied to the NFL for an expansion franchise, and this had been opposed by Washington, who at the time were the only southern team in the NFL.
Up with the Dallas Cowboys, down with the Redskins!
This totally selfish and unjustified protest led to the prospective owners buying the rights to the Washington Redskins famous song "Hail To The Redskins", and threatening to prevent the Redskins from playing the song during their home games. This led to the Redskins' owner, George Preston Marshall, backing down, and the Dallas franchise was formed.
Since then, there have been many moments of high competition and intense rivalry between two highly successful franchises. Possibly the closest moment of all came in 1973, when the two combatants met in the Monday Night Football game for the first time. Washington safety Ken Houston brought Dallas runner Walt Garrison down on the 1 yard line, right as time ran out. Had Garrison scored, the Cowboys could have tied the game with the point after. There was no overtime back in 1973.
This is far from the only intense rivalry in the Dallas Cowboys schedule. The Philadelphia Eagles are another team in the same division with whom the Cowboys have a long established and intense rivalry. If we go back to 1974, the Cowboys were on a record of eight consecutive post season appearances, before Philadelphia hosted them on September 23rd. Philadelphia pulled off a shock win, thanks to a 97 yard fumble return for a touchdown, and a 45 yard field goal, kicked right at the end of the game.
The Cowboys supremacy in the NFC of the late 70s was apparently broken when Philadelphia were able to beat them in the 1980 Championship Game, by 20-7.
Th rivalry was to get even worse. In 1989, the Cowboys' home game held on Thanksgiving was one of the ugliest in NFL history. The fighting that had broken out between the teams was getting worse, before kicker Luis Zendejas was taken out of the game suffering from concussion. Eagles' coach Buddy Ryan was later accused of issuing bounties on star quarterback Troy Aikman, as well as kicker Zendejas. This rivalry continues to be one of the nastiest in the NFL, and the Eagles games are two of the hardest fought in the Dallas Cowboys Schedule.
