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NEW ORLEANS
01/15/78
- When it was finally over and the Dallas Cowboys had
hoisted Tom Landry on their shoulders and Broncomania had died, 27-10, or gone into
hibernation for the long off season - there was no room for second guessing, for it-this
nor if-that nor sad laments.
The Dallas Cowboys had returned to the top of the National
Football League by using power, some trickery and deception but had decisively defeated
the upstart Denver Broncos, who found, in the end, a rather stark midnight to their
season.
Super Bowl XII on this Sunday was hardly a vintage NFL game but
it also was not the worst of the Super Bowl games. Probably, it ranked around the middle
because a lot of mistakes were made by both teams, especially Denver. But in retrospect a
lot of these mistakes were caused by the hitting done by two defensive teams.
The Cowboys victory was, however, many things. It was a victory
for what has been termed the "cool" of the Cowboys over the "emotion"
of the Broncos. It again was a victory for Tom Landry's somewhat intellectual approach to
a basic game, and it was the first time an NFC team had won over the AFC in six years, or
since Dallas also did that trick here in January 1972.
The pair of Super Bowl victories also put Landry's Cowboys in an
elite circle with Green Bay, Miami and Pittsburgh as having won two Super Bowl games.
Defensive end Harvey Martin, who along with teammate Randy White was named co-player of
the game, summed up the victory for most of his teammates when he said, "A lot of
things have happened to me in my football career but this is the best, the most. Nothing
rivals this."
"I think," said Landry, "that the ones of us here
probably more satisfaction with the Super Bowl victory here (in New Orleans) in 1972
because people were saying then we couldn't win the Big One. That team had gone through a
lot of heartbreak, so it was a great feeling to do it.
"This team doesn't have the experience of that one but,
overall, probably has more top athletes. I felt all along it was possible for this team to
do it. It had put together three outstanding games, two in the playoffs and one in the
Super Bowl. It did this and that makes us all feel great."
DALLAS HAD
dominated the first half. At halftime Landry
warned his team that the Broncos had the characteristic this season of making a big play
and then surging back. He warned them if this happened they had to takethe initiative
right back from Denver. And the Broncos did surge when Rick Upchurch returned a kickoff
for a Super Bowl record 67 yards set up Denver's only TD.
The Cowboys were hurting. Tony Dorsett, the game's leading ground
gainer with 66 yards on 15 carries went out with a knee injury when the third period
ended. Roger Staubach the other big offensive catalyst, had to be taken to the dressing
room shortly thereafter with an injury to his right hand. When he returned he could not
throw well.
But mostly, Dallas had relied on defense in the playoffs.
So on a third and four from the Broncos 27, midway in the final
period, Denver, which had come out in its own spread during the final period, set up in
that formation with Norris Weese, who had replaced an ineffective Craig Morton in the
third period, but up deep. He attempted to run but Martin slammed him and ball popped
loose. Cornerback Aaron Kyle recovered the last of Denver's four fumbles at the Bronco 30.
"We'd been hearing rumors that they were working on the
spread," said Martin. "It didn't worry us. It took us three years to get where
we are in the spread and there's no way Denver can get there in two weeks. I just rushed
upfield, hit him and he lost the ball."
NOW ALL WEEK
Dallas had worked on a fullback pass by
Robert Newhouse. During this game Landry had waited for the right moment to use it.
"When Denver lost the fumble the defense, I felt, would be negative in its
thinking," said Landry. "So I thought the time was proper."
Landry called, "Brown Right, X-opposite shift, toss 38,
halfback lead, fullback pass to Y." On first down from the 29, Staubach tossed to
Newhouse going to his left. Golden Richards, the split end, started toward cornerback
Steve Foley as if to block him. Foley as had been his tendency, already had come up too
fast in order to play what appeared to be a fullback sweep. He couldn't recover and free
safety Bernard Jackson, who this week had rated the Cowboy receivers inferior to those of
other top teams, could not get over quickly enough as Newhouse pulled up, then lofted a
fine pass to Richards who took it into his arms and scored with 7:11 remaining.
"I was worried because I had all this stickum on my
hands," said Newhouse. "So Preston Pearson handed me this rag and I was in there
(the huddle) scrubbing it all. They'd seen us run the play right but not to the left and
so didn't recognize it in time."
"Foley realized what was happening just a second too
late," said Richards. "No, I didn't see Jackson coming in but I heard him. He
talks a lot, you know."
ACTUALLY,
the Cowboys other split end, Butch Johnson, in
the third period had run a fine post route between Foley and Jackson and made a diving
catch at the goal-line to complete a 45-yard TD pass from Staubach, who had a good day by
hitting 17 or 25 passes for 183 yards and suffering no interceptions. The play came off a
second and 10 situation out of the Spread.
"As I started to leave the huddle, Staubach told me to
change my route and run a strong, deep post," said Johnson. "Drew Pearson and
Billy Joe DuPree had both cut across the middle and I had a lot of open space out
there."
Johnson had suffered a hand injury earlier in the game but held
onto the ball to cross the goal-line and then let it get away after he had scored, causing
some complaints from the Broncos and their fans, but all he had to do was cross the
imaginary plane of the goal-line and he had.
"Those two passes were the big plays of the game," said
Landry. "And the last one won it for us."
Morton's fine season ended on a sour note. He had been solid in
playoff victories over Pittsburgh and Oakland because his offensive line held the
opposition off him. This time they could not do so and he left the game with only four
hits in 15 attempts, was hurried at least six times and trapped twice (Weese also was
trapped twice) and suffered a Super Bowl record of four interceptions.
"GIVEN TIME, he can beat you," said Landry.
"But he's hurting (a bad hip) and couldn't move. We have a fine front four and they
just put too much pressure on him."
Two of the first half interceptions, which set up 10 points, were
made by Randy Hughes, who also recovered two fumbles, and Kyle and were caused when end Ed
(Too Tall) Jones and White hit Morton as he released the ball. Dallas, in fact, could have
put the game away in the first half but did not because it fumbled inside the Broncos 10,
had a pass that might have been caught in the end zone get away and Efren Herrera, who hit
field goals of 35 and 43 yards, missed first half shots of 43, 32 and 44 yards.
The entire Dallas defense, which held Denver to just 156 net
yards (Dallas netted 325) was superb. Besides Kyle and Hughes, Mark Washington and Benny
Barnes also got interceptions. White and D. D. Lewis each got a quarterback sack and Martin
recorded two. The Broncos played well, too, defensively and this as much as anything
accounted for the game's 10 turnovers (eight by Denver).
Each club this season has had great success in the final period
and the Broncos, especially, preach that the fourth period is their's. As that final
stanza began, coach Red Miller held up to his players and the crowd, which numbered 76,400
in the giant, plush Superdome, four fingers.
But Dallas won the fourth period, too, 7-0. This was just a day,
a time, a place in which there was no fourth period surge for the Broncos, no magic for
them because it all belonged to the Dallas Cowboys, champions of the National Football
League.
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