Record 6–3 Head coach Tom Landry General manager Tex Schramm Home field Texas Stadium | Division place 2nd in NFC Start date 1982 Owner Clint Murchison Jr. | |
Playoff finish Won First Round (Buccaneers) 30–17
Won Second Round (Packers) 37–26
Lost Conference Championship (at Redskins) 31–17 Similar 1965 Dallas Cowboys, 1964 Dallas Cowboys, 2002 Dallas Cowboys | ||
The 1982 Dallas Cowboys season was a strike-shortened nine game season, which the Cowboys finished with a record of 6 wins and 3 losses, placing them second in the NFC. After losing the season opening game against the Pittsburgh Steelers (the first time the Cowboys lost a season opener in 17 years), the Cowboys won the next six, including five after the strike had ended. However, two losses at the end of the regular season cost them homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. After beginning their playoff run at home with victories over the Buccaneers and the Packers, the Cowboys traveled to Washington, where they met defeat at the hands of their arch-rival, the Redskins. It was the third straight season that the Cowboys lost in the NFC championship game. The Redskins would advance to win the Super Bowl.
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The Cowboys featured big-play capability on both sides of the ball in 1982. The offense relied on running back Tony Dorsett, who led the NFC in rushing (and during the season set an NFL record with a 99-yard run from scrimmage against Minnesota), and quarterback Danny White, who finished second in the NFL in passer rating. Despite the retirement of long time starters Charlie Waters and D.D. Lewis before the season, the Cowboys still tied for the NFC lead in sacks, and cornerback Everson Walls led the league with seven interceptions.
The Cowboys were the only team to defeat the Washington Redskins in the 1982 season, winning a regular season matchup in Game 5. The Cowboys were also the only team in the NFL who never trailed at halftime in '82.
Offseason
Tex Schramm and Gil Brandt, proposed to the NFL competition committee a centralization of the evaluation process for the NFL draft prospects. Before this, teams had to schedule individual visits with players to run them through drills and tests. This proposition created the NFL Scouting Combine, which was first held in Tampa, Florida, in 1982.
Coincidentally, the 1982 NFL Draft was one of the worst in Dallas Cowboys history. It is mostly remembered because it was the year the Cowboys drafted cornerback Rod Hill in the first round. Hill would go on to become the symbol of the team's failed draft strategy of the eighties, when the Cowboys took too many gambles. From that draft only Jeff Rohrer and Phil Pozderac made contributions.
Awards
Publications
The Football Encyclopedia ISBN 0-312-11435-4
Total Football ISBN 0-06-270170-3
Cowboys Have Always Been My Heroes ISBN 0-446-51950-2