Why the Cowboys didn't have a 4-peat in the '90's.

As a lifelong Dallas Cowboy fan, this 5-1 start to the season got me thinking about the Cowboys from the '90's.  I started watching the Dallas Cowboys in 1994.  Well, technically, my first introduction to them was in the previous year's Super Bowl (the 2nd time they beat the Bills).  However, this was the first full season that I really paid attention.

I am going to discuss the one player that I still don't know if I like or dislike.  In that '94 season, he was playing for the hated 49ers.  However the next year, we went to Dallas and helped them win the Super Bowl.  That person is, of course, Deion Sanders.

The reason that I dislike him is because I lay a lot of the blame of that '94 NFC Championship Game loss at his feet.  Most people who remember that game remember the 21-0 hole the Cowboys found themselves in; they remember the interception and two fumbles that accompanied the Cowboys' first 3 possessions.  However, if it wasn't for Deion Sanders, I believe that the Cowboys would have come back in that game to win.  If they won that game, they would have easily beaten the Chargers.  Everyone knew that this was the Super Bowl.  No way would either team lose.

Why do I blame Deion, you ask?  It all goes down to the 4th quarter.  The Cowboys were losing 38-28.  However they were moving down the field at this time.  With 6:30ish left, Troy Aikman let a ball go deep towards Michael Irvin.  However, before the ball even got there, Sanders arms were pulling Irvin's right arm down.  It was a blatant pass interference that all the fans and, even, the announcers saw.  There was a no-call.  If they had made that call, they would have gotten the ball at the 5 yard line.  I believe that they would have punched it in.  They would have been down by 3 with 6 minutes left.  The Niners hadn't done anything in the 2nd Half.  All it would have taken is one stop and they would have gotten the ball back to score and win.

Of course, I have no proof that the rest would have happened.   However, I believe it would have.

Instead, it was an incompletion.  Barry Switzer yelled at the ref and bumped into him; getting an unsportsmanlike conduct.  That made the down and distance 3rd and 25.  The Cowboys, in turn, turned it over on downs.

There ya have it.  It's Deion's fault that the Cowboys didn't win 4 Super Bowls in a row.  Of course, Deion went to the Cowboys the following year and I rooted for him like crazy.

Of course, you could blame other aspects for the Cowboys' disappointment (i.e. Jerry Jones micromanaging, Barry Switzer having NO discipline,etc)  However, those are blog posts for another day.  :-)