1961 Dallas Cowboys season

1961 Dallas Cowboys season
Head coach	Tom Landry
Owner	Clint Murchison, Jr.
Home field	Cotton Bowl
Results
Record	4–9–1
Division place	6th NFL Eastern
Playoff finish	did not qualify

The 1961 Dallas Cowboys season was their second in the National Football League. The team finished with 4 wins, 9 losses, and 1 tie, placing them 6th in the Eastern Conference.

Offseason

The Cowboys participated in their first NFL college draft following the 1960 season. Despite owning the league's worst record, the team picked second overall because the expansion Minnesota Vikings received the first overall selection. However, the team previously traded away their first round pick in the 1961 draft to the Washington Redskins for quarterback Eddie LeBaron. The Cowboys had another selection in the first round (13th overall) that they acquired from the Cleveland Browns, and with that selection they chose defensive lineman Bob Lilly from Texas Christian University. Other notable selections in the draft included offensive linemen E.J. Holub, Billy Shaw, and Stew Barber. However, all three chose to sign with teams in the rival American Football League.

Other notable acquisitions by the Cowboys during the offseason included trading for linebacker Chuck Howley from the Chicago Bears, and signing rookie free agents Amos Marsh and Warren Livingston.

The Cowboys played in the NFL's Western Division for the 1960 season, but were a "swing team" and played each of the other 12 teams in the league that year. When the Minnesota Vikings joined the league for the 1961 season, the owners of the Eastern Division teams were allowed to vote on which expansion franchise they wanted to be permanently assigned to their division.^[1] In April 1961, the Eastern Division owners voted for Dallas, largely as a safeguard against early winters in Minnesota. This also pleased Western Division owners, who preferred the Vikings because of lower travel expenses and natural geographic rivalries with teams like the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears. This resulted in both Eastern and Western Divisions having seven teams.^[2]

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Game site	Record	Attendance
1	September 17, 1961	Pittsburgh Steelers	W 27–24	Cotton Bowl	1–0	23,500
2	September 24, 1961	Minnesota Vikings	W 21–7	Cotton Bowl	2–0	20,500
3	October 1, 1961	at Cleveland Browns	L 25–7	Cleveland Stadium	2–1	43,638
4	October 8, 1961	at Minnesota Vikings	W 28–0	Metropolitan Stadium	3–1	33,070
5	October 15, 1961	New York Giants	L 31–10	Cotton Bowl	3–2	41,500
6	October 22, 1961	Philadelphia Eagles	L 43–7	Cotton Bowl	3–3	25,000
7	October 29, 1961	at New York Giants	W 17–16	Yankee Stadium	4–3	60,254
8	November 5, 1961	St. Louis Cardinals	L 31–17	Cotton Bowl	4–4	20,500
9	November 12, 1961	at Pittsburgh Steelers	L 37–7	Forbes Field	4–5	17,519
10	November 19, 1961	Washington Redskins	T 28–28	Cotton Bowl	4–5–1	17,500
11	November 26, 1961	at Philadelphia Eagles	L 35–13	Franklin Field	4–6–1	60,127
12	December 3, 1961	Cleveland Browns	L 38–17	Cotton Bowl	4–7–1	23,500
13	December 10, 1961	at St. Louis Cardinals	L 31–13	Busch Stadium	4–8–1	15,384
14	December 17, 1961	at Washington Redskins	L 34–24	D.C. Stadium	4–9–1	21,451

Season recap

Coming off of a winless first season, the Cowboys wasted no time getting their first win in franchise history in their second season. The first game in the history of the Cowboys was a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the team's first victory came against the Steelers in a 27–24 home game in the season opener, the winning points coming on a last second field goal. The Cowboys would go on to win two of their next three, both easy victories coming over the expansion Minnesota Vikings, and a month into the season the Cowboys found themselves tied for first in the Eastern Conference with a record of 3–1.

While much improved over their first season, the Cowboys would continue to be outclassed by the better teams in the league. In between their victories over the Vikings the Cowboys suffered a 25–7 defeat at the hands of perennial powerhouse Cleveland. The following weeks after their 3–1 start quickly dampened any realistic chance they had of contending for the Eastern Conference championship, with home losses to the New York Giants and the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles coming by a combined score of 74–17. However, the following week the team stunned the Giants at Yankee Stadium, 16–14, on another late field goal, and the Cowboys found themselves with a winning record at the midway point of the season at 4–3.

Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there, as the Cowboys didn't win another game all season. The Cowboys gave up 28 points or more in each of their remaining seven games, and were beaten by 14 or more points in five of them. The Cowboys managed a tie against the woeful Washington Redskins in week 10, a game in which quarterback Don Meredith, who had been splitting playing time at the position with Eddie LeBaron, suffered an injury to his throwing shoulder, and wouldn't play again the rest of the season. The final game of the season saw the Cowboys lose to the Redskins at D.C. Stadium (the Redskins first win at their new home), 34–24, the only win of the Redskins season.

Offensively, the Cowboys were an improved lot across the board. The offense moved the ball at a decent pace, finishing 8th in the league in yards gained. Quarterbacks Eddie LeBaron and Don Meredith had quality targets at the receiver position, which helped the team finish 6th in passing yardage. Veteran Billy Howton established a career high in receptions with 56, and Frank Clarke developed into one of the league's top deep threats, averaging 22.4 yards per catch and scoring 9 touchdowns. Tight end Dick Bielski represented the Cowboys at the Pro Bowl. The Cowboys may have showed the most improvement in the running game. Rookie Don Perkins was one of the league's top running backs with 815 yards, and Amos Marsh and J.W. Lockett contributed as well, improving the Cowboys to 10th in total yards rushing, and improving the yards per carry from 3.4 in 1960 to 4.4 in 1961. On the negative side, the offense turned the ball over 48 times during the season, second worst in the league, and the offensive line continued to struggle protecting the quarterback. The team only scored 236 points (13th in the league) despite the Cowboys improved offensive play.

Defensively, the team continued to struggle against the run, allowing 2161 rushing yards (12th in the league) and 4.8 yards per carry. Against the pass, the secondary allowed too many long completions (a league worst 15.7 yards per completion) and the defensive front didn't apply much pressure on the quarterback. The defense did make more than its share of big plays, forcing 43 turnovers. Cornerback Don Bishop had 8 of the defense's 25 interceptions.

Rookie kicker Allen Green struggled much of the season. His 36.7 yards per punt was worst in the league, and after going 5 of 15 on field goal attempts (though two of the field goals provided the game winning points) he was replaced by Dick Bielski, who made 6 out 9 field goals the rest of the season. Rookie running backs Amos Marsh and Don Perkins helped improve the kickreturn game, with Marsh in particular standing out with a 25.7 yard average on kick returns.

Roster

Dallas Cowboys 1961 roster

Quarterbacks

Running Backs

Wide Receivers

82 Frank Clarke
81 Billy Howton
80 Lee Murchison

Tight Ends

36 Dick Bielski K
83 Jim Doran

Offensive Linemen

Defensive Linemen

87 Nate Borden DE
79 Ken Frost DT
78 Don Healy DT
72 Bill Herchman DT
74 Bob Lilly DE/DT

Linebackers

33 Gene Babb OLB/FB
30 Mike Dowdle OLB
54 Chuck Howley OLB
56 Jack Patera MLB
50 Jerry Tubbs MLB

Defensive Backs

20 Bob Bercich SS
44 Don Bishop CB
32 Tom Franckhauser SS/CB
21 Glynn Gregory CB/FS/WR
40 Jimmy Harris CB/FS
47 Dicky Moegle FS

Special Teams

61 Allen Green K/P

Reserve Lists

51 Tom Braatz OLB (IR)
88 Sonny Davis OLB (IR)
41 Warren Livingston CB/FS (IR)

Rookies in italics
38 Active, 3 Inactive

Standings

NFL Eastern Conference
	W	L	T	PCT	CONF	PF	PA	STK
New York Giants	10	3	1	.769	9–2–1	368	220	T1
Philadelphia Eagles	10	4	0	.714	8–4	361	297	W1
Cleveland Browns	8	5	1	.615	8–3–1	319	270	T1
St. Louis Cardinals	7	7	0	.500	7–5	279	267	W3
Pittsburgh Steelers	6	8	0	.429	5–7	295	287	L1
Dallas Cowboys	4	9	1	.308	2–9–1	236	380	L4
Washington Redskins	1	12	1	.077	1–10–1	174	392	W1

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

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

References

External links

Dallas Cowboys

Founded in 1960 Based in Arlington, Texas Headquartered in Frisco, Texas

Franchise	Franchise History Coaches Players Seasons Expansion draft Draft history Starting quarterbacks First-round draft picks The Ford Center at The Star

Stadiums	Cotton Bowl Texas Stadium AT&T Stadium

Culture	NFL on Thanksgiving Day America's Team Cheerleaders Doomsday Defense Crazy Ray Rowdy Jerry Jones Black Sunday (film) King of the Hill

Lore	Tom Landry Tex Schramm Captain Comeback Ice Bowl Hail Mary The Catch Herschel Walker trade Dirty Dozen Ring of Honor Bounty Bowl series

Rivalries	New York Giants Philadelphia Eagles Washington Redskins San Francisco 49ers Pittsburgh Steelers Houston Oilers/Texans

Division championships (22)	1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1976 1977 1978 1979 1981 1985 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1998 2007 2009 2014

Conference championships (10)	1966 1967 1970 1971 1975 1977 1978 1992 1993 1995

League Championships (5)	1971 (VI) 1977 (XII) 1992 (XXVII) 1993 (XXVIII) 1995 (XXX)

Ring of Honor	Bob Lilly Don Meredith Don Perkins Chuck Howley Mel Renfro Roger Staubach Lee Roy Jordan Tom Landry Tony Dorsett Randy White Bob Hayes Tex Schramm Cliff Harris Rayfield Wright Troy Aikman Michael Irvin Emmitt Smith Drew Pearson Charles Haley Larry Allen Darren Woodson

Media	Broadcasters Radio network KRLD-FM Brad Sham Babe Laufenberg

Current league affiliations	League: National Football League Conference: National Football Conference Division: East Division

Seasons (56)	1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Championship seasons in bold

Dallas Cowboys seasons

1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Bold indicates Super Bowl victory Italics indicates Super Bowl appearance

1961 NFL season

Eastern Conference	Cleveland	Pittsburgh	Baltimore	Los Angeles	Western Conference
	Dallas	St. Louis	Chicago	Minnesota
	New York	Washington	Detroit	San Francisco
	Philadelphia		Green Bay

Related: 1961 AFL Season

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/27/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.