1986 Dallas Cowboys season

1986 Dallas Cowboys season
Head coach	Tom Landry
Home field	Texas Stadium
Results
Record	7–9
Division place	3rd NFC East
Playoff finish	did not qualify

The 1986 season Dallas Cowboys season was the franchise's twenty-seventh in the National Football League. The Cowboys concluded the year with a record of seven wins and nine losses, finishing without a winning record for the first time since 1965.

The Cowboys, re-invigorated by the off-season acquisitions of running back Herschel Walker and passing coordinator Paul Hackett, got off to a strong 6–2 start, including a season opening win on Monday night over the eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants, which saw Walker score the winning touchdown late in the game, and a 30–6 blowout win over the Washington Redskins, which ended the Redskins 5–0 start. Quarterbacks Danny White and Steve Pelluer played well early in the season under Hackett's tutelage, who was brought over from the San Francisco 49ers to breathe new life into the passing game. However, White broke his wrist during a crucial loss to the New York Giants, and was ruled out for the season. Pelluer took over as the starting quarterback, and struggled mightily, throwing 17 interceptions over the course of the season, as well as seeing constant pressure from opposing pass rushers, including being sacked a team record twelve times in a game against San Diego. The Cowboys lost seven out of their final eight games, and suffered a five-game losing streak to close out the season, including embarrassing losses to the Redskins (41–14) and the Seahawks in the annual Thanksgiving Day game (31–14). It was the Cowboys’ first loss on Thanksgiving since 1979. During the third quarter of a late-season loss to the Los Angeles Rams, Tom Landry was forced to leave the field due to a threat against his life. Landry returned to the field later in the game wearing a bulletproof vest.

The Cowboys undoing certainly wasn’t because of an inability to move the football, as the team ranked fourth in the NFL in total offense. Running back Herschel Walker rushed for 737 yards, caught 76 passes for 837 yards, and scored 14 touchdowns. Late in the season against the Eagles, Walker had a combined 292 yards rushing and receiving, breaking the team single game record. Running back Tony Dorsett added 748 yards rushing, and even though he was still the team's starting running back, he was clearly unhappy with his reduced role. This was the first non-strike season he hadn’t rushed for 1000 yards. The passing game flourished under Danny White early in the year, but following White's injury, turnovers and an inability to protect the quarterback neutralized the passing attack. Wide receiver Tony Hill and tight end Doug Cosbie both began to show their age, and Mike Renfro was limited because of injury. Rookie wide receiver Mike Sherrard provided a deep threat, gaining 744 yards on just 41 receptions. Defensively, the team struggled to stop the run, finishing 23rd against the run, and the secondary, an opportunistic bunch in past seasons, only intercepted 17 passes during the season. The pass rush was still strong, despite defensive tackle Randy White finally beginning to slow down due to age and injury, as third year defensive end Jim Jeffcoat stepped up with 14 sacks. Overall, it was mistakes that would plague the team throughout the 1986 season. The offensive line gave up 60 sacks, the offense turned the ball over 41 times, and the team committed 112 penalties.

No Cowboys were selected for the Pro Bowl in 1986.

1986 NFL Draft

Round	Pick	Name	Position	School
1	18	Mike Sherrard	Wide Receiver	UCLA
2	33	Darryl Clack	Running Back	Arizona State
3	74	Mark Walen	Defensive Tackle	UCLA
4	100	Max Zendejas	Placekicker	Arizona
6	140	Thornton Chandler	Tight End	Alabama
6	150	Stan Gelbaugh	Quarterback	Maryland
6	158	Lloyd Yancey	Offensive Guard	Temple
7	185	Johnny Holloway	Wide Receiver	Kansas
8	212	Topper Clemons	Running Back	Wake Forest
9	242	John Ionata	Offensive Guard	Florida State
10	269	Bryan Chester	Offensive Guard	Texas
11	296	Garth Jax	Linebacker	Florida State
12	307	Chris Duliban	Linebacker	Texas
12	322	Tony Flack	Defensive Back	Georgia

Roster

Dallas Cowboys 1986 roster
Quarterbacks 10 Reggie Collier WR 14 Paul McDonald 16 Steve Pelluer Running Backs 42 Darryl Clack 33 Tony Dorsett 29 Robert Lavette KR 30 Timmy Newsome FB 34 Herschel Walker Wide Receivers 87 Gordon Banks PR 80 Tony Hill 82 Mike Renfro 86 Mike Sherrard Tight Ends 85 Thornton Chandler 84 Doug Cosbie 46 Todd Fowler FB		Offensive Linemen 62 Brian Baldinger G/T 68 Crawford Ker G 67 Nate Newton G 75 Phil Pozderac T 64 Tom Rafferty C 70 Howard Richards T/G 63 Glen Titensor G 71 Mark Tuinei T Defensive Linemen 99 Kevin Brooks DT 78 John Dutton DT 77 Jim Jeffcoat DE 72 Ed Jones DE 60 Don Smerek DE/DT 54 Randy White DT		Linebackers 55 Steve DeOssie MLB 58 Mike Hegman OLB 53 Garth Jax OLB 56 Eugene Lockhart MLB 59 Jesse Penn OLB 50 Jeff Rohrer OLB Defensive Backs 36 Vince Albritton SS 40 Bill Bates SS 26 Michael Downs FS 27 Ron Fellows CB 45 Manny Hendrix CB 23 Johnny Holloway CB 24 Everson Walls CB Special Teams  4 Mike Saxon P  1 Rafael Septien K		Reserve Lists 28 Norm Granger FB (IR) 65 Kurt Petersen G (IR) 81 Karl Powe WR (IR) 89 Brian Salonen OLB/TE (IR) 22 Victor Scott FS (IR) 95 Mark Walen DE (IR) Rookies in italics 44 Active, 5 Inactive

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Game site	NFL Recap	Attendance
1	September 8, 1986	New York Giants	W 31–28	Texas Stadium		59,804
2	September 14, 1986	at Detroit Lions	W 31–7	Pontiac Silverdome		73,812
3	September 21, 1986	Atlanta Falcons	L 35–37	Texas Stadium		62,880
4	September 29, 1986	at St. Louis Cardinals	W 31–7	Busch Memorial Stadium		49,077
5	October 5, 1986	at Denver Broncos	L 14–29	Mile High Stadium		76,082
6	October 12, 1986	Washington Redskins	W 30–6	Texas Stadium		63,264
7	October 19, 1986	at Philadelphia Eagles	W 17–14	Veterans Stadium		68,572
8	October 26, 1986	St. Louis Cardinals	W 37–6	Texas Stadium		60,756
9	November 2, 1986	at New York Giants	L 14–17	Giants Stadium		74,871
10	November 9, 1986	Los Angeles Raiders	L 13–17	Texas Stadium		61,706
11	November 16, 1986	at San Diego Chargers	W 24–21	Jack Murphy Stadium		55,622
12	November 23, 1986	at Washington Redskins	L 14–41	RFK Stadium		55,642
13	November 27, 1986	Seattle Seahawks	L 14–31	Texas Stadium		58,020
14	December 7, 1986	at Los Angeles Rams	L 10–29	Anaheim Stadium		64,949
15	December 14, 1986	Philadelphia Eagles	L 21–23	Texas Stadium		46,117
16	December 21, 1986	Chicago Bears	L 10–24	Texas Stadium		57,256

Standings

NFC East
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
New York Giants^(1)	14	2	0	.875	7–1	11–1	371	236	W9
Washington Redskins^(4)	12	4	0	.750	5–3	9–3	368	296	W1
Dallas Cowboys	7	9	0	.438	5–3	6–6	346	337	L5
Philadelphia Eagles	5	10	1	.344	1–6–1	3–8–1	256	312	L1
St. Louis Cardinals	4	11	1	.281	1–6–1	3–10–1	218	351	W1

Game summaries

Week 1: vs. New York Giants

	1	2	3	4	Total
Giants	0	14	7	7	28
Cowboys	0	17	0	14	31

at Texas Stadium, Irving, Texas

• Date: Monday, September 8
• Game time: 8:00 p.m. CDT
• Game weather: 71°F, wind 11 mph
• Game attendance: 59,804
• Referee: Pat Haggerty
• TV announcers (ABC): Al Michaels (play by play), Frank Gifford (color commentator)
• Pro-Football-Reference.com

Game information

Second Quarter DAL – Tony Dorsett 36 yard pass from Danny White (Rafael Septien kick) – Cowboys 7–0 DAL – Herschel Walker 1 yard run (Rafael Septien kick) – Cowboys 14–0 NYG – Bobby Johnson 13 yard pass from Phil Simms (Bob Thomas kick) – Cowboys 14–7 NYG – Stacy Robinson 3 yard pass from Phil Simms (Bob Thomas kick) – Tied 14–14 DAL – Rafael Septien 35 yard field goal – Cowboys 17–14 Third Quarter NYG – Joe Morris 2 yard run (Bob Thomas kick) – Giants 21–17 Fourth Quarter DAL – Thornton Chandler 1 yard pass from Danny White (Rafael Septien kick) – Cowboys 24–21 NYG – Bobby Johnson 44 yard pass from Phil Simms (Bob Thomas kick) – Giants 28–24 DAL – Herschel Walker 10 yard run (Rafael Septien kick) – Cowboys 31–28 Giants Phil Simms 22/45, 300 Yds, 3 TD, INT Joe Morris 20 Rush, 87 Yds, TD Bobby Johnson 7 Rec, 105 Yds, 2 TD Cowboys Danny White 23/39, 279 Yds, 2 TD Herschel Walker 10 Rush, 64 Yds, 2 TD Tony Hill 5 Rec, 107 Yds

Week 9: at New York Giants

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cowboys	0	7	0	7	14
Giants	3	7	0	7	17

at Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey

• Date: November 2
• Game time: 12 noon CST
• Game weather: 59°F, wind 14 mph
• Game attendance: 74,871
• Referee: Dick Hantak
• TV announcers (CBS): Pat Summerall (play-by-play), John Madden (color commentary)

Week 10: vs. Los Angeles Raiders

1 2 3 4 Total • Raiders 0 3 7 7 17 Cowboys 3 7 3 0 13 Date: November 9 Location: Texas Stadium, Irving, Texas Game start: 4:00 p.m. Game weather: 56°F; wind 13 Referee: Pat Haggerty

Scoring summary Q1 DAL Septien 20 yard field goal DAL 3–0 Q2 LA Bahr 45 yard field goal Tie 3–3 Q2 DAL Dorsett 13 yard run (Septien kick) DAL 10–3 Q3 LA Williams 20 yard pass from Plunkett (Bahr kick) Tie 10–10 Q3 DAL Septien 20 yard field goal DAL 13–10 Q4 LA Williams 40 yard pass from Plunkett (Bahr kick) LA 17–13

• Dokie Williams 5 Rec, 107 Yds

^[1]

Week 13: vs. Seattle Seahawks

	1	2	3	4	Total
Seahawks	7	17	0	7	31
Cowboys	7	0	7	0	14

at Texas Stadium, Irving, Texas

• Date: November 27
• Game time: 1:00pm local
• Game weather: partly cloudy, 50 °F (10 °C), 61% humidity, wind N 13 miles per hour (21 km/h)
• Game attendance: 58,020
• Referee: Bob McElwee
• TV: NBC
• Gamebook

Game information

First quarter DAL – Tony Dorsett 8-yard run (Rafael Septien kick), 5:57 (DAL 7–0) SEA – Dave Krieg 4-yard run (Norm Johnson kick), 0:41 (Tied 7–7) Second quarter SEA – Steve Largent 11-yard pass from Dave Krieg (Norm Johnson kick), 7:04 (SEA 14–7) SEA – Byron Franklin 19-yard pass from Dave Krieg (Norm Johnson kick), 1:56 (SEA 21–7) SEA – Norm Johnson 42-yard field goal, 0:08 (SEA 24–7) Third quarter DAL – Herschel Walker 1-yard run (Rafael Septien kick), 6:54 (SEA 24–14) Fourth quarter SEA – Curt Warner 9-yard run (Norm Johnson kick), 10:06 (SEA 31–14) Top passers SEA – Dave Krieg: 16/24, 214 yds, 2 TD, 1 INT DAL – Steve Pelluer: 22/36, 210 yds Top rushers SEA – Curt Warner: 22 car, 122 yds, 1 TD DAL – Tony Dorsett: 14 car, 59 yds, 1 TD Top receivers SEA – Steve Largent: 3 rec, 75 yds, 1 TD DAL – Mike Sherrard: 4 rec, 61 yds Team – pass – rush – total – to SEA – 214 – 201 – 415 – 1 DAL – 201 – 127 – 328 – 1

Awards

For the first time in team history, the Cowboys had no players chosen to play in the Pro Bowl. They also had no players mentioned on the Associated Press’ All-NFL team.

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

1. Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Sep-08.

External links

• 1986 Dallas Cowboys
• Pro Football Hall of Fame
• Dallas Cowboys Official Site