The

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

was the franchise's 31st season in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

(NFL) and was the second year of the franchise under the ownership of

Jerry Jones Jerral Wayne Jones (born October 13, 1942) is an American businessman who has been the owner, president, and general manager of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL) since February 1989. Early life Jones was born in Los Ange ...

and

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in asso ...

Jimmy Johnson. The Cowboys rebounded from a 1–15 season in

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

to a 7–9 record. However, the Cowboys missed the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season. Despite this, Jimmy Johnson won AP's NFL coach of the year honors.

Summary

The season began with a win over

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

, breaking a 14-game home losing streak. The Cowboys showed some early season fight with two wins over Tampa Bay and a near-miss against Philadelphia, but still stood only 3–7 after ten weeks, and were seemingly out of playoff contention. However, the team improved significantly in late November, winning four games in a row (including impressive wins over the Redskins and Saints, and a blowout win over the Cardinals). The Cowboys entered the season's final two weeks needing only one win or Saints' loss to make the playoffs as a wildcard. However, in Week 16, quarterback

Troy Aikman Troy Kenneth Aikman (born November 21, 1966) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. After transferring from Oklahoma, he played college football at UCLA, ...

separated his shoulder early against the Eagles and was replaced by Babe Laufenberg (the Cowboys had traded backup Steve Walsh early in the season and Laufenberg was elevated from third string to backup). With Aikman injured, the Cowboys mustered little offense against the Eagles and lost, 17–3. Meanwhile, the Saints upset the 49ers (handing the Niners only their second loss) to keep the Cowboys from clinching in Week 16. The next week, with Laufenberg again leading the offense, the Cowboys were thoroughly beaten, 26–7, by the 4–11 Atlanta Falcons. When the Saints beat the Rams the next night, the Cowboys were eliminated from playoff contention. This season featured the debut of running back Emmitt Smith. Smith held out during training camp and was only a minimal contributor in the season's early games, but began to show his future greatness with a 100+ yard performance in a Week 5 win against Tampa Bay and had a few other outstanding games during the season. Because of the dismal 1-15 record from the previous season, the home opener against the San Diego Chargers was threatened to be blacked out for the local television market, since Texas Stadium was not sold out. A local radio station ended up buying all of the unsold tickets so that the game could be broadcast to the local DFW market.

Offseason

NFL draft

Regular season

Schedule

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings

Roster

Season summary

Porkchop Bowl

The Porkchop Bowl was the NFL matchup between the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

and

which followed the infamous Bounty Bowl II. Even though almost a year had transpired since the notorious "

Bounty Bowl The Bounty Bowl was the name given to two NFL games held in 1989 between the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys. The first, a 1989 Thanksgiving Day game in Dallas, was noted for allegations that the Eagles put a $200 bounty on Cowboys kicker ...

" games, the vitriolic rivalry between the two teams was still firmly in Cowboys fans' memories. And this was the first encounter since Cowboys players and coaches were relentlessly pelted by snowballs during that last meeting at

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

Veterans Stadium Veterans Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, at the northeast corner of Broad Street (Philadelphia), Broad Street and Pattison Avenue, part of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex. The seating capa ...

. The week before game day in Dallas, Philadelphia head coach

Buddy Ryan James David "Buddy" Ryan (February 17, 1931 – June 28, 2016) was an American football coach in the National Football League (NFL) and American Football League (AFL). During his 35-season coaching career, Ryan served as the head coach of the ...

and

Ted Plumb Thomas E. "Ted" Plumb (born August 20, 1939) is a former American football player and coach. His playing career ended after a neck injury in training camp as he looked like a promising young receiver for the Buffalo Bills out of Baylor Universit ...

, his offensive coordinator, were out for dinner. Coach Ryan was dining on pork chops and started to choke. Plumb quickly initiated the

Heimlich maneuver Abdominal thrusts, also known as the Heimlich maneuver or Heimlich manoeuvre, is a first aid procedure used to treat upper airway obstructions (or choking) by foreign objects. American doctor Henry Heimlich is often credited for its creation. ...

and saved Ryan's life. Word of the incident spread in Dallas, and hatred by Dallas fans was so fevered towards Ryan that former Cowboys' president

Tex Schramm Texas Earnest Schramm Jr. (June 2, 1920 – July 15, 2003) was an American football executive who was the original president and general manager of the Dallas Cowboys franchise of the National Football League (NFL). Schramm, usually referred to ...

dubbed the pending game on October 28 the "Porkchop Bowl." When the game began, Dallas fans tossed pork chops and similar simulated meat products from the stands toward the Eagles bench. The final score was 21–20 in favor of the Eagles.

Transactions

* On September 25, 1990, the Dallas Cowboys traded Steve Walsh to the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

for the Saints' first and third round picks in the

1991 NFL Draft The 1991 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 21–22, 1991, at the Marriott M ...

and a second round pick (that could become a first round pick based on performance) in the

1992 NFL Draft The 1992 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 26–27, 1992, at the Marriott M ...

Awards and records

* Jimmy Johnson,

National Football League Coach of the Year Award The National Football League Coach of the Year Award is presented annually by various news and sports organizations to the National Football League (NFL) head coach who has done the most outstanding job of working with the talent he has at his disp ...

Emmitt Smith Emmitt James Smith III (born May 15, 1969) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, primarily with the Dallas Cowboys. Among other accolades, he is the le ...

National Football League Rookie of the Year Award Various entities present a National Football League Rookie of the Year Award each season to the top rookie(s) in the National Football League (NFL). The NFL considers the (rookie) of the year awards by the Associated Press (AP) to be its official ...

Publications

* ''The Football Encyclopedia'' * ''Total Football'' * ''Cowboys Have Always Been My Heroes''

References

External links

1990 Dallas Cowboys

Pro Football Hall of Fame

Dallas Cowboys Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:1990 Dallas Cowboys Season Dallas Cowboys seasons

Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...