The Bounty Bowl was the name given to two
NFL games held 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 ...
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
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 ...
. The first, a
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 ...
Thanksgiving Day game in
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 ...
, was noted for allegations that the Eagles put a $200
bounty
Bounty or bounties commonly refers to:
* Bounty (reward), an amount of money or other reward offered by an organization for a specific task done with a person or thing
Bounty or bounties may also refer to:
Geography
* Bounty, Saskatchewan, a g ...
on Cowboys
kicker
Kicker or The Kicker may refer to:
Sports
* Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football
* ''Kicker'' (sports magazine), in Germany
* Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player
* Kicker, the word used i ...
Luis Zendejas
Luis Fernando Zendejas (born October 22, 1961) is a Mexican former American football placekicker in the National Football League (NFL) for the Minnesota Vikings, Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys. He also was a member of the Arena Football ...
, who had been cut by Philadelphia earlier that season. The second was a rematch held two weeks later in Philadelphia. The Eagles, who were heavy favorites to win both games, swept the series.
Bounty Bowl I: The 1989 Thanksgiving Classic
The Cowboys/Eagles rivalry had been increasingly heated since the 1986 season, with
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 ...
arriving as the Eagles' head coach; the next year, during the NFL players' strike, the Cowboys (who were playing with a number of players that crossed picket lines) routed an Eagles squad filled with
replacement player In professional sports, a replacement player is an athlete who is not a member of the league's players association and plays during a labor dispute such as a strike or lockout, serving as a strikebreaker.
Instances of replacement players
Nati ...
s; Ryan, believing that the Cowboys had
run up the score in poor form, responded in kind in the second game when the strike was over. After the 1988 season, the Cowboys were sold to
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 ...
, who proceeded to gut the team and fire longtime head coach
Tom Landry
Thomas Wade Landry (September 11, 1924 – February 12, 2000) was an American professional football player and coach. He was the first head coach of the Dallas Cowboys in the National Football League (NFL), a position he held for 29 seasons. Dur ...
in preparation for rebuilding.
On November 23, 1989, the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Dallas Cowboys 27–0. Following the game, which was broadcast on
CBS, Cowboys head coach
Jimmy Johnson alleged that Ryan had taken out a bounty on two of the former's players, kicker Luis Zendejas and 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, ...
:
Ryan denied the bounty accusation, saying that film of the game "show that Small had no intention of hurting Zendejas."
[ The Philadelphia coach asserted it would have been in the Eagles' best interests to keep Zendejas in the game because he was in a slump.][ Ryan also joked about Johnson's accusations:]
When the Cowboys and Eagles met on Thanksgiving 25 years later, on November 27, 2014, Johnson joked that Ryan put up the bounty offer to keep his players interested since the Cowboys, who ultimately went 1-15, performed so poorly that year.
Zendejas spoke of having seen ''Buddy call guys out and give them $100'' for what the kicker called a weekly Big Hit award but what Ryan called a Big Play award. This set of events set the stage for the scheduled rematch two weeks later in Philadelphia, dubbed "Bounty Bowl II." As for the Eagles, they would not play another Thanksgiving game until the 2008 NFL season
The 2008 NFL season was the 89th regular season of the National Football League, themed with the slogan "Believe in Now."
Super Bowl XLIII, the league's championship game, was at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, on February 1, 2009, ...
when the Eagles faced the Arizona Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play th ...
in a preview of that season's NFC Championship Game.
Bounty Bowl II
The second game in the series took place on December 10, 1989, with NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue in attendance. The game was anticipated as a media event. CBS Sports
CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W ...
did a pre-game opening touting the contest as "Bounty Bowl II", complete with wanted posters, the involved players' pictures, and bounty amounts.
During the game, Eagles' fans threw snowballs, ice, and beer onto the field. Several game participants were targeted, including back judge Al Jury and Cowboys punter Mike Saxon (both struck by snowballs), as well as Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson, who was hit with objects as he was escorted off the field by the Philadelphia Police Department
The Philadelphia Police Department (PPD or Philly PD) is the police agency responsible for law enforcement and investigations within the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The PPD is one of the oldest municipal police agencies, fourth largest ...
. Television announcers Verne Lundquist
Merton Laverne Lundquist Jr. (born July 17, 1940) is an American sportscaster.
Biography
Early life and career
Lundquist was born in Duluth, Minnesota. He graduated from Austin High School in Austin, Texas, before attending Texas Lutheran U ...
and Terry Bradshaw
Terry Paxton Bradshaw (born September 2, 1948) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the National Football League (NFL). Since 1994, he has been a television sports analyst an ...
were also pelted with snowballs – Lundquist would claim on-air that a recent dental surgery had been less unpleasant than broadcasting a game in Philadelphia – and Eagles defensive lineman Jerome Brown
Willie Jerome Brown III (February 4, 1965 – June 25, 1992) was an American football defensive tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He played his entire five-year NFL career with the Eagles from 1987 to 1 ...
was struck while standing on the sideline asking fans to cease throwing things.
Eagles fan Edward Rendell
Edward Gene Rendell (; born January 5, 1944) is an American lawyer, prosecutor, politician, and author. He served as the 45th Governor of Pennsylvania from 2003 to 2011, as chair of the national Democratic Party, and as the 96th Mayor of Philade ...
later admitted that he was involved in the incident. The then-former Philadelphia district attorney
In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a ...
, future mayor of Philadelphia
The mayor of Philadelphia is the chief executive of the government of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
as stipulated by the Charter of the City of Philadelphia. The current mayor of Philadelphia is Jim Kenney.
History
The first mayor of Philadelphia, ...
and future governor of Pennsylvania
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
bet another fan $20 that the latter couldn't reach the field with a snowball; Rendell lost.
The Eagles won the game 20–10. As a result of the incident, the Eagles added security and banned beer sales for their last home game of the year against the Phoenix Cardinals and the subsequent NFC wild-card playoff game versus the Los Angeles Rams
The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC Wes ...
.
Aftermath
Porkchop Bowl
A third game in the heated rivalry took place the next season, known as the "Porkchop Bowl". The game got its name because Eagles head coach Buddy Ryan choked on a pork chop in the week leading up to the game. Philadelphia won this game as well, 21–20.
Further coverage
In 2008 and on April 11, 2010, the game was included on a list of the ten most memorable moments in the history of Texas Stadium
Texas Stadium was an American football stadium located in Irving, Texas, a suburb west of Dallas. Opened on October 24, 1971, it was known for its distinctive hole in the roof, the result of abandoned plans to construct a retractable roof (Cowboy ...
by ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
.
See also
*New Orleans Saints bounty scandal
The New Orleans Saints bounty scandal, formally known as "Bountygate," was an incident in which members of the New Orleans Saints team of the National Football League (NFL) were accused of paying out bonuses, or " bounties," for injuring opposing ...
*National Football League controversies
The National Football League (NFL) is the premier professional American football league in the United States, and is also one of the major North American professional sports leagues. However, the NFL is not without its share of controversies. Thr ...
*Cowboys–Eagles rivalry
The Cowboys–Eagles rivalry is a year-long intra-divisional rivalry between the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League, with the two teams contained in the same division since 1961.
The rivalry has been ranked ...
References
External links
Coach's Perspective of Bounty Bowl
{{NFL on CBS
Dallas Cowboys
National Football League games
1989 National Football League season
Philadelphia Eagles
National Football League controversies
1989 in sports in Texas
1989 in sports in Pennsylvania
American football incidents
NFL on Thanksgiving Day
Culture of Philadelphia
Violence in sports
November 1989 sports events in the United States
December 1989 sports events in the United States