Cowboys Nostalgia Thread

boozeman said:
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We were snake bit with Johnson. Clearly a difference-maker, so we trade him away with a crowded WR room only to have Dupree retire and legend Drew Pearson get hurt in a car accident ending his career as well. Left us Tony Hill and Doug Cosbie— but what a change from 1983 to 1984.

Had we known, I’m sure Johnson starts in 1984 and the playoff streak wouldn’t have broken
 
ravidubey said:
We were snake bit with Johnson. Clearly a difference-maker, so we trade him away with a crowded WR room only to have Dupree retire and legend Drew Pearson get hurt in a car accident ending his career as well. Left us Tony Hill and Doug Cosbie— but what a change from 1983 to 1984.

Had we known, I’m sure Johnson starts in 1984 and the playoff streak wouldn’t have broken
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This is not at all true.

We missed the playoffs that year because we were 9-5 going into the last 2 games and lost them both, giving up 30 and 28 points.

We traded Butch Johnson for Mike Renfro (plus some picks were exchanged), who was a capable receiver and put up similar stats that year to Johnson. Renfro's 1985 season was far and away better than any season Johnson had in his career. The receiving trio of Tony Hill, Mike Renfro, and Doug Cosbie was plenty good enough, especially with how much we utilized Springs and Newsome out of the backfield

And by the way, one of the picks we got in the Johnson trade wound up being Herschel Walker. Who we of course eventually traded for a windfall that helped us win 3 super bowls.
 
Genghis Khan said:
This is not at all true.

We missed the playoffs that year because we were 9-5 going into the last 2 games and lost them both, giving up 30 and 28 points.

We traded Butch Johnson for Mike Renfro (plus some picks were exchanged), who was a capable receiver and put up similar stats that year to Johnson. Renfro's 1985 season was far and away better than any season Johnson had in his career. The receiving trio of Tony Hill, Mike Renfro, and Doug Cosbie was plenty good enough, especially with how much we utilized Springs and Newsome out of the backfield

And by the way, one of the picks we got in the Johnson trade wound up being Herschel Walker. Who we of course eventually traded for a windfall that helped us win 3 super bowls.
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Johnson kicked ass for the Broncos that year, helping them to the playoffs scoring six TD's.

In 1984, Johnson, who I'd call a better deep WR would have been the better fit, especially since he was already on the team.

  • In that 30 point game we allowed Washington to come back on us partly because we threw a pick six targeting Doug fing Donley who couldn't screen 5'8" Darrell Green on an inside cut after we were up 21-6. This play more than any other pissed me off and underscored how bad our outside WR's were.
  • And sometimes you need to possess the ball and outscore teams. Our WR's were terrible vs the season finale vs the Dolphins in that 28 point game you described. Tony Hill scored a deep TD on a fluke deflection, but otherwise we couldn't really get them the ball. We could only score 20 points vs the Cardinals, at home.

I really liked Renfro too, but his 85 season was good because he didn't split time with two other WR's and our offense as a whole had improved it's play-calling including shortening all WR patterns to better fit White. For most of the year we were the number one offense thanks to these adjustments, but these changes got shut down in the playoffs.

But yeah, I hear you on the 5th round pick-- getting Walker was huge!
 
ravidubey said:
Johnson kicked ass for the Broncos that year, helping them to the playoffs scoring six TD's.
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He had 42 / 587 for the Broncos that year and caught less than half his targets. That's not kicking ass.

Renfro put up similar numbers although his YPC was higher.

You said had we kept Johnson we'd have made the playoffs. I'm saying they replaced him with pretty similar production, it's highly unlikely we'd have made the playoffs by substituting Renfro for Johnson. Renfro was solid and not really a downgrade.
 
Hey, I just posted that to wish him a happy birthday.

We got ourselves a full on debate here.
 
Genghis Khan said:
I actually think he's overrated (granted I am too young to have watched him so maybe I'll defer to @bbgun ).

He had 2 good years (not great, good). He's Tony Pollard or Marion Barber.
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Apparently he came with serious attitude, too. But he had confidence. He felt like he could guarantee Dallas 100 yards a game
 
Disregard, CL is a moron. :dunce

Genghis Khan said:
I actually think he's overrated (granted I am too young to have watched him so maybe I'll defer to @bbgun ).

He had 2 good years (not great, good). He's Tony Pollard or Marion Barber.
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I don't know either, just going off stats. But he made six Pro Bowls (when that meant something) and was 6th in rushing in league history when he retired.
 
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