After a 10-day, post-Thanksgiving Day break — and a second game against the Eagles — the Dallas Cowboys will hit the road.
Their first away game in December comes against the Bills in Buffalo.
Dallas has lost their last two meetings against the Bills.
The Cowboys have won eight of the 13 meetings with Buffalo. The two biggest wins came in back-to-back Super Bowls.
In addition to being 2-0 in neutral-site playoff games, Dallas is 4-2 at home against the Bills. They are 3-1 at Texas Stadium, and 1-1 at AT&T.
Dallas is 2-3 in games played in Buffalo, however.
They have lost the last two games played in Buffalo (2015) and in Dallas (2019).
The First Meeting
The two teams opened the 1971 season with a wild shootout in Buffalo.
Bills' quarterback Dennis Shaw would throw for 353 yards, four touchdowns, and three interceptions.
Shaw found Haven Moses for a 73 yard score, then hit Marlin Briscoe for 75 yards. Craig Morton would answer with a 76-yard pass to Bob Hayes.
Morton would throw for 221 yards and two scores on 10-of-14 passing.
Calvin Hill would add four rushing touchdowns and easily outgained O.J. Simpson, 84-25.
By the time the dust had settled, the Cowboys headed back home with a 49-37 victory.
Buffalo Gets On The Board
Dallas would win the next two games (1976 and 1981) both played at Texas Stadium. The Bills would finally beat the Cowboys in 1984.
In an ugly, turnover-filled game, Buffalo handed Dallas a 14-3 loss at Rich Stadium.
Greg Bell would rush for an 85-yard score in the first quarter and add a three-yard scoring pass in the fourth.
The teams would not meet again for nine years. When they did, it was on the biggest of stages.
Back-To-Back 'Boys
The Bills came into Super Bowl XXVII having lost two straight championship games to NFC East opponents.
Surely, conventional wisdom said, they wouldn't lose three straight.
Conventional wisdom hasn't been heard from since.
After spotting the Bills a 7-0 lead, Dallas unloaded on Buffalo.
Troy Aikman threw four touchdown passes, two to Michael Irvin, and Emmitt Smith added a scoring run. The Dallas defense scored on two fumble returns.
The only reason why they didn't score three touchdowns on defense… well, enough about poor Leon Lett. The 52-17 beatdown was bad enough.
The two teams met eight months later in the second game of the 1993 season.
The Bills gained a small amount of revenge with a 13-10 win at Texas Stadium.
But Emmitt Smith was holding out that game. It was a different story when the teams collided again four months later in Super Bowl XXVIII.
Smith would rush for 132 yards and two second-half touchdowns to rally Dallas to a 30-13 victory.
The Cowboys defense would add another score on James Washington's fumble return.
Dallas was back-to-back champions. The Bills had lost four straight Super Bowls. A record likely never to be broken.
The Aftermath
The teams have evenly split the six games they've played against each other since that last Super Bowl meeting.
Buffalo picked up home wins in 1996 and 2015 while adding a win at AT&T Stadium in 2019.
Dallas won three straight (2003, 2007, and 2011). The 2007 win came in Buffalo and was a classic.
The Wild Comeback
On Oct. 8, 2007, in a Monday night game in Orchard Park, NY, the Buffalo offense would generate just three points.
Somehow, with 24 seconds left in the game, they led 24-16.
After those 24 seconds ticked off, the Cowboys walked off the field with a 25-24 victory. It might be one of the greatest Monday night games ever.
Tony Romo had an…interesting…evening.
He would throw five interceptions. He would also throw four touchdowns.
Unfortunately, two of them were to the Bills.
George Wilson picked off a Romo pass for a 25-yard score in the first quarter. Chris Kelsay picked off a Romo pass in the Cowboys' own endzone for another score.
Dallas stayed close, a Romo 22-yard pass to Witten and two Nick Folk field goals to trail 17-13 early in the third.
But Terrance McGee returned a kickoff 103 yards and the Bills led 24-13 after three.
Folk added a third field goal to make it 24-16 to open the final quarter. Then it got crazy.
Wait, What Just Happened?
Romo would fumble and throw his fifth interception on back-to-back drives.
The Cowboys' defense kept them in the game with a Terence Newman pick and a forced punt after a three-and-out.
With 3:45 left in the game, and starting on his own 15, Romo drove the length of the field.
He found Patrick Crayton on a four-yard pass over the middle for a touchdown.
But Romo's two-point pass attempt to Terrell Owens was dropped. The Cowboys, with just 20 seconds left, were forced to go for an onside kick.
The ball was tipped, just past 10 yards, and punched downfield.
Tony Curtis outraced everyone to the ball and recovered it at the Bills 47.
Two quick passes from Romo to Marion Barber and Crayton gave Dallas the ball at the 35 with just two seconds left.
Nick Folk kicked a pair of 53-yard field goals — the first negated by a Bills timeout just before the snap — to keep Dallas unbeaten at 5-0 with a 25-24 win.
