Cowboys hoping for a sweet 16th meeting against Dolphins

The week after their game in Buffalo, Dallas will be playing in a much warmer climate. The Cowboys will travel to Miami for their 16th overall contest against the Dolphins.

It will be the 15th regular season contest, with the teams splitting the first 14 evenly.

Dallas has outscored Miami 296-254 in the regular season games.

Their one postseason matchup came in New Orleans and a Cowboys’ 24-3 victory in Super Bowl VI.

Miami is 5-4 in games played in Dallas, winning five of the seven games played at Texas Stadium.

The Cowboys have won both games played at AT&T Stadium.

The Cowboys are 3-2 in games played in Miami, however, with an impressive 127-95 scoring advantage.

Dallas has won the last four meetings overall.

The Big Game

The first meeting between the two clubs had everything riding on it.

The Cowboys arrived in New Orleans having lost Super Bowl V, 16-13, to the Colts the year before.

To this day, many wonder if the outcome would have been different if Tom Landry had started Roger Staubach over Craig Morton.

Or, at least pulled Morton after his third interception.

There would be no such questions after Staubach led Dallas to a 21-point victory, and the Cowboys’ first championship, over Miami.

Football: Super Bowl VI: Dallas Cowboys QB Roger Staubach (12) in acion vs Miami Dolphins at Tulane Stadium.New Orleans, LA 1/16/1972CREDIT: Walter Iooss Jr. (Photo by Walter Iooss Jr. /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images/Getty Images)(Set Number: X16492 R2 F36 )

Staubach threw touchdown passes to Lance Alworth and Mike Ditka.

Duane Thomas added 95 yards and a rushing touchdown.

Dallas’ Doomsday Defense terrorized Miami quarterback Bob Griese, much as they had the Colts’ Johnny Unitas and Earl Morrell the year before.

Only this time, their offense showed up to support them.

Home Field Disadvantage

Texas Stadium was usually an automatic win for Dallas. Unless the Dolphins were in town.

Miami won its first game in the stadium, 14-7, in 1973.

The Cowboys needed two late Danny White touchdown passes for a 28-27 win in 1981. But the Dolphins would win the next three meetings in Dallas.

The third win, a Thanksgiving Day game in 1993, Leon Lett would much rather forget.

No, Leon, No

When last we heard from Leon Lett, he fumbled a touchdown away courtesy of Don Beebe’s hustle in Super Bowl XXVII.

The Cowboys’ defensive lineman would make one more play to earn unwanted notoriety.

On a snowy day in Dallas, with Texas Stadium’s iconic hole in the roof letting it cover the field, Dallas clung to a 14-13 lead over Miami with seconds to go.

A nice Thanksgiving Day game between the Cowboys and the Miami Dolphins. Photo courtesy of dallascowboys.com

Miami’s Pete Stoyanovich lined up to kick the game-winning field goal. The attempt was blocked.

The ball settled into the snow short of the goal line. Dallas had won.

Enter Lett.

For some reason, Lett thought the ball was live and dove after the ball. He made contact and set off a scramble to recover what now actually was a live ball.

Miami recovered at the two, Stoyanovich lined up and nailed the game-winner for a 16-14 Dolphins win.

Amazingly, Jimmy Johnson didn’t cut Lett on the spot.

Which was a good thing because Lett was a key player in the Cowboys’ Super Bowl win a few weeks later. But it was still a hard loss to swallow.

Better Days At Home

Dallas would win three of the next four meetings at home. With Miami claiming a 40-21 win in 2003, the last game the Dolphins would play in Texas Stadium.

The Cowboys escaped with a 20-19 win in 2011, the first game the teams played in AT&T, on Dan Bailey’s 28-yard field goal as time expired.

Dallas won 31-6 in 2019, the last time the teams met in Dallas.

Miami Welcomes The Cowboys

The Dolphins won the first two meetings in Miami. Both were close games, 23-16, in 1978, and, 28-21, in 1984.

Since then, Dallas has won three straight in Miami. None of the three games were close. The Cowboys rolled to wins of 29-10 (1996), 37-20 (2007), and 24-14 (2015).