There’s a lot of history between the Rams and Cowboys, and Sunday’s matchup stirs memories
During a Rams career that spanned 20 seasons, Jackie Slater heard coaches deliver 259 pregame speeches.
The one from Nov. 15, 1992, stands out.
The Rams were two-touchdown underdogs against the Dallas Cowboys at Texas Stadium.
So coach Chuck Knox opted for an economy of words.
“He looked at us for a long time,” Slater, a Hall of Fame offensive lineman, said, “and then he finally said, ‘14-point underdogs?’ And then he spit on the floor, put his cap on and walked out on the field.
“Nothing else needed to be said.”
The Rams went out and upset the eventual Super Bowl champions 27-23.
No one knew it then, but it was the last time the Los Angeles Rams would play the Cowboys, seemingly ending a rivalry that ranked among the NFL’s best, especially during the early and mid-1970s when the Cowboys and the Minnesota Vikings served as annual playoff roadblocks for the Rams.
Sunday, 25 years and two franchise moves later, the Rams return to Dallas to play the Cowboys. It will be a litmus test for a Rams team that is 2-1 and sits atop the NFC West under first-year coach Sean McVay.
“You are familiar with it,” McVay, 31, said of the history between the teams. “Embracing that history is part of it.
“I think it’s also important to know this is a storied franchise on both ends.”
The Los Angeles Rams and the Cowboys have played 25 times, with the Rams leading 13-12. They are 4-4 in playoff games.
It started in 1960, when the Rams defeated the Cowboys 38-13 at the Cotton Bowl in the first regular-season game between the teams. Thus began a long cross-country partnership.
Rams owner Dan Reeves and Cowboys general manager Tex Schramm were good friends, so the Rams and Cowboys were among the first NFL teams to hold joint practices. And the Cowboys, who trained in Thousand Oaks, annually played the Rams in the The Times preseason charity game.
“The Rams were our friends because of the relationships,” said Gil Brandt, 84, the Cowboys’ head scout in 1960, later a longtime executive for the team and now an NFL.com contributor.
In 1967, the Rams defeated the Cowboys 35-13 amid accusations that coach George Allen had sent a scout to spy on the Cowboys during practice. Allen comically countered that the Cowboys had put a scout in a tree to spy on the Rams.
San Francisco was “Enemy No. 1” and Dallas was “Enemy No. 2”
— Former Rams quarterback Roman Gabriel
“San Francisco was ‘Enemy No. 1’ and Dallas was ‘Enemy No. 2,’ ” former Rams quarterback Roman Gabriel said.
Tommy Prothro replaced Allen as coach in 1971 and Gabriel remembers a 28-21 Rams defeat on Thanksgiving Day at Texas Stadium. One third-down play stood out.
“I remember I started running off the field and [linebacker] Lee Roy Jordan says, ‘You’re not going to fool us, no one punts on third down. I know better,’” Gabriel said. “I told him, ‘Lee Roy, you’re in for something.’
“We pinned them, but they still beat us.”
During the 1970s, the Rams made the playoffs seven times. The Cowboys eliminated them three times, including 28-0 at the Coliseum in 1978. The Rams finally broke through in 1979, on the way to their only Super Bowl appearance.
The Rams had lost at Dallas in mid-October, with then-backup quarterback Vince Ferragamo suffering a broken hand in the defeat.
Eleven weeks later, the Rams returned for an NFC divisional playoff game.
Ferragamo, elevated to starter, was approached before the game by an amped-up teammate who anchored the defensive line.
“When Jack Youngblood comes up to you and says, ‘Son, this is the biggest game you’re going to play in your life. You better get ready,’ Wow, you better perform,” Ferragamo said, laughing.
The Rams trailed 19-14 in the fourth quarter when Slater and his fellow offensive linemen gave Ferragamo seemingly an eternity to find an open receiver. Ferragamo stepped up and drilled a pass over the middle to Billy Waddy for a 50-yard touchdown.
“We gave him a good length of time to make a good decision,” Slater said.
The Rams held on for a victory that finally moved them past a longtime nemesis.
“It was so monumental,” defensive back Nolan Cromwell said. “We finally got over the hump.”
The game was the last for Roger Staubach, the Cowboys’ Hall of Fame quarterback.
Youngblood suffered a broken leg, a setback that did not stop the Hall of Fame end from finishing the game, or playing in the NFC championship game victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Super Bowl loss against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The next season, the Rams lost at Texas Stadium in a wild-card game. They lost there again in 1981 during the regular season.
But on a cold day in 1983, the Rams beat the Cowboys 24-17 in a wild-card game.
Ferragamo’s touchdown pass to receiver George Farmer early in the fourth quarter gave the Rams an 11-point lead.
“I think that kind of did Tom Landry in as coach of the Cowboys,” Farmer said.
Kids grow up, they want to be Cowboys. It’s like a religion
— Rams kicker Tony Zendejas
New owner Jerry Jones fired Landry in 1989 after the Cowboys made the playoffs only once in the next five seasons. Three years later, coach Jimmie Johnson had the Cowboys rolling with a team that featured quarterback Troy Aikman, running back Emmitt Smith and receiver Michael Irvin.
The Cowboys were 8-1, the Rams 3-6 in 1992 when Knox gave his short speech and headed to the field at Texas Stadium.
Rams kicker Tony Zendejas had spent his first six NFL seasons with the Houston Oilers. He knew what awaited the Rams on the road against the Cowboys.
“Texas is Cowboys country,” Zendejas said. “I used to get jealous: ‘What about me? What about the Oilers?’
“Kids grow up, they want to be Cowboys. It’s like a religion.”
The Rams had lost 12 consecutive road games. They had fallen 20-14 the previous week at home against the Phoenix Cardinals in a game that included three fumbles by running back Cleveland Gary.
But Gary rushed for a touchdown and caught a touchdown pass against the Cowboys. Quarterback Jim Everett passed for two touchdowns. And Zendejas kicked two late field goals before the Rams survived a last-second threat by the Cowboys in a 27-23 victory.
After the game, Everett referenced the point spread.
“The guy who’s making the lines must be smoking dope,” he said of the oddsmakers.
Everett laughed last week when reminded of his comment.
“Sounds like something I would say,” he said. “I do remember that game, my buddies getting in a fight in the stands.
“They had beers thrown on them because they were wearing Rams gear.”
That was the last time the Los Angeles Rams played the Cowboys.
The Rams moved to St. Louis after the 1994 season. They did not play the Cowboys again until 2002. They last met in 2014.
The Rams returned to Los Angeles last season and played their last two preseason openers against the Cowboys.
Despite leading the NFL in points scored, they will travel to AT&T Stadium as six-point underdogs.
Slater does not expect the loquacious McVay to repeat Knox’s short pregame speech.
“’I’m expecting him to have a lot of words,” Slater said. “He seems to have a way with them.”
Follow Gary Klein on Twitter @latimesklein
Go beyond the scoreboard
Get the latest on L.A.'s teams in the daily Sports Report newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
