Rank'Em
Rank’Em: Playing the reigning MVP at home
Here are the top-10 games in which the Cowboys were the home team in a matchup they did not lose to the reigning MVP.
Oct. 11, 1964 vs. New York Giants (1963 MVP Y.A. Tittle) • T, 13-13
Y.A. Tittle was in the final year of his Hall of Fame career but had also captured the MVP award the season before. After this game, though, retirement might have looked nice. Tittle completed 6 of 18 passes for a paltry 66 yards with two interceptions and four sacks. Then again, despite throwing for 296 yards, the Cowboys' Don Meredith tossed three picks himself and was sacked seven times in a game that would end in a tie.
Nov. 18, 1996 vs. Green Bay Packers (1995 MVP Brett Favre) • W, 21-6
After winning the first of his three consecutive MVP awards in 1995, Brett Favre and the Packers rolled into Texas Stadium to face the defending champs. Needless to say, it was a rough afternoon for the Green Bay gunslinger. The Cowboys held Favre to 194 passing yards while also sacking him four times. Not that the Dallas offense was much better. All 21 of the home side's points came courtesy of Chris Boniol field goals, which is still tied for the most in a game in franchise history.
Nov. 2, 1987 vs. New York Giants (1986 MVP Lawrence Taylor) • W, 33-24
The last defensive player to win MVP honors, Taylor was a menace. Three of his nine career interceptions as well as one of his two touchdowns came against Dallas. He also had 15 sacks in 22 matchups and two fumble recoveries. Keeping with that trend, Taylor had both an interception and a sack in this Monday night showdown, but the Cowboys got four field goals and a pick-6, all in the fourth quarter, for the come-from-behind victory.
Nov. 3, 2013 vs. Minnesota Vikings (2012 MVP Adrian Peterson) • W, 27-23
Adrian Peterson was coming off his only MVP season, one in which he led the league with 2,097 rushing yards. And he certainly had his way with the Dallas defense on this day, rumbling for 140 yards and a touchdown. But Tony Romo engineered a game-winning drive, throwing the go-ahead scoring pass with just 42 seconds left. It was the second of two touchdown passes for the Cowboys quarterback, who also had 337 yards passing.
Oct. 17, 1993 vs. San Francisco 49ers (1992 MVP Steve Young) • W, 26-17
Two of the NFL's best quarterbacks went toe-to-toe in this one. Steve Young and been the MVP of the 1992 regular season while Troy Aikman was named MVP of Super Bowl XXVII. Young bested his counterpart on the stat sheet with 267 passing yards compared to Aikman's 243, and both threw a touchdown pass. However, the latter came out on top where it mattered most as the Cowboys scored the final 10 points to take the win.
Dec. 13, 1969 vs. Baltimore Colts (1968 MVP Earl Morrall) • W, 27-10
A backup for most of his career, Earl Morrall replaced an injured Johnny Unitas during the 1968 season and went on to earn MVP honors. But with Unitas healthy again for 1969, Morrall was regulated back to the bench, which was perhaps a stroke of luck in this one as Unitas was intercepted three times. Morrall got mop-up duties late but failed to complete a pass on five attempts, and he had one interception as well.
Dec. 9, 1973 vs. Washington Redskins (1972 MVP Larry Brown) • W, 27-7
Running back Larry Brown earned MVP honors in 1972 after leading the NFL with 1,689 yards from scrimmage, his 101.3 rushing yards per game also topping the league. The sledding, though, would be tough for him in his 1973 visit to Dallas. The Doomsday Defense held him to just 29 rushing yards on 14 carries while the Cowboys' ground game combined for 193 yards and two touchdowns on a whopping 47 rushing attempts.
Jan. 2, 1972 vs. San Francisco 49ers (1970 MVP John Brodie) • W, 14-3
San Francisco quarterback John Brodie earned the MVP award during the 1970 regular season, only to have Dallas defeat the 49ers on their field with a 17-10 victory in the NFC Championship Game. Just one year later, these two teams were back at it in the 1971 NFC Championship, albeit this time in Texas Stadium. The result was the same, though, with the Cowboys intercepting Brodie three times on their way to a second trip to the Super Bowl and the franchise's first Lombardi Trophy.
Jan. 23, 1994 vs. San Francisco 49ers (1992 MVP Steve Young) • W, 38-21
Troy Aikman and Steve Young would face off again during that 1993 campaign when the Cowboys and 49ers later met in the NFC Championship Game. Things were different this time around for San Francisco's quarterback as Young was sacked four times and threw an interception for a 76.8 rating. Conversely, Aikman tossed two touchdowns with no turnovers for a 144.7 mark. That effort propelled Dallas to its second straight Super Bowl win.
Jan. 31, 1993 vs. Buffalo Bills (1991 MVP Thurman Thomas) • W, 52-17
We'll fudge this one a little as obviously Super Bowl XXVII wasn't played at Texas Stadium, but the Cowboys were designated the home team in this championship battle. MVP of the 1991 season, Bills running back Thurman Thomas again had a Pro Bowl year in 1992, and he scored the first touchdown of this title tilt. But it all went downhill for him after that as the Dallas defense held Thomas to just 19 rushing yards and forced him to fumble once as well in the dominating win.
