1980 Season

The 1980 Dallas Cowboys season was their 21st in the league. The team improved their previous output of 11–5, winning twelve games.^[1] They qualified for the playoffs as an NFC Wild Card, but lost in the Conference Championship.

The season featured a very unusual end to the regular season. Going into the final week of the season, Dallas (at 11–4) played Philadelphia (12–3) at Texas Stadium. Under the NFL's tiebreaking rules, if Dallas could beat the Eagles by 25 points, they would earn the NFC's number one seed and homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. However, if they lost (or won by less than 25) then Philadelphia would get the number one seed and (since they played in the same division) Dallas would be a wildcard team. Dallas led 35–10 in the fourth quarter, but the Eagles rallied to lose only 35–27. This forced Dallas to play an extra week in the playoffs and a road game in Atlanta in the divisional round. Dallas ultimately lost at Philadelphia in the NFC Championship game.

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Attendance
1	September 8, 1980	at Washington Redskins	W 17–3	55,045
2	September 14, 1980	at Denver Broncos	L 41–20	74,919
3	September 21, 1980	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	W 28–17	62,750
4	September 28, 1980	at Green Bay Packers	W 28–7	54,776
5	October 5, 1980	New York Giants	W 24–3	59,126
6	October 12, 1980	San Francisco 49ers	W 59–14	63,399
7	October 19, 1980	at Philadelphia Eagles	L 17–10	70,696
8	October 26, 1980	San Diego Chargers	W 42–31	60,639
9	November 2, 1980	at St. Louis Cardinals	W 27–24	50,701
10	November 9, 1980	at New York Giants	L 38–35	68,343
11	November 16, 1980	St. Louis Cardinals	W 31–21	52,567
12	November 23, 1980	Washington Redskins	W 14–10	58,809
13	November 27, 1980	Seattle Seahawks	W 51–7	57,540
14	December 7, 1980	at Oakland Raiders	W 19–13	53,194
15	December 15, 1980	at Los Angeles Rams	L 38–14	65,154
16	December 21, 1980	Philadelphia Eagles	W 35–27	62,548

Roster

Dallas Cowboys 1980 roster
Quarterbacks 18 Glenn Carano 14 Gary Hogeboom 11 Danny White P Running Backs 33 Tony Dorsett 23 James Jones RS 44 Robert Newhouse FB 30 Timmy Newsome RB/FB 26 Preston Pearson 20 Ron Springs FB Wide Receivers 80 Tony Hill 86 Butch Johnson 88 Drew Pearson Tight Ends 84 Doug Cosbie 89 Billy Joe DuPree 87 Jay Saldi WR		Offensive Linemen 61 Jim Cooper T/C 67 Pat Donovan T 62 John Fitzgerald C 71 Andy Frederick T 65 Kurt Petersen G 64 Tom Rafferty G 68 Herbert Scott G 52 Robert Shaw C Defensive Linemen 76 Larry Bethea DT 63 Larry Cole DT/DE 78 John Dutton DE/DT 72 Ed Jones DE 79 Harvey Martin DE 77 Bruce Thornton DE 66 Norm Wells DT 54 Randy White DT		Linebackers 53 Bob Breunig MLB 59 Guy Brown OLB 51 Anthony Dickerson OLB 58 Mike Hegman OLB 57 Bruce Huther MLB 50 D. D. Lewis OLB 56 Bill Roe MLB Defensive Backs 31 Benny Barnes CB 47 Dextor Clinkscale SS 34 Aaron Mitchell CB 32 Dennis Thurman FS/CB 41 Charlie Waters SS 45 Steve Wilson CB/WR Special Teams  1 Rafael Septien K		Reserve Lists 22 Wade Manning CB (IR)  60 Don Smerek DE (IR)  Rookies in italics 45 Active, 2 Inactive