Wow! Looks like the NFL has put Super Bowl VI on YouTube!

Says it's the "full broadcast".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw2CiGXmTgg

Well crap, there goes another 90 minutes of my day! Thanks, MRich

Ha ha ha ha ha...

I am still in the first half, and I will now smirk and shake my head when I see Garrett compared to Landry. Maybe they will one day compare as coaches. As offensive minds, Garrett has a long ways to go. I think ten years of Jason's offense has me thinking screen passes and mis/counter direction passes constitute illegal procedure.

And what a stable of backs!!! And we think there's depth there now! I can barely keep up with who's in there getting yet another first down.

So, this is weird. At around 1:12:50, the Dolphins have a ghost on the play. First, it trips Howley covering the rb. Howley gets up just in time to receive a gift pass, and then on the int return, that same ghost (maybe a different one?) chases him down and trips him for the tackle!!

Amazing that Miami wasn't better that day.

It's not that Miami wasn't better. It's that Dallas was THAT good. Even Don Shula said that the Cowboys played a perfect game that day.

Yes, Howley certainly experienced highs and lows on that interception.

Now, about the NFL's YT project:

Over the summer the NFL took a poll of fans of each team for the games they would most like to see on YT. For the Cowboys that was SB 6, SB 12, and SB 27. I was watching this very closely because, as a MOD of a forum dedicated to historic game presentation, there's great interest among my colleagues about which games would show up, and in what quality.

The SB 6 broadcast on YT is noticeably better than what has been circulating among historian-collectors, especially that amazing 4th quarter. One of the members of our group is currently working on a restoration of the entire game, and the early results have been outstanding. Once it's complete I'll put up a sample for you to compare to the YT version. May be awhile, because progress has been slow. It's painstaking work.

The NFL releases new games to YT every Tuesday (Super Bowls) and Friday (everything else). SB 12 & 27 are scheduled for October 21 (I'd actually look for them on either the 18th or 25th, since those are the Tuesdays immediately around the 21st). I'm very much looking forward to seeing both, but especially SB 12 since there's already a pretty decent version of that game already out there among historian-collectors and I'm hoping that the league has something even better.

The complete NFL schedule of games released and due to be released can be found here:

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000672345/article/nfl-reveals-youtube-upload-game-winners

Some things to note about the term "full broadcast":

1. Not every game has survived intact, and SB 6 is no exception. The game is missing the last few plays of the first half, including the Dolphins' only score of the game. Our restoration will include radio and film elements to bridge that section of the broadcast.

2. While the games may be complete (at least as far as they can be), many games have additional elements that are not included on YT. For SB 6, virtually the entire broadcast survives, including pregame, postgame, and commercials (the halftime activities do not, as far as I know). So, while you are seeing all of the plays in the game, you are not seeing complete broadcasts from A to Z. It's doubtful that most of your average YT viewers would be interested in that in the first place, but some of us completists like having everything.

There are other classic games either already posted on YT or coming up that feature the Cowboys. Most of them won't be pretty. But if, for example, you can stomach sitting through the 20-0 pounding they took from the Rams in the 1985 playoffs, you'll find it on YT. Go knock yourself out.

Other games involving the Cowboys are:

2002 opening day loss to Houston
1998 Thanksgiving Day blowout loss to Minnesota
1985 shutout loss to Chicago
1981 NFCC loss to S.F.
1996 NFCDP loss to Carolina
1991 NFCDP loss to Detroit
1982 NFCC loss to Washington
2013 loss to Detroit
1980 NFCC loss to Philadelphia

Of the games posted so far on YT, the one that looks the best from beginning to end is SB 11. That game was a dog, but the broadcast looks incredible for a 40-year old tape. Definitely worth checking out.

I mentioned this in a different thread, but I have a lot of games, including most of the Cowboys' 1977 season. Much of that is in quality you can't even imagine for stuff that's so old. I will post links to excerpts from those games from time to time, or as a topic comes up in the Cowboys' History forum, and I hope that you'll enjoy them. Just let me know if there's something you'd be interested in seeing again.

So I've made it to halftime of SB VI. There are parts of that game that make me smile. I think it's the part of me that still likes "old school" football. Especially considering this game was played before I was even born. Although the other things that looked weird to me were the "toe punch" kicker, and the wide receivers in 3-point stances.

And you can definitely tell a size difference in the players from then to now. And a lot of what went on in that game (blocking/coverage mostly) would be penalties now, I'd think.

It's fun for me to watch legends in a game like that. Especially legends and HOFers that played before my time. I never realized how athletic and mobile Staubach actually was. Damn he had some moves. I feel even worse for Duane Thomas now, too. Though he did it to himself, he had some real moves and some speed.

And don't even get me started on Walt Garrison or the other guys. I'm surprised (though I shouldn't be) at the athleticism those guys had, considering how much the game has evolved as far as training goes.

The great thing is, in both the NFL and MLB I grew up watching some legends I'll be able to share with younger generations (like Emmitt, Troy, Irvin, and in baseball, guys like Nolan Ryan).

Oh, and another thing that I thought was very cool...my earliest memories of the Cowboys were when they had Dorsett at RB (I was born in 1976...what do you want from me??). He wore #33. Well, when I started playing football in Jr. High, I was a RB and Corner. I ended up with #26 (a good number for Cowboys in it's own right). My freshman year of HS, I got assigned #25. My sophomore year, we got a new HC who had a specific numbering convention for his QB/RBs. He ran a Wing-T offense, and since I was a RB at the fullback spot (a spot that, in a Wing-T, gets a decent amount of carries), I ended up with #33! Made me happy. My wife even got me a Cowboys jersey one year (the blue one) with #33 and MY last name on the back. Very cool.

I will always believe that Duane Thomas threw away a Hall of Fame career with both hands.  He was a great running back who had some eye-popping stats in his two years in Dallas.  Consider these:

1596 rushing yards on 326 attempts, for a 4.9 yard/carry average, with 18 TDs, 16 of them on runs.  He also averaged 9.8 yards per catch on 23 passing plays for 226 yards.  And that was in only 25 games, with just 18 starts (remember that the Cowboys also had Calvin Hill, a #1 draft choice, Dan Reeves, and Walt Garrison).  Had he played with another team or in another system, he would've been the featured back for the entirety of those seasons and his stats would have been even more impressive.

But, man, was that guy screwed up.  Between the drugs and his mental state, I think he never gave himself a chance.

What was really sad was watching him trying to make the Cowboys in 1976, after he bounced around the league for 4 seasons.  He looked out of shape and slow, in what should have still been the prime of his career.  Credit Tom Landry for giving him a second chance with the Cowboys, but it was obvious that, whatever Duane had in his early career, he had lost by the time he was 29.

What a shame to squander such pure talent.

This game also kinda got me thinking, since the players today are bigger, faster, and stronger, and the rules are different. How would a team fare if they kinda went "old school" with their offense?

I mean, John Niland was a guard at 245 pounds. These days, that's a linebacker or a fullback. Heck Rayfield Wright was 255 pounds.

Comparatively, Doug Free is 325 pounds, Travis Frederick is 318, Zack Martin is 315, and Tyron Smith is 320.

And I'm reading on WikiPedia that during pre-game Media Day, Duane Thomas just sat there during his media time, and didn't answer any questions.

As big as those players were not, they sure played bigger. It was non-roided smashmouth stuff. A viewer could feel the helmets and pads collide and almost smell the blood. 

@59 - thanks for the info on thew uploads. Can't wait to see what you and your fellow historians put together...it will be like time travel!