It is said that the rivalry was fueled in the 1970s due to the stark contrast of the teams: the Cowboys, being more of a " flashy " team with Roger Staubach's aerial attack and the " flex " Doomsday Defense ; while the Steelers were more of a " blue-collar " team with a strong running game and the 1970s-esque Steel Curtain defense, a contrast that still exists today.

With Staubach and his team's " Doomsday Defense ", the Cowboys won the NFC East with a 12-2 regular season record.

Meanwhile, the Cowboys ' " Doomsday Defense " remained in the superb form that helped lead the Cowboys ' Super Bowl X appearance.

He invented the now popular 4 – 3 defense, and the " flex defense " system made famous by the " Doomsday Defense " squads he created during his 29 year tenure with the Dallas Cowboys.

He was part of the " Fearsome Foursome ", along with Deacon Jones, Merlin Olsen, and Lamar Lundy, often considered one of the best defensive lines in football history, along with the Purple People Eaters of the Minnesota Vikings, the Steel Curtain of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Dallas Cowboys ' Doomsday Defense.

Tom Landry, the head coach of the newly formed Dallas Cowboys, made the gamble to trade for him, looking to perfect his ' Doomsday Defense '.

The Cowboys would employ their vaunted " Doomsday Defense ", a nickname given to the defensive unit by a Dallas journalist because it had been successful at making goal line stands.

And Miami's " No-Name Defense " ( a nickname inspired by Dallas Cowboys head coach Tom Landry when he could not recall the names of any Dolphins defenders just before Super Bowl VI ), led by future hall of fame linebacker Nick Buoniconti, allowed the fewest points in the league during the regular season ( 171 ).

* 1992 Dallas Cowboys 4-3 Defense

The team plays its home games at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, within the Dallas – Fort Worth metropolitan area, which finished construction in time for the 2009 season.

Although the Cowboys finished the 1989 season with a 1 – 15 record, their worst in almost 30 years, " The Trade " later allowed Dallas to draft a number of impact players to rebuild the team.

Backup Steve Beuerlein took over and the Cowboys and finished 11-5, then defeated the Bears for the Cowboys ' first playoff win since 1982.

The Cowboys finished 12 – 4 in 1994, but missed the Super Bowl by losing to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game, 38 – 28.

Star receiver Michael Irvin was suspended by the league for the first five games of 1996 following a drug-related arrest ; he came back after the Cowboys started the season 2-3 ; they finished 10-6 and won the NFC East title, but were eliminated in the divisional round of the playoffs 26-17 by the second-year Carolina Panthers.

The Cowboys then finished an up-and-down 2006 season with a 9 – 7 record and a playoff appearance, but after a last second loss in the wild-card game against the Seattle Seahawks, Parcells retired and was succeeded by Wade Phillips.

The Cowboys finished the season 6 – 10.

The Giants finished 10 – 6, and became NFC Champions after defeating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Dallas Cowboys, and Green Bay Packers in the NFC Playoffs.

The Packers finished the 1966 NFL season at 12-2, and defeated the Dallas Cowboys, 34-27, in the 1966 NFL Championship Game.

Even though the Cowboys finished in second place in the NFC East with a 10-4 record, they qualified for the playoffs as the NFC's wild-card team ( during that time, only one wild card team from each conference entered the playoffs ).

Although the Cowboys finished the 1989 season with a 1-15 record, their worst record since the team's inception, the foundations for the Cowboys ' return to glory had been set.

The Cowboys finished 7-9, but Smith won the NFL Rookie of the Year Award and Jimmy Johnson was selected as NFL Coach of the Year.

By the 1991 season, the Cowboys finished with an 11-5 record and made the playoffs for the first time in six years.

In 1992, the Cowboys finished with a 13-3 regular season record, the second best in the league.

The defending Super Bowl XXVII Cowboys finished with a 12-4 regular season record despite key players missing games due to injuries.

The Cowboys then scored on an 8-play, 64-yard drive in which Smith carried the ball on 7 of the 8 plays, gaining all but 3 of the 64 yards himself, and finished the drive with a 15-yard touchdown run to take a 20-13 lead.

In 1995, the Cowboys finished with a 12 – 4 regular season record, the best in the NFC.

Both players finished their careers as backups, Brown returning to the Cowboys in 1998 and O ' Donnell playing for the Cincinnati Bengals and Tennessee Titans until his retirement in 2003.

After losing two straight games in November ( one to the rival Dallas Cowboys ), they finished off the regular season winning their remaining five games, including dominating wins over playoff teams Denver Broncos, 41 – 6, and Minnesota Vikings, 38 – 10.

On December 22, 1996, the Redskins played their final game at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, a victory over the Dallas Cowboys 37 – 10, and finished their tenure at the stadium with a 173 – 102 – 3 record, including 11 – 1 in the playoffs.

Landry's Cowboys finished the 1988 season 3-13 which earned the No. 1 pick in the draft with the worst record in the NFL, taking his personal record to 270-178-6.

The Cowboys misfortunes continued the following year as they finished with a 1 – 15 record, the worst in franchise history, while injuries limited Irvin to only six games.

The next week, their dream season ended at home with a loss to the Cowboys 30 – 27 in the divisional playoffs.

Four important wins during the 1981 season were two wins each over the Los Angeles Rams and the Dallas Cowboys.

In 1981, the 49ers blew out the Cowboys in week 6 of the regular season.

The 49ers faced the Cowboys again that same season in the NFC title game.

The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders soon gained the spotlight with their revealing outfits and sophisticated dance moves, which debuted in the 1972 – 1973 season, but were first seen widely in Super Bowl X ( 1976 ).

In January 1993, only three years after their 1 – 15 season, the Cowboys earned their first Super Bowl trip in 14 seasons.

Gailey led the team to two playoff appearances with a 10 – 6 record in 1998 and an NFC East championship, but the Cowboys were defeated in the playoffs by the Arizona Cardinals 20-7 ; after an 8 – 8 season in 1999 ( during which Irvin suffered a career-ending spinal injury in a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles ) ending in another playoff loss ( this time to the Minnesota Vikings 27-10 ), he was fired and became the first Cowboys coach who did not take the team to a Super Bowl.

The Cowboys became the surprise team of the 2003 season, posting a 10 – 6 record and a playoff berth by having the best overall defense in the NFL.

In the tumultuous 2008 season, the Cowboys started off strong, going 3 – 0 for the second straight year, en route to a 4 – 1 start.

The Cowboys defeated the Eagles for the first Cowboys ' post-season win since the 1996 season, ending a streak of six consecutive NFL post-season losses.

During the same season, the Cowboys also wore their 1960 – 63 road jersey with a silver helmet for one game as part of a league-wide " throwback " policy.

However, the roots of the curse likely date back earlier to the end of the 1968 season when the blue-shirted Cowboys were upset badly by the Cleveland Browns in the divisional playoffs.

The Washington Redskins, after wearing white exclusively in the ' 80s and ' 90s, including the 1982 NFC Championship Game ( having gone 3 – 0 in them during the regular season, during CBS ' pregame show, Jimmy " The Greek " Snyder actually invoked the blue jerseys in picking Dallas to win the game ), have since 2002 occasionally reverted to using their burgundy jerseys for second-half home games, but will still wear white against the Cowboys.

The Cowboys got their first regular season home win on September 28, 2009.

The following season, the Cowboys avenged that defeat by beating the Eagles three times: twice during the regular season to claim the title as NFC East champions and once more in a wild-card playoff game by a combined score of 78 – 30, including a 24 – 0 shutout in week 17.

The two teams met in the first regular season game the Cowboys ever played in 1960 ( a 35 – 28 loss to the Steelers ), the first-ever regular season victory for the expansion Cowboys in 1961, and would later meet in three Super Bowls, all of them closely contested events.