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.

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 ).

The Cowboys ' " Doomsday Defense " finished the season as the top ranked defense in the league against the run by only allowing 107. 6 yards per game, 2nd overall ( 4009 ), 3rd in points allowed ( 208 ).

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.

Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach, who completed 12 out of 19 passes for 119 yards, threw 2 touchdown passes, and rushed 5 times for 18 yards, and was named the Super Bowl's Most Valuable Player.

Meanwhile, the Cowboys marched to the Super Bowl with playoff wins over the Minnesota Vikings, 20 – 12 in the NFC Divisional Playoffs, and the San Francisco 49ers, 14 – 3 in the NFC Championship Game, only giving up one touchdown in the two games.

Newhouse was the Cowboys top rusher with 56 yards, and caught two passes for 12 yards.

The Lions posted a 12 – 4 regular season record and were coming off a 38 – 6 playoff blowout over the Cowboys.

After a 1-yard run by Thomas, Kelly completed a pair of passes to Thomas and Reed for gains of 12 and 22 yards, respectively, to move the ball to the Cowboys 12-yard line.

The Cardinals ' first regular season game in the stadium was a 17-14 loss to the Dallas Cowboys in a Monday Night Football game on September 12, 1988.

Under Landry the Cowboys had a record of 41-11 in regular season games in the month of Dec. from 1965 to 1982, and 24-4 from 1970 to 1979 to either clinch a playoff spot or build momentum to go deep on many championship runs, from 1966 to 1982 Dallas played in 12 NFL / NFC Championship games, a span of 17 years.

Raiders ( matched up 17 times as of the start September 12, 2011 ), and Cowboys vs. Redskins ( matched up 15 times as of September 27, 2011 season ).

The Big 12 Conference Champion Oklahoma State Cowboys, ranked third in the nation went up against Stanford Cardinal, ranked 4.

The Oklahoma State Cowboys ' athletic heritage, a primary focus of the institution, includes 50 national championships, a total greater than all but three NCAA Division I schools in the United States, and first in the Big 12 Conference.

During a halftime interview at a Cowboys preseason game on August 12, 2000, Jerry Jones revealed to Babe Laufenberg that the AFL had granted him an expansion franchise to begin play in 2002.

* Patriots 12 vs. Cowboys 0

He was replaced by back-up kicker Shaun Suisham in the first game of the season against Jacksonville, but appeared in each of the Cowboys ' subsequent games through Week 12.

At the time of their construction, the larger screen, at 41. 5 feet tall and 164 feet wide ( 12. 6 m x 50. 0 m ), was the second-largest video monitor in any NFL stadium ; only Cowboys Stadium had a larger one.

Later, on November 12, 2006, during a Cardinals game versus the Cowboys, a bronze statue was revealed in his honor.

On September 9, 1995 ( which happened to fall in Week 2 of that NFL season ), Sanders signed a lucrative contract with the Dallas Cowboys ( seven years, $ 35 million with a $ 12. 9 million signing bonus ), essentially making him, at the time, the highest-paid defensive player in the NFL.

Once in the NFL, Sanders felt he deserved to be paid as much as NFL quarterbacks and in 1995 he used the " Prime Time " strategy to sign a seven-year, $ 35 million contract with the Dallas Cowboys ( the contract was essentially five years, but was given a seven-year length for an easier cap hit and the signing bonus was $ 12, 999, 999. 99, one cent under $ 13 million due to a superstition of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones ).

By the end of the 26 round season, the Cowboys had won 12, drawn one ( the first ever draw in the NRL in the age of golden point ) and lost 11, but more importantly, they held 7th position and a first ever top eight appearance.

On December 12, 2010, Feely became just the fourth kicker in 40 years to run for a touchdown, scoring on a fake field goal against the Dallas Cowboys.

An 11-time Pro Bowl selection, Allen played 12 seasons with the Cowboys and earned a Super Bowl ring with the team after a 27-17 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XXX.

He helped lead the way as the Cowboys gained 541 total yards while giving up only one sack in 50 pass plays in first career start at left guard at Washington on September 12.

On March 21, 2006, Allen was released by the Dallas Cowboys, after spending his first 12 seasons with the organization 1994-2005.