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 ).

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.

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 Cowboys improved to 7-9 in 1990.

Dallas lost the game, 17-14, and without White the team faded badly, finishing the year 7-9 and the Cowboys first losing season since 1965.

After spending time with the Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins, Philadelphia Eagles, and Oakland Raiders, Peete's career appeared to be over until he became the starter for the Carolina Panthers in 2002, where he led the Panthers to an 7-9 record, an improvement over 1-15 the year before.

That was an NFL record until Emmitt Smith of the Dallas Cowboys broke it in.

The Cowboys sent a then-NFL record 11 players to the Pro Bowl in 1993: Troy Aikman, safety Thomas Everett, Irvin, Johnston, Maryland, Newton, Norton, Novacek, Smith, Stepnoski and Williams.

With the 9th pick of the 1st round of the 2011 draft, the Cowboys selected USC tackle Tyron Smith.

Other instances include the 2005 Monday Night game against the Washington Redskins when the team inducted Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, and Michael Irving into the Cowboys Ring of Honor, and the 2006 Christmas Day game against the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Cowboys waited until Smith had retired as a player before inducting Aikman and Irvin, so all three could be inducted together, which occurred during halftime at a Monday Night Football home game against the arch-rival Washington Redskins on September 19, 2005.

In addition to Coaches Noll and Landry, 14 players would end up being voted into the Hall of Fame: Nine Pittsburgh players: Bradshaw, Harris, Swann, Stallworth, Webster, Greene, Lambert, Ham, and Blount, and five from Dallas: Staubach, Dorsett, White, Wright, and Jackie Smith, who the Cowboys lured out of retirement from the St. Louis Cardinals due to injuries to Cowboy tight ends, most notably, Jay Saldi.

Instead, Smith dropped the pass and the Cowboys had to settle for a field goal from kicker Rafael Septien, cutting their deficit to 21 – 17.

But in this game, the Cowboys built a 24 – 13 lead going into the fourth quarter, as Aikman capped a nine minute drive with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Smith.

From there, Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith, who was named the Super Bowl MVP, largely took over the game.

The Cowboys ' defense was anchored by such Pro Bowlers as lineman Russell Maryland, linebacker Ken Norton Jr., along with defensive backs Thomas Everett and Kevin Smith, who picked off 6 passes during the season.

The Bills managed to prevent a touchdown on the next 3 plays, but on fourth down and 1, Smith ran into the end zone for the score, giving the Cowboys a 27-13 lead.

The Cowboys eventually cut their deficit to 38-28 with a touchdown run by Emmitt Smith and Aikman's 10-yard touchdown pass to Irvin in the final period, but they were unable to score again.

The Steeler defense held, however, forcing Dallas into a three-and-out ; after a 6-yard run by Smith and an incompletion, Aikman's third down pass was broken up by defensive back Rod Woodson ( who had missed most of the season due to a knee injury ), forcing the Cowboys to punt.

Smith was the Cowboys ' leading rusher with 49 yards and 2 rushing touchdowns.

While playing for the Dallas Cowboys, Smith, quarterback Troy Aikman, and wide receiver Michael Irvin were known as " The Triplets ," and led their team to three Super Bowl championships during the 1990s.

With the Cowboys, Smith won three Super Bowl rings and rushed for over 100 yards in two of those games, Super Bowl XXVII ( 108 yards and a touchdown, and six receptions for twenty-seven yards ), and Super Bowl XXVIII ( 132 yards and two touchdowns, and four receptions for twenty-six yards ).

Smith received the Super Bowl MVP award for Super Bowl XXVIII, becoming the only Cowboys running back ever to win that award.

On September 19, 2005, at halftime of the Cowboys-Redskins game ( broadcast on Monday Night Football ), Smith was inducted into the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor with his long-time teammates Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin.

The rematch would be just as good, with the Cowboys being a Jackie Smith catch away from beating the Steelers in the rematch.

* 1994-Emmitt Smith, Dallas Cowboys

Along with his former Cowboy teammates Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith, Irvin was inducted into the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor on September 19, 2005.

( The other players are Jim Ray Smith of the Cleveland Browns who finished his career with the Cowboys ( 1963 – 64 ) and Ray Childress a five-time Pro Bowl defensive end for the Houston Oilers who wrapped up his NFL career with the Cowboys in 1996.