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 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.

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.

" Bum " Bright purchased the Dallas Cowboys from Clint Murchison, Jr. As the Cowboys suffered through progressively poorer seasons ( from 10 – 6 in 1985 to 7 – 9 in 1986, 7 – 8 in 1987, and 3 – 13 in 1988 ), Bright became disenchanted with the team.

The Cowboys went 6 – 10 in 1997, with discipline and off-field problems becoming major distractions.

The Cowboys currently have an 8 – 6 advantage over the Redskins at Fedex Field.

In 2008 the rivalry became more intense when in the last game of the year in which both teams could clinch a playoff spot with a victory, the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Cowboys 44 – 6, and clinched a playoff spot, where they would go to lose the NFC Championship game to the Arizona Cardinals.

Although the Cowboys are tied with the 49ers for the second most Super Bowl victories ( Steelers have 6 ), Dallas actually holds the record, with Pittsburgh, for the most Super Bowl games played ( 8 ) and solely holds the record the most Super Bowl MVPs with 7:

* " Leningrad ", track 6 on the Leningrad Cowboys album Go Space

In, the Vikings again won the Central Division with a 9 – 5 record and advanced to their 4th NFC Championship Game in 5 years, but were defeated by the eventual Super Bowl Champion Cowboys, 23 – 6, at Texas Stadium.

The Vikings held the Eagles 14 – 16 at halftime, but the Eagles, coming off of a 44 – 6 victory over the Dallas Cowboys, defeated the Vikings, 26 – 14.

Over 21. 8 million viewers tuned in to watch the game, beating the previous record for a cable television program set by a game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys in 2008 ( 18. 6 million viewers ).

Before long, the Giants were 6 – 2, but lost two straight to division foes: to the Cowboys 33 – 20 at home, and to the Eagles on the road, putting the G-Men in 2nd place in the NFC East at 6 – 4.

In the second quarter, Dallas took a 13 – 6 lead when Morton threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Thomas at the end of a drive that was set up after Unitas lost a fumble while being tackled by Cowboys linebacker Lee Roy Jordan.

The Cowboys secondary was led by 2 future hall of fame cornerbacks Herb Adderley ( 6 interceptions for 182 return yards ) and Mel Renfro ( 4 interceptions for 11 yards ).

Both teams entered the game with the best defenses in the league ( the Cowboys only allowed 107. 6 rushing yards per game while the Steelers only allowed 107. 8 ), and each side took advantage of the other team's mistakes throughout the game.

The secondary was led by defensive back Everson Walls, an offseason acquisition from the Dallas Cowboys, who recorded 6 interceptions.

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

The Cowboys then drove 47 yards in 6 plays to tie the game on Aikman's 23-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jay Novacek.