It is Day 91 of our 100-day countdown to kickoff. We are looking back at the 100 most iconic games in Dallas Cowboys history. The countdown will leads us right up to the opening game of 2026. Our look back doesn’t depend on just one criteria for our rankings. We take into consideration things like how big the game was for the organization, how memorable the game was, games that had unusual events take place, games that are a part of NFL lore, Cowboys firsts, and games where the Cowboys just plain
dominated. Variety is the spice of life and we have all different kind of Cowboys games to review. At the bottom, we’ll link each day of the countdown so you can go back and check out any you missed.
We bring you to Day 91 of our 100-day countdown to kickoff, where we look back at a loss that helped shape one of the defining rivalries in Cowboys history. The 1971 Cowboys were coming off a Super Bowl V defeat and had opened the season by scoring 91 points across wins over Buffalo and Philadelphia. Then George Allen’s Washington team arrived at the Cotton Bowl and handed Dallas its first loss of the season, 20-16, in a rainy, physical NFC East statement game.
Sunday, October 3, 1971 — 2:00 p.m. ET
Cotton Bowl, Dallas, Texas
Final Score: Washington 20, Dallas 16
Washington struck first when Charley Harraway broke loose for a 57-yard touchdown run. Dallas answered in the second quarter with two Mike Clark field goals, from 22 and nine yards, but Billy Kilmer hit Roy Jefferson for a 50-yard touchdown to give Washington control. Clark added another field goal from 27 yards, but Dallas still trailed 14-9 at halftime.
The second half was a grind. Curt Knight kicked two field goals for Washington, from 25 and 32 yards, pushing the lead to 20-9. The Cowboys finally found the end zone in the closing minutes on a one-yard Calvin Hill touchdown run, but it came too late. Washington had done enough to survive, and Dallas had been knocked out of its early-season rhythm.
The numbers show how strange the game was. Dallas had 20 first downs to Washington’s 14, but Washington controlled the ground game, rushing 41 times for 200 yards, while Kilmer completed only five passes. Craig Morton threw for 124 yards for Dallas, and Calvin Hill led the Cowboys with 65 rushing yards and the late touchdown. It was all kinds of strange to look at.
This game belongs on the countdown because of what it represented. George Allen had just taken over in Washington, bringing his ‘the future is now’ approach and a veteran-heavy roster built to win immediately. Beating the defending NFC Champion Cowboys in Dallas gave that project credibility and poured fuel on a rivalry that would become one of the NFL’s fiercest through the 1970s.
For the Cowboys, the loss was not the end of anything. It was part of the climb. Dallas would eventually steady itself, move into Texas Stadium later that month, avenge this defeat, win the NFC East, and finally capture the franchise’s first Super Bowl. But on this October afternoon at the Cotton Bowl, Washington landed a real blow, and the Cowboys-Washington rivalry entered a new era.
Interesting Facts About the Game
This was the second to last game the Cowboys’ played at the Cotton Bowl. Texas Stadium would open on October 24, 1971, when they hosted New England.
