From the archives: Remembering the Eagles-Cowboys 'Bounty Bowl'
(With the Eagles traveling to play the Cowboys this weekend, here is a story from 1989 about one of the more infamous games in the bitter rivalry, the "Bounty Bowl," starring Jimmy Johnson and Buddy Ryan, with kicker Luis Zendejas and linebacker Jessie Small playing key supporting roles. This article draws on material found in the digital archives of The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News. Search the archives for yourself and subscribe for full access.)
By TIM KAWAKAMI
IRVING, Texas -- Leave it to Buddy Ryan and the Dallas Cowboys to transform a 27-0 football game into a morality play.
Leave it to the Eagles to smash a 1-11 football team into complete submission, then have that team talk some major league trash in the aftermath.
This wasn't football out here yesterday, it was feud-ball.
Yes, they played a football game here, on national television, and the Eagles (8-4) looked every bit ready for prime time as they head into their pivotal Dec. 3 road game with the NFC East-leading New York Giants (9-2). Randall Cunningham had his most productive day in two months, Cris Carter made two acrobatic touchdown catches and the Eagles' defense posted its first shutout since 1986.
But this was a day when the postgame interviews were a hundred times more scintillating than the play on the field, when the accusations were flying faster than the Eagles were scoring, and when a plump, 5-9 former Eagle and current Cowboys placekicker named Luis Zendejas threatened to deck a portly, peaceful man named Buddy Ryan.
It was a day when a livid Jimmy Johnson, the Cowboys' rookie coach, charged in an emotional postgame outburst that Ryan had put bounties of $500 on Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman and $200 on Zendejas, whom Ryan released just three weeks ago.
Hey, they played a football game, and Wrestlemania IV broke out.
"I congratulate them," Johnson said before storming out of the interview room, "but I have absolutely no respect for the way they played the game.
"What concerns me more than anything else is when you take away from the integrity of the game. I mean, having bounties on opposing players is not the way it's supposed to be done. "
Johnson said he would bring the matter before the league office.
Zendejas said that he was warned by Eagles special teams coach Al Roberts and backup tight end David Little before the game that he was being targeted. Roberts and Little both denied issuing any warnings.
Zendejas was leveled by linebacker Jessie Small on the second-half kickoff, and wobbled in the general direction of Ryan before gravity and better sense directed him elsewhere.
He said that if he could have stood up straight, he would have tried to slug Ryan right then and there.
"The fat little guy. He can't take you out himself so he pays somebody else to do it for him," Zendejas said.
The aforementioned Ryan, confronted with Zendejas's and Johnson's charges, shrugged his shoulders and denied the accusations.
But he didn't seem overly concerned by them, either.
"I didn't send anybody after anybody," Ryan said. "That's ridiculous. Players talk like that crap all the time. I don't think there's anything to it. "
And about Zendejas's threatening gestures and menacing steps in Ryan's direction?
"Maybe he just saw all the friendly faces and thought he was still with us," Ryan deadpanned.
Several Eagles players yesterday confirmed that the coaching staff awards money to players who come up with big individual hits - as many teams do - but stressed that no opposing player is ever specifically targeted, and it is never specified that an injury must result.
"It's an outright lie," free safety Wes Hopkins said of the charge.
Whether the accusation is true or false, the Eagles' image as the NFL's new band of marauders is sharpening across the land.
Some of them wear black shoes, commissioner's warning be damned. They talk a lot. They celebrate wildly after the simplest of plays. They are accused of putting bounties on the heads of opposing players.
This is the third time - Phoenix's Ron Wolfley and Chicago's Dennis McKinnon also said they knew the Eagles put out bounties - such charges have been leveled at Ryan.
But as long as the Eagles win, Ryan does not seem to mind. He seems to encourage it, quite frankly.
And yesterday, the Eagles won big, handing the Cowboys their worst Thanksgiving Day loss ever, their only Thanksgiving shutout. It was the Eagles' first shutout since their 16-0 win over Atlanta, Oct. 5, 1986.
Ryan himself brought up references to his big, bad Bears teams when the bounty charges were flying - implying that all intimidating defenses are going to get accused.
So yesterday, the bandit Eagles left the Cowboys quivering with malice, murmuring about revenge, and licking their wounds after being totally dominated.
Which is probably exactly the way Ryan likes it.
"We wanted to come into the game and have a good one, not one of those close games where you're trying to pull it out at the end," Hopkins said, referring to the Eagles' back-to-back losses to San Diego and Washington and last Sunday's ensuing 10-9, comeback win over Minnesota.
"We wanted to come in and establish a good defense and score some points on offense. We didn't want a scare. We wanted to put these guys away. "
And by early in the third quarter, that's exactly what the Eagles' defense had done to a thoroughly overmatched Cowboys' offense.
The Cowboys gained just 191 total yards, turned the ball over five times (three interceptions, two fumbles), and made just 10 first downs.
Their best shot at a score came on their first possession, when they drove to the Eagles' 26. Only to watch as Zendejas - drum roll, please - missed a 45-yarder wide right.
From there on, the Cowboys' offense never had a chance.
"I gave 'Guppy' - uh, coach (Jeff) Fisher - a (game) ball," Ryan said, referring to his defensive coordinator. "He threw his first shutout as a defensive coordinator. "
The Eagles' pass rush got only two sacks, but harried rookie Aikman so thoroughly that he completed just seven of his 21 pass attempts for only 54 yards and tossed three ugly interceptions before giving way to Steve Walsh in the fourth quarter.
Aikman went into the game off two very productive weeks, and has the kind of big arm that habitually hurts the gambling Eagles defense.
"People were thinking about the Chargers game, the Redskins game, games we were supposed to win and didn't," said cornerback Eric Allen, who became the league leader with his seventh interception yesterday.
"So everybody wanted to come out and reassure ourselves today. Immediately. "
After that first drive, the Cowboys did not enter Eagles territory until they were down, 24-0, in the third quarter. After that first drive, the Cowboys looked every bit a 1-11 team.
"Yes, I'm proud of them," Fisher said of his defensive players. "They responded. We talked about (getting a shutout) all week. We talk about it every week.
"You shut people out, you can't lose. So that's our objective. "
Said defensive lineman Reggie White: "Getting the shutout is very important. It's very important because we're going into New York, and being able to shut this team out gives us a boost. "
Still, the Eagles' defense has held steady several times this year, only to watch the offense blow chance after chance to put games away.
The Eagles put up 17 points against the Chargers, 10 against the Redskins, then 10 against the Vikings.
"We can't play teams that have bad records and stay close with them," Cunningham said. "We have to be able to push through and get more points on the board. "
At halftime yesterday, although the defense had given the offense the ball in Cowboys territory three times, the Eagles led only 10-0.
The Eagles' offense snapped to life after halftime and turned the game into a laugher with three scores - two after defensive takeaways.
Cunningham (21-for-33 for 234 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions, plus 46 yards on five carries), connected twice with Carter on the play that has become the Eagles' sure thing.
Twice Cunningham, spotting Carter in man-to-man coverage near the goal line, lofted soft passes and let the 6-3 receiver go get them. Twice, Carter got it, from 6 yards out in the second quarter, and 18 to open the third. Carter has a team-leading eight touchdowns.
"They (opponents) expect it," Cunningham said. "They can try to stop it, but when you've got an athlete like Cris, it's hard to do. "
When running back Keith Byars crashed in for a 1-yard touchdown with 6:52 left in the third quarter it was 24-0. Newly signed kicker Roger Ruzek - who just happened to be released by the Cowboys when they picked up Zendejas - capped the scoring with his second field goal (in two attempts), a 38-yarder to open the fourth quarter.
And the game was over. The soap opera was just about to begin.
With Buddy Ryan and the Dallas Cowboys, everything somehow becomes a soap opera. Even 27-0 football games that, against other teams, would be a perfect example of the Eagles putting together a complete effort against a team they should overpower.
Leave it to Ryan and the Cowboys to make controversy out of the most comfortable game the Eagles have had this season.
Leave it to this wacky rivalry to bring out the worst in everybody.