PITTSBURGH — Unbelievably, the Steelers and Dallas Cowboys have played just five times since their Super Bowl XXX classic on Jan. 28, 1996.
You might remember that one.
Does the phrase "surprise onside" ring a bell?
Does the name "Larry Brown" reflexively make you swear?
See, that's the thing about Steelers-Cowboys. The teams might not play often — just 35 times in 60 years, including Super Bowls — but when they do, something big usually happens. Something memorable.
That's not necessarily a prediction for Sunday's game. It might be more of a warning. The Cowboys are playing like an expansion team. As Troy Hughes (@TommySledge) of 105.3 The Fan tweeted a few games ago, "This is the first time since 1961 the Cowboys have trailed by 14-plus points in six straight games, per @EliasSports."
Hughes then tweeted a photo of Cowboys owner/GM/punching bag Jerry Jones from 1960.
He looked happier then.
But back to the memories. Plenty of (old) Steelers fans will tell you their favorite play of all-time was Jack Lambert body-slamming Cliff Harris in Super Bowl X. Lynn Swann made some decent catches in that game, as well, and Terry Bradshaw unleashed one of the most incredible throws you will ever see, just before the concussion set in.
That was nothing compared to Super Bowl XIII three years later, a game that poured as much talent onto one field as any football game ever played. Thirteen starters, plus both coaches and multiple executives, were eventually enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Does "He's got to be the sickest man in America" ring a bell?
Four years ago, the legendary Joe Greene told me how much the Steelers resented the "America's Team" title bequeathed to the '70s Cowboys, and that even though it was the Oakland Raiders who served as the Steelers' main rival, it was the Cowboys — beating them, anyway — that "put us in a stratosphere higher than most."
It was the Cowboys, too, who provided the opposition Sept. 4, 1988 at Three Rivers Stadium — the Steelers' first game without franchise founder Art Rooney, The Chief, who'd passed away a week earlier. (The Steelers won, 24-21, in the final meeting between iconic coaches Chuck Noll and Tom Landry.)
The three epic Super Bowls stand alone. But consider what has transpired in the five meetings since Jan. 28, 1996 ...
