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1961 Dallas Cowboys season
1961 Dallas Cowboys season
Owner	Clint Murchison, Jr.
Head coach	Tom Landry
Home field	Cotton Bowl
Results
Record	4–9–1
Division place	6th NFL Eastern
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
	← 1960; Cowboys seasons; 1962 →;

The 1961 Dallas Cowboys season was their second in the National Football League. The team finished with 4 wins, 9 losses, and 1 tie, placing them 6th in the Eastern Conference.

Offseason

The Cowboys participated in their first NFL college draft following the 1960 season. Despite owning the league's worst record, the team picked second overall because the expansion Minnesota Vikings received the first overall selection. However, the team previously traded away their first round pick in the 1961 draft to the Washington Redskins for quarterback Eddie LeBaron. The Cowboys had another selection in the first round (13th overall) that they acquired from the Cleveland Browns, and with that selection they chose defensive lineman Bob Lilly from Texas Christian University. Other notable selections in the draft included offensive linemen E.J. Holub, Billy Shaw, and Stew Barber. However, all three chose to sign with teams in the rival American Football League.

Other notable acquisitions by the Cowboys during the offseason included trading for linebacker Chuck Howley from the Chicago Bears, and signing rookie free agents Amos Marsh and Warren Livingston.

The Cowboys played in the NFL's Western Division for the 1960 season, but were a "swing team" and played each of the other 12 teams in the league that year. When the Minnesota Vikings joined the league for the 1961 season, the owners of the Eastern Division teams were allowed to vote on which expansion franchise they wanted to be permanently assigned to their division. In April 1961, the Eastern Division owners voted for Dallas, largely as a safeguard against early winters in Minnesota.^[1] This also pleased Western Division owners, who preferred the Vikings because of lower travel expenses and natural geographic rivalries with teams like the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears. This resulted in both Eastern and Western Divisions having seven teams.^[2]

Preseason

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	August 5	vs. Minnesota Vikings	W 38–13	1–0	Howard Wood Field	4,954
2	August 11	Green Bay Packers	L 7–30	1–1	Cotton Bowl	30,000
3	August 26	vs. New York Giants	L 10–28	1–2	University Stadium	21,520
4	September 1	vs. Baltimore Colts	W 35–24	2–2	Oklahoma Memorial Stadium	19,000
5	September 9	vs. San Francisco 49ers	L 7–24	2–3	Hughes Stadium	22,130

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance	Recap
1	September 17	Pittsburgh Steelers	W 27–24	1–0	Cotton Bowl	23,500	Recap
2	September 24	Minnesota Vikings	W 21–7	2–0	Cotton Bowl	20,500	Recap
3	October 1	at Cleveland Browns	L 7–25	2–1	Cleveland Stadium	43,638	Recap
4	October 8	at Minnesota Vikings	W 28–0	3–1	Metropolitan Stadium	33,070	Recap
5	October 15	New York Giants	L 10–31	3–2	Cotton Bowl	41,500	Recap
6	October 22	Philadelphia Eagles	L 7–43	3–3	Cotton Bowl	25,000	Recap
7	October 29	at New York Giants	W 17–16	4–3	Yankee Stadium	60,254	Recap
8	November 5	St. Louis Cardinals	L 17–31	4–4	Cotton Bowl	20,500	Recap
9	November 12	at Pittsburgh Steelers	L 7–37	4–5	Forbes Field	17,519	Recap
10	November 19	Washington Redskins	T 28–28	4–5–1	Cotton Bowl	17,500	Recap
11	November 26	at Philadelphia Eagles	L 13–35	4–6–1	Franklin Field	60,127	Recap
12	December 3	Cleveland Browns	L 17–38	4–7–1	Cotton Bowl	23,500	Recap
13	December 10	at St. Louis Cardinals	L 13–31	4–8–1	Busch Stadium	15,384	Recap
14	December 17	at Washington Redskins	L 24–34	4–9–1	D.C. Stadium	21,451	Recap

Conference opponents are in bold text

Season recap

Coming off of a winless first season, the Cowboys wasted no time getting their first win in franchise history in their second season. The first game in the history of the Cowboys was a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the team's first victory came against the Steelers in a 27–24 home game in the season opener, the winning points coming on a last second field goal. The Cowboys would go on to win two of their next three, both easy victories coming over the expansion Minnesota Vikings, and a month into the season the Cowboys found themselves tied for first in the Eastern Conference with a record of 3–1.

While much improved over their first season, the Cowboys would continue to be outclassed by the better teams in the league. In between their victories over the Vikings the Cowboys suffered a 25–7 defeat at the hands of perennial powerhouse Cleveland. The following weeks after their 3–1 start quickly dampened any realistic chance they had of contending for the Eastern Conference championship, with home losses to the New York Giants and the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles coming by a combined score of 74–17. However, the following week the team stunned the Giants at Yankee Stadium, 16–14, on another late field goal, and the Cowboys found themselves with a winning record at the midway point of the season at 4–3.

Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there, as the Cowboys did not win another game all season. The Cowboys gave up 28 points or more in each of their remaining seven games, and were beaten by 14 or more points in five of them. The Cowboys managed a tie against the woeful Washington Redskins in week 10, a game in which quarterback Don Meredith, who had been splitting playing time at the position with Eddie LeBaron, suffered an injury to his throwing shoulder, and would not play again the rest of the season. The final game of the season saw the Cowboys lose to the Redskins at D.C. Stadium (the Redskins first win at their new home), 34–24, the only win of the Redskins season.

Offensively, the Cowboys were an improved lot across the board. The offense moved the ball at a decent pace, finishing 8th in the league in yards gained. Quarterbacks Eddie LeBaron and Don Meredith had quality targets at the receiver position, which helped the team finish 6th in passing yardage. Veteran Billy Howton established a career-high in receptions with 56, and Frank Clarke developed into one of the league's top deep threats, averaging 22.4 yards per catch and scoring 9 touchdowns. Tight end Dick Bielski represented the Cowboys at the Pro Bowl. The Cowboys may have showed the most improvement in the running game. Rookie Don Perkins was one of the league's top running backs with 815 yards, and Amos Marsh and J.W. Lockett contributed as well, improving the Cowboys to 10th in total yards rushing, and improving the yards per carry from 3.4 in 1960 to 4.4 in 1961. On the negative side, the offense turned the ball over 48 times during the season, second worst in the league, and the offensive line continued to struggle protecting the quarterback. The team only scored 236 points (13th in the league) despite the Cowboys improved offensive play.

Defensively, the team continued to struggle against the run, allowing 2161 rushing yards (12th in the league) and 4.8 yards per carry. Against the pass, the secondary allowed too many long completions (a league worst 15.7 yards per completion) and the defensive front did not apply much pressure on the quarterback. The defense did make more than its share of big plays, forcing 43 turnovers. Cornerback Don Bishop had 8 of the defense's 25 interceptions.

Rookie kicker Allen Green struggled much of the season. His 36.7 yards per punt was worst in the league, and after going 5 of 15 on field goal attempts (though two of the field goals provided the game winning points) he was replaced by Dick Bielski, who made 6 out 9 field goals the rest of the season. Rookie running backs Amos Marsh and Don Perkins helped improve the kickreturn game, with Marsh in particular standing out with a 25.7 yard average on kick returns.

NFL Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1961 Dallas Cowboys draft
1	13	Bob Lilly ^†	DT	TCU
2	16	Chuck Howley *	C	West Virginia
3	30	Stew Barber *	OT	Penn State	Signed with the AFL
4	44	Arnold Davis	E	Baylor	Played linebacker
7	86	Art Gilmore	RB	Oregon State
8	100	Don Talbert	OT	Texas
9	114	Glynn Gregory	E	SMU	Played also defensive back
11	142	Norris Stevenson	RB	Missouri
12	156	Lowndes Shingler	QB	Clemson
13	170	Don Goodman	RB	Florida
14	184	Billy Shaw ^†	OG	Georgia Tech	Signed with the AFL
15	198	Julius Varnado	OT	San Francisco State
16	212	Jerry Steffen	RB	Colorado
17	226	Everett Cloud	RB	Maryland
18	240	Randy Williams	RB	Indiana
19	254	Lynn Hoyem	OG	Long Beach State
20	268	Jerry Morgan	RB	Iowa State
Made roster † Pro Football Hall of Fame * Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Roster

Dallas Cowboys 1961 roster

Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

36 Dick Bielski K
83 Jim Doran

Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

87 Nate Borden DE
79 Ken Frost DT
78 Don Healy DT
72 Bill Herchman DT
74 Bob Lilly DE/DT

Linebackers

33 Gene Babb OLB/FB
30 Mike Dowdle OLB
54 Chuck Howley OLB
56 Jack Patera MLB
50 Jerry Tubbs MLB

Defensive backs

44 Don Bishop CB
32 Tom Franckhauser SS/CB
21 Glynn Gregory CB/FS/WR
40 Jimmy Harris CB/FS
47 Dicky Moegle FS

Special teams

61 Allen Green K/P

Reserve lists

20 Bob Bercich SS (IR)
51 Tom Braatz OLB (IR)
88 Sonny Davis OLB (IR)
41 Warren Livingston CB/FS (IR)

Rookies in italics
38 active, 3 inactive

Standings

NFL Eastern Conference
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	CONF	PF	PA	STK
New York Giants	10	3	1	.769	9–2–1	368	220	T1
Philadelphia Eagles	10	4	0	.714	8–4	361	297	W1
Cleveland Browns	8	5	1	.615	8–3–1	319	270	T1
St. Louis Cardinals	7	7	0	.500	7–5	279	267	W3
Pittsburgh Steelers	6	8	0	.429	5–7	295	287	L1
Dallas Cowboys	4	9	1	.308	2–9–1	236	380	L4
Washington Redskins	1	12	1	.077	1–10–1	174	392	W1