Photo Credit: Associated Press
For a Louisiana native, playing in New Orleans is a home game no matter what jersey you’re wearing. For PFRPA board member, Billy Joe DuPree, the jersey definitely mattered at the Superdome for Super Bowl XII.
DuPree fondly remembers the days on that ‘77 Cowboys Super Bowl-winning team. “It was really more like a family,” DuPree explained during a PFRPA Podcast. “You know, with most families you have siblings, and more often than not, you don’t get along together and we don’t always agree on everything . . . Players beat each other up in the locker room, but once Sunday rolls around and they got a different opponent with a different jersey, that same guy you had that heated argument with would be the first guy that comes to your defense.”
It doesn’t hurt to have Hall of Famers and Pro Bowlers coming to your defense. Guys like Randy White, Harvey Martin, Ed “Too Tall” Jones and Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson. It also doesn’t hurt having guys like Drew Pearson, Rayfield Wright, Tony Dorsett and Roger Staubach leading your offense.
What does hurt are the hits you take along the way to becoming a world champion.
When asked by former NFL lineman, Brian DeMarco, about the hardest time he got hit, DuPree references Super Bowl XII. “That’s when Denver had a defense called the ‘Orange Crush.’ I can recall Roger [Staubach] throwing a 10 or 12-yard crossing route, and the middle linebacker came from my right side and the DB came from right behind me, and I end up getting flipped on that play and coming down pretty hard.”
Billy Joe was the only healthy tight end the Cowboys had available, so he had to shake it off. Fortunately for Cowboys fans, the durable DuPree never missed a game in his 11 seasons in the league. That toughness and dedication were pillars of DuPree’s sterling reputation.
It’s a big reason he became an immediate starter for Dallas as a rookie out of Michigan State, when he took over for retired tight end, Mike Ditka. DuPree credits Tom Landry for seeing something he initially didn’t see in himself.
“There are two facets of the teams that I played with. One is, there may not have been every guy who liked Tom Landry, but every last guy that I played with had a great deal of respect for him.”
It’s that respect and that focus that helped the Cowboys get the job done in Super Bowl XII.
There were two main storylines leading into the game. First: Broncos “Orange Crush” defense versus the Cowboys “Doomsday Defense.” Second: Cowboys quarterback, Roger Staubach, versus Broncos quarterback, Craig Morton.
Morton was the NFL Comeback Player of the Year, but for Staubach, he didn’t need to call his season a comeback. He was there for years.
The two storylines collided in what was an ugly game. Morton threw as many interceptions (four) to the Cowboys as he did completions to his own team. The Broncos also had as many fumbles as they had interceptions, turning the ball over eight times. As for the Cowboys, not only did they not get crushed, two of their Doomsday defensive stars, Randy White and Harvey Martin, shared in winning the MVP award.
The first Super Bowl to be aired in primetime and the final season to have a 14-game schedule, ended in a 27-10 victory for the ‘Boys. The swagger of the star was just beginning as they had now won their second championship.
“There’s a fine line between arrogance and confidence,” says DuPree, “Confidence is a guy that will go out and do what he has to do. Now, arrogance may be a guy that will talk about it, but very seldom go out and perform.”
The Cowboys had a good bit of confidence that faithful day in Louisian.
